Airovis Ávila Pérez has not had peace for more than a year. All this time he has not stopped looking for his son who disappeared in December 2020 and whom he hopes is still alive. Delays in the police investigation, lack of information and discouragement have taken a toll on the mother who this week gave her testimony to 14ymedio.
Yosvany Villar Ávila was 14 years old the day his family saw it for the last time in the corner of your house. Now, in her modest home in Luyanó, in Havana, the mother clings to the chronological narration of what she has lived through in this time, while keeping her gaze fixed on the phone, as if the news were to appear on the screen. he has waited so long.
Ávila says that from the first moment she went to the police to file a complaint because, according to her explanation, her son was not in the habit of arriving home late or spending the night out. However, the officers told him that he had to wait 72 hours because “it was too early and he could be at the home of a friend or family member.”
“The day he left here and did not return, I was in the corner of my house talking to a man who was almost always making sure that I was not there to come and take him for a walk,” explains the woman who has reviewed one and another You see in your mind the last hours before your son disappeared.
Ávila describes the suspect as 29 years old, named Ariel, and adds that he is now in prison “because he tried to rape a child,” which arouses his worst fears.
Ávila describes the suspect as 29 years old, named Ariel, and adds that he is now in prison “because he tried to rape a child,” which raises his worst fears about what may have happened to Yosvany. “I told the head of Juvenile Care from the first moment, but he told me that I could not suspect that man if there was no evidence.”
As the woman speaks, the voices of her youngest children can be heard from an adjoining room. Yosvany’s absence occurred shortly after giving birth to her twins. Although Ávila gave birth in November 2020, one of the babies had low birth weight and was only discharged on December 8, her son disappeared three days after she returned home.
Coping with the loss has not been easy. The woman has had to resort to drug treatment to calm her nerves and has attempted suicide twice. But the pills don’t lessen the anguish and every time Ávila asks the police about the status of the investigation, he receives unconvincing responses.
Months ago, a report from a witness who said he saw the child accompanied by an adult yielded a spoken portrait of the possible companion, but the search for someone with those signs has had no results. “Nothing, no sign of the child appears anywhere,” emphasizes the mother, who has also been involved in the inquiries and investigations.
He assures that those police inquiries lasted “about a week” and that when he returned to Aguilera’s unit they told him that they had not been able to continue the search for the suspect “because there was no fuel.” Then she returned home with the promise of the uniformed men that they would call her when they resumed the investigation. but so far they haven’t.
“That boy who was always looking for Yosvanito, is in prison for trying to rape a child here in La Loma del Burro,” she explains worried, but the police have not linked him to the disappearance of her son.
“Work is being done, but we have to wait,” the policemen repeat, but so far they have not given him any new information. “What surprises me is that in Cuba a mother has to wait so long for her child to appear. He was lost in December 2020 and we are in January 2022. On the 11th of this month I am one year and one month old. without my son. “
Annoyed with the delays, Ávila filed a complaint with the Citizen Service office in the Plaza de la Revolución. They only responded four months later when an official from that entity visited her. “A man came on a motorcycle, he told me that I could not have an open complaint, that I should put on a paper that I was satisfied with what is being done with the case.”
“I think no mother can be happy when he loses a son. It’s hard, people see that I have seven children and that, since I have seven children, if one has already been lost, it is lost. But the other six do not cover the hole that the one who is lost has left me. “
One of Ávila’s greatest fears is that the police search will be abandoned. “They told me that when a year passed they would close the child’s file”
One of Ávila’s greatest fears is that the police search will be abandoned. “They told me that when a year passed they would close the child’s file because that is what is done in cases of disappeared persons.” For the moment, he plans to return to the Citizen Service office in the Plaza de la Revolución: “If the president doesn’t know, he has to find out.”
On January 6, Three Kings Day, Ávila wrote a message to Miguel Díaz-Canel on the social network Twitter: “I have a lost child for a year and I want my president to help me find him, please help me.” But the text has not received a response yet and this Saturday no user had reacted to the desperate claim.
Through social networks he also tries to send a message to his son. “I miss you a lot, I thought I would spend your 15 years with you but I know it will not be possible, I am very disappointed with your search,” she wrote last October a few days before Yosvany’s birthday.
I have a lost child for 1 year and I want my president to help me find it, please help me ? @DiazCanelB pic.twitter.com/K1jfh4NuzO
– airovis avila (@AirovisA) January 6, 2022
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our journal. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
