Reyes Rigo, the last Flotilla activist to be able to return home

PalmThe last Spanish activist of the Sumud Global Flotilla, Reyes Rigo from Mallorca, has finally reached an agreement with the Israeli Prosecutor's Office to be deported, after four additional days of concern among her circle. Israeli authorities had held her in pretrial detention, accusing her of biting a medical service employee at the maximum-security Ketziot prison in the Negeb Desert. However, her cellmate, Podemos activist Alejandra Martínez, disputes this. "I didn't see this, but I witnessed a violent episode in which Reyes and our Danish colleague Nina were dragged by their hair to force them to change cells," she claims. She also categorically denies that any paramedics were present during the incident: "We weren't given medical assistance for five days."

Martínez and Podemos councilor in Palma, Lucía Muñoz, met Rigo during the Global March for Gaza held in Egypt in June. Since all three are from Mallorca, they joined forces during the preparations for the Flotilla. "One day we went to her house for lunch, and she made us a delicious pumpkin curry," Martínez recalls. She discovered a political activist who fought against Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship from a very young age, and who also belongs to a left-wing family. "She was very proud of her anti-fascist lineage," she says. "Her godparents were victims of reprisals, and her parents also took part in the anti-Franco struggle."

The acupuncturist and Chinese medicine specialist trained in the 1990s and worked in Europe and Asia. For years, she collaborated with NGOs for various causes until she returned to Palma in 2020, where she opened her own practice. Well-known in the world of activism in Palma, Rigo was involved in mobilizations in support of the Palestinian people in Son Espanyolet, with the Movement for Democratic Memory, and also with the Less Tourism, More Life platform.

During the crossing to Gaza, the three Mallorcans became separated. While Martínez and Muñoz traveled to the boat Huga, Rigo went to theAddaraThey didn't meet again until they were already detained. "They ordered him to distribute the food, and that's when we saw each other; it was emotional," Muñoz recalls, sadly: "We encouraged each other." Both are still in Madrid, from where they have been lobbying to be able to return with Rigo to Mallorca. After four days of uncertainty, they breathe a sigh of relief.