Since last November 1, the 40 affected families – including more than 15 minors – who resided in the Santo Domingo de Guzmán convent, located on Maestro Chapí street, in the town of Torrent, have had to face all kinds of harassment from the inn. administrator because she wanted to evict them because they “couldn’t pay for the rooms.” “I am a mother of two dependent children. We recently emigrated to Spain. With DANA, they started to expel us. They harass and intimidate us to force us to pay for something we cannot afford. Our jobs are in Valencia and we cannot move. They took away our water and electricity, we were without food and they started throwing us out in the middle of the flood. Because we are undocumented migrant families, we are stuck in the middle of difficulty. They oppress us where we can stay. It’s a prison,” says one of the people involved, who prefers to remain anonymous.
Among the most vulnerable people are a pregnant woman due to give birth, two women who gave birth in the middle of a flood, another who recently had a cesarean section, a newborn and a child with autism spectrum disorder. According to Marcela Bahamón, member of the Intercultural Association of Hospitality and Care Professionals (AIPHyC), the owner cut off their electricity and prevented them from accessing the kitchen: “She even threw a microphone at them “waves in the street so they could they couldn’t prepare their food,” he said.
In the same vein, the testimony that resides in the place explains that the reason for the expulsion is because “the administrator wants to receive aid from the Town Hall intended to rehouse people affected by DANA”. Furthermore, he argues that it’s all a front because they are profiting from the “business.”
The manager of the place, Isabel Carretero, with whom elDiario.es contacted, denies all this information and assures that she will file a complaint in court tomorrow: “The police called me to tell me that they had shot a family. No one was fired. We have always taken care of everyone. I am not paid and have not received any help. “I don’t know what all the fuss was about.”
The hostel manager explains that a fee is paid to reside at the convent, but those who cannot take care of it are “told nothing is happening”: “We can’t have these problems. Neighbors support me and tell me that people don’t follow the rules and are annoying in the early hours of the morning.
Asked about complaints that she prohibits them from going about their daily activities or breaking things, Carretero invites anyone to “stop there and see that it’s not true.”
Under the name Cierto Cierto, the organization in charge of managing the hostel is not registered as a legal entity. On the website of the Archdiocese of Valencia, it is presented as “a non-profit association”. The telephone number contacted is linked to a “Valencia elderly care service agency” called Siempre Adelante, which is headquartered in the Ciutat Vella district of Valencia.
The convent belongs to the Dominicans, a religious order of the Catholic Church; However, it is Isabel Carretero who has the power to house the families, as she confirms. According to AIPHyC, the organizations responsible for coordinating and finding accommodation for migrants – including Caritas – are unaware that the manager “charges them a monthly rent of between 350 and 600 euros”. This newspaper contacted the NGO linked to the Church, but did not receive a response.
The Intercultural Association of Hospitality and Care Professionals reports that the Torrent police only accepted one complaint from an affected person and that the others rejected it: “They took the documents from identity of five people and told them that they would call them. Fearing that they would be expelled from the country, the organization contacted the Victims of Crime Office and assured them that “no person currently in Spain can be repatriated”, and even less if they are a victim: “At police station.” They were not clear because they did not accept the complaint. » The people concerned are afraid that the administrator will denounce them because she has the documentation for each member.
Marcela Bahamón assures that this Wednesday she contacted the mayor of Torrent, Amparo Folgado, to inform him of the situation and that the councilor refused because “she was hoarse”. “I told him I just wanted him to listen to me and he told me three times he couldn’t talk. “I told him I was going to call the media.”
“We are also survivors of DANA”
For irregular migrants, it is difficult to find a safe place and access the same rights as other citizens with nationality. The anonymous person who explains it says that many families who arrived stayed at home and formed a community: “Almost all the work is informal and poorly paid because we don’t have papers to work, and what we earn is only used to pay the rent. » .
With DANA, the situation has become complicated. They were isolated: “Hunger made everything even more dramatic. “Cáritas brought us food and that made the administrator angry because she knew we could concentrate on the fight to stay.”
“We are resisting the surrounding areas so that they relocate us to a decent place. We have no other alternative. Our economy is weak. We are in a second emergency. We are not asking for charity, we want them to respect our right to be in this country. We want news to have an impact on society and not be abandoned. We are also survivors of this disaster,” says the victim.
The testimony also highlights that although they were not overwhelmed by water, many residents had to fight for their lives on the way home, surviving the ravages of DANA.
