Support from Iruñea for activist Helena Maleno, who has saved hundreds of migrants

  • When migrants are drifting at risk on the sea near Gibraltar, they know who to call: Helena Maleno's number is always available, and she puts the Spanish Sea Rescue Service in the picture as quickly as possible.


2018ko urtarrilaren 02an - 09:31

Those calls have saved hundreds of people over recent years, but now it's Maleno herself who is at risk: she has been summoned to declare in court at Tangier, Morocco, as part of an international investigation into human trafficking. After several delays, she is to declare on the 10th of January.

On the 27th of December many people came together in Iruñea, Navarre, to express their solidarity with Maleno, having been called together by several anti-racist groups. As the organizers explained, the persecution she is being subjected to is not an isolated event: "They're trying to turn solidarity into a crime".

This has not been the only initiative taken in recent weeks. Hundreds of well-known people and thousands of people involved in Spain have signed a manifesto in her support. In the Basque Country, the person commissioned to defend citizens' rights, the Ararteko, has got in touch with his Moroccan counterpart "to express the interest which many Basque groups have in the work which Maleno is carrying out on the southern border".

Who is Helena Maleno?

Helena Maleno (El Ejido, Almeria, 1970) is a member of the Caminando Fronteras ('Walking Frontiers') groups, a journalist and an activist. The group has carried out considerable work over recent years, having direct contact with migrants on the frontier between Spain and Morocco and giving them assistance. In that way, they have won the trust of people fleeing from their own countries, and who then get in touch with them when they run into difficulties crossing the sea.

“I've gone to sleep and woken up to those calls for help for 16 of my 20 years, and it may become a crime now”, said her son in a letter to the media. The Moroccan justice department accuses Maleno of promoting hidden immigration.

The journalist explains, though, that the investigation actually began in Spain in 2012, but the only evidence they have is those calls to the Sea Rescue Service. Maleno has received threats because of her work in the past. She was send many threats and messages because of denouncing the Spanish police's aggression at the Tarajal frontier. 

 

This article was translated by 11itzulpen; you can see the original in Basque here.


Kanal honetatik interesatuko zaizu: English
2023-01-18 | ARGIA
ARGIA: Worker-Owned Basque centenary Media
Independent journalism with solidarity-based subscription model

ARGIA is a news media funded in 1919 in Pamplona and published in Basque language. At first religious – called Zeruko Argia, "light of heaven” –, forbidden during the fascist dictatorship in Spain from 1936 on, in the 1950s and 1960s it had managed to come... [+]


2020-02-07 | Paul Iano
The future of the Basque economy: labor power or tech parasites

In this series of articles, it should now have become clear that venture capital has created a system in which two types of companies become global giants: companies with bad business models but good marketing, or good business models and horrible impacts on society. This... [+]


2020-01-29 | Paul Iano
The Coming Tech Economy
The creative destruction of peer to peer

One of the confusing aspects of the tech industry is that from a distance all the companies can seem the same. They use apps, have similar design styles, are based in hip urban centers, and strangely have millions of dollars without making any money. In part, this series is... [+]


2020-01-16 | Paul Iano
The reason Telepizza won't pay minimum wage: Undercover again

After publishing Glovolizacion, a three-month undercover investigation into the working conditions of Glovo riders, I received almost entirely positive feedback from the general public and riders alike. Most riders felt ignored and exploited, and most readers were interested in... [+]


2019-07-21 | Paul Iano
Who is Glovo?

This is the third in a four-part investigative series examining Glovo’s business model and its relationship with the world it operates. Based on public statements by Glovo’s founders, this article will contextualize their world-view and the changes they hope to... [+]


Eguneraketa berriak daude