Helena Maleno is an activist for the rights of migrants, she is also the founder of the organization Caminando Fronteras and has been alerting the maritime authorities for many years when a boat asks for help.
Maleno talks with Aimar Bretos in a deep, calm and necessary interview.
"I am fortunate to belong to a group that fights for access to borders, we defend life on the borders and in doing so we find ourselves in situations of death," he describes.
About the first call she received, she relates: "I clearly thought," I hope this is not repeated again, "but it was repeated and that phone, I, my life, was crossed by the border."
She came to Morocco in 2002 to do a research on the externalization of borders, she found a real informal city, a citizenship that moves.
"Not like they told us (...) There was mutual support, stories and that was going through me," he explains.
"We never know when the boats leave, people jealously guard that so that they can leave, there are two ways that calls reach us. From the boat itself, for example in the Strait they always call and on other occasions when they are sinking", Maleno assures.
"These are good times for immigration control policies, people are increasingly desperate. The business of arms companies is getting bigger. Behind Frontex are the main arms sales companies, those that are selling arms in Afghanistan and that they will put obstacles so that the Afghans do not arrive. The deaths in the borders are giving money to all these big companies ", affirms the activist.
More information
Human rights defender Helena Maleno, expelled from Morocco
Helena Maleno: "I have been soaked in the courage of migrants who cross borders"
Regarding the hardest experience, the most gloomy episode that he has lived, he has no doubts: "The death of one of my companions (...) It was one of those moments in which Morocco decided to open the border. Many boats left those days. Suddenly I heard the sea, it screamed and screamed, they were in the water and their bodies never appeared (...) I often go to their Facebook to see the photos, the comments they put me ". "The day I stop crying I will stop because I will have become one more part of the system," he says.
His expulsion from Morocco materialized on January 23 when he tried to re-enter Tangier, where he had resided with his family for 20 years. The Moroccan police denied her entry and she was deported on a flight to Barcelona. "We discovered that it had been investigated for a long time, we discovered a dossier where Morocco asked for life imprisonment. I had to defend myself and from then on they took away all my rights (...) The criminalization continues and one of those weapons was deportation", Explain.
"They have entered my house several times to take things that are not of value and leave me messages. Once they only took my daughter's schedule. They had entered my life. What my family and I have experienced has been torture, it is just as the border works with migrants, "she says excitedly.
"They have threatened me and tried to assassinate me," he adds.
Play / Pause
DownloadShare
Share
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
WhatsApp
Imbibe
The iframe code has been copied to the clipboard
Listen to Helena Maleno on Play SER