• Feature: Matteo Salvini 'La Minped Minors' in Lampedusa: "This is freedom"
  • Immigration: Salvini celebrates his blockade in Lampedusa and defines Open Arms as a "hypocritical" and "unscrupulous" NGO

Totò Martello ( Lampedusa , 1956) is a doctor, politician and fisherman. Although he belongs to a mixed party within his own town hall - something very common in Italy , under the nomeclature of a civic list - he immediately clarifies that he is a left-wing man. Today he is the mayor of Lampedusa, which for him represents a true "umbilical cord" in his life, and these days he is under the attention of the media around the world, for being the lifeboat for migrants who risk their lives in the Mediterranean, on the route between Libya and Italy, the "most dangerous in the world" for the UN.

While Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is campaigning on the issue of migration, Martello offers his opinion, in an interview with EL MUNDO, about the Open Arms case of the homonymous Spanish NGO that still has 107 migrants on board and that It has been drifting for 18 days, being only one kilometer from the coast of Lampedusa. And therefore from Europe .

How is Salvini managing the Open Arms case? He is simply not managing it. Every time an NGO leaves, the cameras are turned off and the problems continue. The phenomenon is concentrated in the person of Salvini. When talking about migrants or the Mediterranean, it seems that we are in a soccer field. With teams facing each other, Spain has offered the ports of Algeciras and the Balearic Islands, but the Open Arms prefers to stay in Lampedusa. The truth is that, right now, it is one kilometer from here. What should I do? If I took the Open Arms , I would enter the port of Lampedusa. If by doing so he were committing a crime in accordance with the laws of the State in question, in this case Italy, he would be willing to be denounced and face a trial. That's how I see it. Now, the situation is totally embarrassing. For me, at sea, the prevailing law is that of the fisherman. If someone is about to drown, I will never ask for the identity document nor will I be interested in skin color. The engine is stopped and rescued. I do not understand why a captain, who asks to enter a European port, is not allowed to enter. Any vessel that is in difficulty in any port of the world for sanitary or meteorological reasons, has to enter the port. If you invite me not to save human life, it is an instigation to violate an international law. It seems then that Salvini has a greater power than the Prime Minister himself, Giuseppe Conte. It is the most surprising thing that has happened lately in Italy. The one who commands and has the power to do so is the President of the Government, Giuseppe Conte. What is the weight of an Interior Minister appointed by him? I don't know why Salvini can prevent a ship from entering the port of Lampedusa, against the other authorizations of the public authorities. Perhaps, this means that the Italian democratic rules are not respected even by the Executive himself. For me, it is simply a political problem. Does Salvini then make electoral propaganda with the immigration issue? But everything is simply in a series of gossip, without any written commitment. Verba volant scripta manent , it was said in Latin. With the arrival of this Government, there is no talk about how migrants should be received. Those who dealt with these issues in the Italian political class have disappeared. Everyone thinks that the problem of migration has already been resolved, that there are no more landings. The media bombing has even allowed everyone to be almost convinced of it. If we consider, however, how many small boats have arrived here only in 2019, we realize that the migratory phenomenon continues. But, in the same way, talking about it is an aggression, because for others you are telling lies: "It is not so, because Salvini has said that there are no longer migrants." One thing is propaganda and another very different are the laws that govern the Mediterranean and all the seas of the world. Still, the truth is that migrations are the political issue of the moment. But in Italy mention the word "migrations" It's unpopular, that's why it's not about talking about it. If you continue to avoid the argument itself and you are on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks all day, the real problem will never be solved. On the other hand, focusing on the reading of information through social networks is causing knowledge impoverishment. All this, in a country that needs to know the truth about the immigration issue. But if this issue has become a taboo, it means that freedom of thought is about to end, so how often and why is Lampedusa news? The migration problem comes back to light when NGOs operate. If they are not, all quiet. But if they are, then there begins the debate about whether ports are open or closed, whether ships can navigate in the Italian territorial sea, whether there are authorizations to access the port or not and whether military ships They have to intervene or not. It begins, then, a soap opera of infinite chapters. Is the migratory phenomenon daily in Lampedusa and at the same time nobody wants to talk about it? Yes. When small boats arrive directly at the port, law enforcement agencies take migrants directly to the reception center. There they are identified and after 24 or 48 hours they are transferred to Sicily or the rest of Italy. When we talk about this type of migration, it is considered a normal flow. And nobody talks about it. Does Lampedusa, in this sense, feel more abandoned by Italy or Europe? Lampedusa is abandoned by everyone. To begin with, it is inconceivable that no one, from the Italian Government, comes to Lampedusa to see how things are here. In reference to Europe, the truth is that they have just been renovated, we can not pretend much. As Pope Francis did, who wanted his first visit as a pontiff, in July 2013, to go here to Lampedusa. The problem is another and is much bigger. Which one? There is no awareness that the phenomenon of migration will not stop anyone. It continues to pretend that the problem does not exist, because all states think that it is not their business. The UN, however, goes ahead and has developed a document known as "Global Compact" to see how the countries of the world can face the problem of migration. In the last Forum in Marrakech, the only Italian was me. Just to give an idea. Returning to Europe, some responsibility will have to have ... We must see if the international treaties signed in Europe are valid or not. We would have to talk about Maastricht, Schengen and Dublin, treaties that hold the European Union together. Why does a citizen of the Union, when traveling, need no passport, but if a European ship needs to enter a European port, it does need authorization? Why this difference in treatment? What does Lampedusa aspire to, in this climate of political tension? The fundamental thing is that we be taken into consideration. Lampedusa has an exceptional and strategic geographical position, as evidenced by the facts. To stop welcoming and doing what we are doing, Lampedusa would have to be moved to another sea. First of all, we have to enforce the laws of the sea. Then, we all have to meet urgently to discuss what to do in the Mediterranean. Among other things, because everything promised so far has not been fulfilled: Have the returns promised by Salvini been produced? For me, first of all, the rules that apply are those of the fisherman. Not only those that are approved on the mainland.

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