Aug 24, 2017: Letter in Spanish from a Colombian man in prison in HK for drug trafficking

I am a Colombian national of 47 yrs old. I have a wife and three children, who are my home and happiness, in the city of Pereira. Father, I had a very difficult situation where I was unable to economically support my family and I too was sick; I had poor blood circulation, a hernia and retetion of liquid in my feet.

Due to my age and my sickness, I could not get work in any factory. I had to work on the street all night to bring something home. I am a person who has always been an honest and hard worker for his family. This is my story:  the moment arrived when we had nothing to eat or pay the rent. I then started to borrow to pay for daily, weekly and monthly interest on loans which are called “Drop  by Drop”. The work was getting worse and harder each day. The people who make such loans are backed up by a group known as “Cordillera” (‘The Mountain Range’); when you are late or can’t pay the loan, they take away the most valuable belongings in the house, such as the fridge, TV etc, as well as threaten the family.

The work that is most common among the poor in Pereira is the sale of “mobile phone minutes”, or confectionary or sweets. There were times when I cried from powerlessness and grief, when I could not pay our debts. Due to the stress, my wife got sick. I am going to enumerate the debts you have to pay

1.       Daily: 100,000 Pesos becomes 125,000 after 25 days; 200,000 becomes 256,000 after 32 days etc.

2.       Weekly: 200,000 Pesos becomes 252,000 after 6 weeks

Fr John, due to this situation, a person told me that they can give me a job if I travel to Brazil (Rio de Janeiro). He said he didn’t know the details of the job, but that it paid well, so that it would help me to pay the rent and food for my family. So I agreed. I arrived in Brazil where they told me that my job would be to bring a “suitcase or bag” to a factory in Hong Kong, for them to have as a model.

I told them that such simple work was very rare, because they said they would give me $10,000 and that if I had any doubts, to examine the suitcase, which I did, and saw nothing abnormal. But they had camouflaged the drugs very well inside.

When I was caught, I wanted to die of sadness, seeing that not only I, but my whole family was being condemned, by people with no scruples to make us fall into this evil.

My family is composed of my wife (...), and 3 sons (...). Fr John, I beg you to put my case to the authorities, and thank you with all my heart, praying that you will be able to help many others who have fallen into this network of evil.