In Olbia, for a series of meetings with the city's middle school students, Rito Julio Alvarez, the Colombian priest who saves children from exploitation on coca plantations. An almost heroic story, his, which has made him a symbol of the fight against narcotics (also immortalized in the Rai series, "Narcotica") in a country, Colombia, which is the largest producer of white powder in the world.
In schools he shows images of children enslaved in collecting leaves, their little hands full of sores, their eight-year-olds holding machine guns, their miserable wages; and then how production continues, how many and which chemicals are used, and indiscriminate deforestation. A dose of cocaine bought in Italy is equivalent to six weeks' wages for a child.
«I always approach the kids in a playful way by saying that I have come to talk about a topic that they certainly know nothing about – explains Don Rito - But then I immediately ask questions: if cocaine is found in the city, in which squares , how much it costs, who consumes it. They respond, it is clear that they know how widespread the phenomenon is. To explain how much exploitation and how much violence is behind a dose of cocaine – continues the priest – I always say that if in Europe a traceability label is required for every product, even for cocaine we must write the traceability, where and how it comes produced, such as its elements".
Don Rito, also to the young students of Olbia, spoke to the heart, as a witness to the tragedy of cocaine, "from production to consumption", and told his story with raw and simple words; a story that led him, in 2007, to create the non-governmental foundation “Oasis de Amor y Paz”, in Abrego, in the department of Norte de Santander, and in Italy the association “Oasi angeli di pace Odv”. Children removed from the hard work of the plantations are given the opportunity to change their lives: study, learn a job, graduate, start a family. The same opportunity given to him, ordained a priest in Italy in 2000 (and currently parish priest of Vallecrosia, in the Imperia area) who grew up in the Catatumbo region, in the hands of the guerrillas. When he returns to Colombia, Don Rito says, he finds a climate of oppression increased immeasurably by the advent of the government paramilitaries and their horrible massacres among the farmers. 50 children currently live in the village he founded; "Oasis Cafè Colombia" was also born in 2020, a project that aims to transform coca plantations into coffee fields whose beans are roasted and distributed by the Laboratorio del Caffè Coffeel of Ventimiglia.
«This is an important moment for us – said the deputy mayor Sabrina Serra – of great value for our children. Through Don Rito's interventions we carry out that prevention action against drug addiction, which is harmful to one's life and that of others. All the kids interacted with interest, attention and dialogue and their consciences were touched." Also participating in the meeting were Don Theron Oscar Casula, parish priest of San Michele Arcangelo, and teacher Cristina Oggiano, from the “A. Diaz."