Don Patriciello to Saviano: “It’s not the Caivano model that has failed, but the system that has abandoned us for decades”

CAIVANO – “It is not true that the model Caivano he failed”, afferma don Maurizio Patriciello, parroco del Parco Verde di Caivano, in una replica aperta a Roberto Saviano.

“Roberto – writes Don Patriciello – It's been almost 20 years since you came here, a then unknown journalist, to tell the story of the murder of a 15-year-old boy. That story ended up in Gomorrah, but you haven't been back since. I've invited you many times, to give voice to us, to those who continue to fight here every day. But you've never come." The parish priest then invites the writer to “go beyond slogans and stereotypes” and to take into consideration the work that has been laboriously started in a land deeply affected by crime and marginalization.

Patriciello talks about the difficulties of those who, without substantial help and facing a long institutional abandonment, still try to change things: “In these twenty years, things have gotten worse here. When you abandon a place, the degradation increases. I asked for help from anyone, without looking at political colors. I am a priest, a free man. There is a risk of being misunderstood or mocked, but it doesn't matter. This year, the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, came to Caivano and responded to my appeal. We are working, of course, with difficulty, and we never believed we could resolve everything in a year”.

Don Patriciello also reports the results of these first interventions, such as the closure of some of the largest drug dealing areas in Europe right in the Parco Verde: “Something is moving. Giorgia Meloni has made a concrete commitment, a merit that others, before her, have not taken. If you love this land, do not row against it. We, priests, journalists, writers, must be critical conscience, but always with clean hands, far from exploitation”.

Patriciello concludes his letter to Saviano with an invitation: "The latest murders do not demonstrate the failure of the Caivano model, but are the poisoned fruit of decades of inattention to the drama of the Camorra, of the land of fires, of our suburbs. I wish you all the best, Roberto, and I invite you once again to return to Parco Verde. God bless you."