Yolanda Mamani Cayo / La Paz
The spouses Miguel Pañuni and María Acho, natives of the Sita community and farmers in the La Paz municipality of Inquisivi, have been missing for 49 days and their four children and relatives feel abandoned by the Police. Almost resigned, they indicated that they are still trying to find them and are crying out for help from the population to find them.
Both disappeared on the Inquisivi-La Asunta stretch, where they were going on January 27 to sell peaches. “All the authorities have abandoned us, the Police have not sent us any more reports, on our side we have begun to search and we have already exhausted our resources,” said Óscar Pañuni Acho, the eldest son of Miguel and María.
Óscar said that on Thursday, January 27, his parents left their region in their vehicle with a load of peaches that they harvested in their fields. The destination was the town of La Asunta, in the Sud Yungas province, however, from that day on they had no further contact with their parents.
“The last clue we got is from a (surveillance) camera in Villa Barrientos (Cajuata municipality, Inquisivi) where the car can be seen. That was the last time we’ve seen them. The camera only captured that the vehicle was passing through the sector”, said Óscar.
In early February, the Police published a notice in their sector of missing persons giving the details of the spouses. There it is read that Miguel Pañuni Quispe is 44 years old, 1.70 meters tall, dressed in a green sweatshirt, blue jeans and black slippers. Miguel has a tattoo of the barracks on his right hand.
He gave the following information about his wife: María Acho Marca de Pañuni, 43 years old, is 1.47 meters tall, was wearing a long-sleeved beige blouse, a blue skirt and black cholita shoes. “Both left their home in the town of Sita at around 11:00 p.m. towards La Asunta.”
One of the hypotheses of the disappearance of Miguel and María is that the car fell into the river. Both undertook the journey at night along those winding roads towards the Yungas. Óscar fears that his parents have suffered a traffic accident, taking into account that at that time due to the intense rains there were several accidents. The area of La Asunta also has several sectors with various geological faults that make these roads impassable.
“The police abandoned us”
Óscar asked the Police and the population to help him find his parents. “Please help us, don’t forget about the case. The Police have already abandoned us, they haven’t called us for a long time,” revealed Óscar. The Pañuni family resides in the community of Sita, within the municipality of Inquisivi, which is one of the largest peach production areas, products that the locals take to La Asunta and Chulumani to market. The peasants carry their loads along these trails, in many cases in motorized vehicles without license plates.
La Asunta has one of the largest fruit fairs in this region of Yungas, which is also attended by community members from other areas of the La Paz tropics. However, access to that municipality is always difficult, due to its narrow paths that are almost hanging over the precipice and the mighty rivers.
If the population has any information about the Pañuni spouses, they can contact the family at cell phones 69881928 and 75887477 or at the Police numbers: PAC 120, BOL 110 and 2285320 and 122 of the Trafficking and Trafficking Division of the Special Force of Fight Against Crime.
The regions
- Community • Sita is a small community in the municipality of Inquisivi, from where Miguel Pañuni and María Acho left for La Asunta on January 27 with a load of peaches grown on their land.
- fair • In the capital of the municipality of La Asunta, one of the largest fruit fairs in the region is held. The couple supposedly arrived there, but there is also the hypothesis that they suffered an accident on the way to the area.
