The odyssey of the returnees; they return to die in their land

Nestor Nina Zarate decided to die in Bolivia. Nestor is 35 years old and had a bright future. He is a mathematician and in Brazil he managed to finish a master’s degree and cancer cut short the possibility of finishing a doctorate. Besides, This disease also took away the dream of continuing to teach at the Federal University of Minas Gerais.

On March 23 of this year, he was admitted to a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, but the stomach pains already warned in September 2022 thatthat something sad was to come. Terminal cancer was detected in his stomach. He was admitted to the hospital and there he received the news: his illness had no solution. With that news he just wanted to live his last days in his land. At 4:54 p.m. on April 28, he landed in the city of El Alto. She left the airport on a stretcher, without strength and with a smile that tried to hide the pain she feels inside.

Nestor was with his family. They hugged him. They cried with him. Fate already has its way and resignation is still difficult to assume in those close to you. His mother, Bonifacia Zarate, would not stop crying. She saw her son without strength from her and she only squeezed her hand. She, at the beginning of 2022, already suspected that Néstor had a disease.

When her son arrived on vacation in El Alto, the city where he was born, Mrs. Bonifacia saw him as skinny and somewhat unstable. He told him that he was sick, to get checked out by a doctor. Nestor replied that he was fine, that he just had no appetite and stopped eating.

“He arrived last year. Skinny has always come, we told him: aren’t you bad son?, ‘no mom, I’ve had everything checked, it’s just the food, I can’t eat much’, he told me ‘My stomach swelled, I have reduced eating and I had traboco (vomiting)’”, recounted the young man’s mother.

On March 23 the sad news reached them. Nestor’s tutor took his doctoral candidate to the hospital. From there he contacted the family and told them that Néstor had severe pain in his stomach. A few days later the news of the cancer ended the illusion of those close to him. And the worst thing is that they were told that this cancer is terminal and that there is nothing to do from the clinical field.

Rosemary Nina Zárate is Nestor’s sister. She can’t believe that her brother is going through this ailment. She remembers him as an athletic and studious young man. “Last year he arrived (in Bolivia) thinner than usual, more listless and we thought it was because of the stress of his thesis that he was defending. That’s how we told him how he was doing and he told us that he was eating, but when he ate solids he swelled up. the stomach and I imagined that it was just a discomfort because of what I was going through at that moment ”, lamented Rosemary.

In the first four months of 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs managed the repatriation of 102 compatriots in a situation of vulnerability, fulfilling the work for consular assistance and protection of the Bolivian community abroad. Nestor was part of this benefit.

The Vice Minister of Institutional and Consular Management, Eva Chuquimia, explained that one of the services provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to achieve the repatriation of compatriots in a situation of vulnerabilityvictims of trafficking and trafficking and also the return of the mortal remains of those who have died and whose families do not have the necessary financial resources to return them to the country.

“Where an incident occurs that affects Bolivian citizens abroad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides assistance and provides legal and logistical assistance through consular management; That is the main mandate we have: safeguard the integrity and take care of the fulfillment of their rights and thus avoid any injustice or arbitrariness that threatens them,” said Chuquimia.

Néstor is now admitted to an oncology health center in the city of La Paz and there he will spend a few days for observation to see if they can take him home. At the moment, his relatives hug him, give him a lot of love and try not to be affected. to give strength to Nestor.

“The patient (Néstor) arrived with specialized care, was transferred to an oncological health center, because we need proof of your state of health, that it is stable; If it is stable, it will be kept for a period of observation.”explained Saúl Calderón, Secretary of Health of the Mayor’s Office of El Alto.

A 14-year-old Bolivian adolescent, who remained in a vulnerable situation in Peru, was also repatriated. The boy wandered alone through the streets of Ilo. He was attended by the Bolivian consulate in that city, which coordinated since May 2022 with the Peruvian authorities dand the Pampa Inalámbrica Sectional Police Station for transfer to a reception center in Moquegua.

The teenager is from the Sud Yungas province, in La Paz. Together with the Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents of the municipal government of La Paz, the family situation of the minor was verified. In addition, their admission to a reception center was managed.

This It is the first case of a repatriation of a minor without the company of their parents, as explained by Vice Minister Chuquimia, who added that the young man will resume his school work and receive technical professional training in computing, screen printing and baking.

In this first quarter, the repatriation of Bolivians who were left in a vulnerable situation due to the earthquake in Turkey was also managed, when ten compatriots were rescued and repatriated. Also during the social conflicts in Peru, seven Bolivians were repatriated. While, in the cases of human trafficking and smuggling, in the first quarter of this 2023 the assistance and repatriation of six compatriots was achieved.

One of the cases from the earthquake in Turkey belongs to the Escobar Santos family. An adult over the age of 61 and her two granddaughters, aged ten and four, were repatriated.

They were in Istanbul, Turkey, at high risk of vulnerability due to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that affected this country on February 6. Now they are carefully in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.