The nearly 300 men and women of the Expanding Borders caravan held a small demonstration as they reached the center from the places where they left the buses. During this period, a number of migrants retained in CARA gradually approached the prosthesis. Although initially there were moments of tension, many asked journalists and activists who came to the site to explain the circumstances of the purpose of the mobilization and to communicate their situations, as well as to join the demonstration with banners. "This place is not good. We cannot sleep, we have had to leave our families behind, in our country," said one of the migrants who approached the demonstration. "The only thing we want is to find a job so that we can leave this huge prison," said others who have come to Europe from Africa in search of a better life.

Sofias, who has been at the detention center in Mineo for a year and four months, explained that she arrived and gave birth to her son on a day tour. According to the woman, there are enough children in the center, but they have to sleep away from their mothers every night: "If the situation is generally bad here, the conditions that families have to live in are even worse." He also denounced the attitude of the local police, "if not every day, they often make us naked. Their goal is to lose our minds.”

The Mineo Retention Center is completely surrounded by a barrier with braces. At the entrance there are also carabinieri, police and military officers, who spy on the movements of all the migrants who seek asylum and are detained there. The military says that all the men and women in CARA in Mineo are treated "well" and that there is no violence against them. It is true that all people can travel freely from the center to neighboring towns. However, they are only allowed to leave until 20:00, at which time they are all obliged to return to the center. In addition, the nearest town is Mineo, 10 km from CARA, while the largest main city is Catania, 50 km from it. Among them, an endless field of dry ochre-colored fields.

Many of those in this detention center explained that they have nothing to do all day, and most of them have been there for two to four years, unable to go anywhere. “We are blocked, we can’t go anywhere,” said a migrant arriving from Guinea to Italy via the Libyan route. He has been living there for four years and has not yet obtained his asylum papers. "We are unhappy, we often think that we would have been better in our country of origin," he lamented. He explained that he has spent two of his four years there studying, hoping that this would speed up or improve the process of acquiring papers, but this has not been the case: "They tell us that learning is good, but the situation is getting worse and worse. Lawyers always refuse requests for documents."

Without a document to regularize their situation, the men and women in the Mineo retention center cannot legally obtain any work. However, many recognize that they have been able to do some small work, in an irregular manner, for some money. However, this poses a problem: they run the risk of being arrested if they are caught working without the necessary papers, as well as being deported.

Remembering the Francis Woman Killed at CARA in Mineo

The CARA of Mineo has been in force for seven years. During this time, there have been many scandals. The last incident occurred on January 1: Francis, a 26-year-old woman from Nigeria, was stabbed to death by her husband. To commemorate this deceased person, a small performance was performed by the women of the Expanding Borders caravan.

The man lived outside the center, and taking advantage of the insecurity at the entrance to the center, he killed the woman. The Antiracist Network of Catania explains that those responsible for the detention center have not recognized this security flaw or that this CARA is a "racist and segregationist experiment." However, the associations of the area have been denouncing this for years: "The media debates about the center focus exclusively on the security issues of the original citizens of the area, never from the point of view of the migrant." They lament that the purpose of this is to keep the center alive in order to survive the "big business" that this entails.

The need for a different model of reception

Racism and xenophobia are spreading all over Italy. For this reason, the Antiracist Network of Catania considers that a different model of reception of migrant people is more necessary, which will not consider the CARA of Mineo as a model. "There are alternatives. There are very good reception experiences in Sicily that will guarantee the dignity of people. They welcome the presence of migrants, for the sake of the growth of the local community, and do not block it if it is something that needs to be done legally."

Military base to spy on the entire Mediterranean area

NATO has a military base in Rigonella, in the middle of Sicily, to spy on what happens throughout the Mediterranean Sea. To do this, they use the MUOS (Mobile User Objective System), whose opposite movement is in force in the surrounding area. So, after visiting CARA in Mineo, members of the Expanding Borders caravan made their way to the town of Misceni yesterday on the trail. Around 6 p.m., the caravan activists participated in the demonstration called by the No MUOS movement. In it, in addition to spreading messages against this system, you could hear screams against the U.S. Army, among other things. Meanwhile, a small group of activists from the Spanish state had the opportunity to visit the military base, even remotely.

This news has been published by Hiruka.eus and we have brought it to LUZ thanks to the license CC-by-sa.