"These children have received the seal of terrorists"

Radio France International International approach

April 15, 2019

Patricio Gálvez, a 50-year-old Swedish-Chilean, traveled to Syria to recover his seven grandchildren. His daughter Amanda and her husband, Michael Skramo, a prominent member of the Islamic State group, died in January and March of this year respectively.

They left Göteborg (Sweden) where they lived together, and already with four children, in 2014 on the pretext of going to Turkey. The seven children are currently in the camp of Al Hol, in north-eastern Syria, where 80,000 people are piling up. The Swedish and Chilean authorities are working with the Kurdish authorities to get the children out. The youngest is one year old. After seeing his grandchildren last Monday, Galvez is now in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, waiting for a document allowing him to return to Syrian territory.

RFI: How will the procedures be able to take your grandchildren?

Patricio Gálvez: Communication between the Swedish and Chilean authorities is very open. The Swedes speak to the Kurdish administration in Syria to allow me to bring the children. I do not know exactly what it will mean once I cross the border and contact the Kurdish representatives. There, I will be able to know more, to know if Sweden tells me that the truth is true. Sweden tells me that everything is ready and that I can pick up the children, but the truth is that, from the adage to the fact … Now I just changed my hotel in Erbil (Iraq), in one cheaper because my goal is to get the children out of Al Hol camp and bring them to Erbil, it will take me about two weeks to process all the documents with the Swedish consulate to get the pbadports. Now, I'm waiting for permission to cross the border. If permission arrives early Tuesday morning, I will go to Syria to talk to the Kurdish authorities and evacuate the children.

RFI: How are the children?

PG: Last Monday I saw them. They allowed me to see them for three hours. They are not in very good condition. They have lung infections and are very malnourished. They suffered a lot of starvation for three months. Last month was terrible. The youngest was about to die. He was treated at the hospital and is recovering already. But there is everything relative. What can happen with children is all relative. All I want is to get them out of there and put them in the hospital. I asked the Red Cross to help me in this procedure to bring the children to the hospital.

RFI: Is there a good disposition of the Swedish consulate?

PG: They help me. As my case has become so viral, they are doing everything possible to help me quickly. The beauty of all this is that Sweden has now been able to open her eyes and maybe in a short time she will be able to evacuate the other orphaned Swedish children. For me it is a satisfaction. I do not want to boast of this question. I am here to save the children, but I am glad that this help from the press has brought the issue to a level that has finally understood the fundamental problem. Because, for these children, the European countries have given them the mark of terrorists, of dangerous children, as if these children, when they started to grow, were going to pose bombs. It was the mentality of Swedes, French and Belgians. Everyone has had this kind of fear. What greater stupidity to believe that innocent little children can inherit the mistake made by their parents! It is now that the authorities have understood the mistake that they had made. There are children dying. Three months ago, I told the Swedes that this day was coming, that the children would become orphans and that we had to take care of them.

RFI: Who cares for children in the camp of Al Hol?

PG: The staff is very young and is run by the Kurdish region. When I was there, they told me to take them soon because there is not enough medicine, there is not enough food. Last Monday, when the children asked me to eat, they said, "Grandpa, we are hungry." I brought them food and medicine, but I do not know. The kids want to get out of there. They suffered a lot. They have been suffering for five or six months. They lived on the run all the time.

RFI: Where does your daughter live with her husband and children?

PG: At first I think about two years in Raqa. But when ISIS lost the city in 2017, everything became a constant flight.

RFI: Could you communicate with your daughter during these years?

PG: Yes, he sent me messages telling me not to worry. At first, I thought things would change. I have always tried to convince her to leave this country and come back but I have never been able to convince her. The thing has ended dramatically. The children could all have died. My daughter died on January 3rd, from where the father (Michael Skramo) followed until the arrival of Baghuz. There, the grandmothers tried to convince him to hand over the children. But he does not have it. So, when he died on March 4 or 6, the woman who accompanied him managed to leave with my seven grandchildren and two other children. I would like to thank you. We all know that this woman was fighting with the Islamic State group, but thanks to her, my children are alive. I'm really sorry that the governments did not understand the problem from the beginning, locked up these children and clbadified them as persona non grata, as if these children were not human and did not need to be helped. It's very hard.

RFI: Are there more Swedish children in the situation of their grandchildren?

PG: There are 80 Swedish orphans, but they could be more. Some live with their mothers, but they will also have to be evacuated because many are ill. All people who came from Baghuz were suffering from urinary tract infections, lung infections, starvation, diarrhea. And they came to a camp where they can not help them. Organizations such as the Red Cross have no ongoing action in the camp. They need permits to enter. And this process lasts several days, even weeks. It's a sick thing. The Kurds want the countries to take them away.

RFI: Do Michael Skramo's parents support him?

PG: Of course, they fought for the children to be saved just like me. What happens is that as soon as I had the opportunity to travel, when I was allowed to enter, I put on some clothes in the suitcase for the kids, food, a friend doctor could prescribe me drugs and I said that I was leaving because I had to save these children and I have to find them. We knew that the children might have left, but it was still speculation, no one could tell us concretely if the children were there and where they were. And today, we can not call the camp and ask how children are doing. There is no communication. There are no offices. There is no logistical organization in these camps. People are desperate. The grandparents are desperate. There is not even the possibility of having that calm to know how they are. The only thing known is that children die every day.

RFI: We are facing extreme emergency situations

PG: There is urgency, of course there is urgency. The problem is that the governments that should have hit earlier did not do it because in Europe, this policy has been tough. They resent because they went to fight with the Islamic State group. But what fault do the children have? That's what they could never understand.

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