Thursday, December 31, 2020

Ethiopian migrant who became symbol of integration in Italy killed on her goat farm


ROME (Reuters) - An Ethiopian migrant who became a symbol of integration in Italy, her adopted home, has been killed on her farm where she raised goats for her cheese business, police said on Wednesday
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© Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian Agitu Idea Gudeta, 40, follows her goat herd through the mountain at Valle dei Mocheni near Trento

A Ghanaian employee on her farm in the northern Italian region of Trentino has admitted to killing Agitu Ideo Gudeta, 42, with a hammer and raping her, Italian news agency Ansa reported. The report could not immediately be confirmed.

Gudeta had made her home in the mountains of Trentino's Valle dei Mocheni, making goat's cheese and beauty products in her farm La Capra Felice (The Happy Goat), which was built on previously abandoned land.

Her story was reported by numerous international media, including Reuters , as an example of a migrant success story in Italy at a time of rising hostility towards immigrants, fueled by the right-wing League party.

Gudeta escaped from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, in 2010 after her participation in protests against 'land-grabbing' angered local authorities. Activists accused the authorities of setting aside large swathes of farmland for foreign investors.
© Reuters/ALESSANDRO BIANCHI FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian Agitu Idea Gudeta, 40, talks on her mobile phone as she chooses a goat milk cheese for a client at her dairy farm at Valle dei Mocheni near Trento

On reaching Italy she was able to use common land in the northern mountains to build her new enterprise, taking advantage of permits that give farmers access to public land to prevent local territory from being reclaimed by wild nature.
© Reuters/ALESSANDRO BIANCHI FILE PHOTO: A Mochena goat nuzzles up to Ethiopian Agitu Idea Gudeta, 40, at the her stable at the Valle dei Mocheni near Trento

Starting off with 15 goats, she had 180 by 2018 when she became a well-known figure.

"I created my space and made myself known, there was no resistance to me," she told Reuters in a story that year.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Gavin Jones, editing by Gareth Jones)

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