I am 76 years old and I was born in Lima, Peru. I am single and I have two children, one 45 years old and a 35-year-old daughter, but I have not heard anything from them in more than 30 years. My closest relative is (or was?) My 65-year-old sister, who had been hospitalized for breast cancer since before my trip to Hong Kong. Now I don’t know if he’s still alive because I have no way to call, since I don’t remember the numbers because they are on the phone that the police seized and there is no way to get it back or to be able to ask for the numbers, since it is part of the evidence.
I lived in Lima in a family house, but I was robbed by bad people and I was left living on the street. I didn’t have a job since at my age it’s difficult to find a job. Sometimes I was a security guard for cars and I could get to eat and sleep in a hotel of 20 soles a night (something like 8 dollars USD). Sometimes I had to beg for food at a restaurant when they were about to close.
Just one of those days, a man saw me in the restaurant asking for food. I remember him staring at me and, when I left, he came out to meet me a few meters from there and called me.
He asked me that if I was looking for a job and I immediately replied that of course, whatever it was, so he told me that the next day at 10 am he would be in that same restaurant and invited me to have coffee and we would talk about work.
The next morning I arrived at 9 am at the restaurant very excited to wait for that person, sometimes wondering if he would come or not, but he arrived at around 10:20 am. We sat down and he told me to order whatever I wanted.
He quickly got into the subject and asked me if I had ever traveled outside the country. I told him that only to Chile, to visit a relative, many years ago, and he said to me “well, now would you be interested in traveling to Hong Kong?” I asked him where Hong Kong was, and he told me “it’s very far, 48 hours by plane from Peru and for that reason you will earn very well and in American dollars.” I asked him “but what is the job?” As he quickly answered me:
“Look, at your age you know very well that it’s impossible to get a job and I don’t think you want to continue living on the street, right?” I replied that he was right, but I was also perceiving that there was something strange, and I told him “but if it’s something illegal then I’m doing it, I’m very old and I don’t think I would have the courage to do something like that.”
“But this is very easy! Because of your age they won’t suspect anything” was his answer and he proceeded to explain that I would carry liquid cocaine in my stomach, which he said, is undetectable by X-rays. I replied “No! It’s very dangerous… if I don’t die, I’ll surely go to prison,” “No, don’t worry!” He replied, “we have already done this several times” and showed me photos of plane tickets to Hong Kong, but I was a little shocked. That job left me very surprised, so I told him no, that it was very dangerous. “I suffer from my stomach, the idea alone already gave me a lot of unease, I don’t think I’m capable of doing something like that.” He told me “Ok. Don’t worry, think about it and if you change your mind, call me.” I said goodbye and he gave me 100 dollars. I tried to reject it, but he insisted. I took it and with that I was able to rent a room for an entire month.
After about a month, my sister called me. She was hospitalized because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Apparently it was very advanced. I went to visit her and saw her looking very ill. I had to buy some hospital things like cotton and serums because public health in Peru is like that. The person who is hospitalized must buy medicines and supplies such as cotton, gauze, etc. in advance or they will not be treated.
She explained to me that they had to operate on her to remove a breast and we needed money to pay for the surgery and the medicines for the treatment. It fell to me to see how to solve that situation. My only idea, after so much thought, was to accept the damn trip to Hong Kong. I thought I had no other alternative, because I have no communication with any of my other relatives and children. I thought out of my mind that the only one who had offered me help was that man who proposed the trip and gave me 100 dollars. I felt a little protected by him, as the only person in the world I could ask for help. I called him and he answered me immediately. He wanted to meet the next day. He was happy, he gave me 500 dollars to buy clothes, cut my hair, buy a suitcase, and I took 300 dollars to my sister. I bought har some things, and I told her not to worry, that I was already getting the money that was needed, and that I would be back in a week. Her face lit up, very relieved, so I left with more encouragement. All I said was “May God protect us.”
The next day the man picks me up in a taxi and takes me to a house where there were three other people. They showed me some bags with a liquid inside and a person swallows one and asks me to pay attention so I can learn. Then they gave me one with a liquid that was not a drug, it was water to do a test, according to them. And so it was, I tried 5 times but it was difficult for me to pass them. The sixth time it happened, I tried another one and I passed it too.
They told me that we were ready, that they were going to buy the ticket right now to leave as soon as possible. They gave me directions on when to leave the airport, take a taxi to the hotel and wait for a call. They only gave me the address of the hotel and 300 dollars.
GOODBYE PERU, GOODBYE FAMILY
The very next day everything was ready. They woke me up at 4 am to start swallowing the bags little by little. I got nervous but I tried to recover by taking air and thinking about my sister. The flight was at 3 in the afternoon. They gave me the directions again and took me to the taxi straight to the airport. I felt like throwing up because of anxiety, but that feeling came and went. I was just thinking about my sister leaving the hospital.
I finally arrived at the airport. I passed the controls and got on the plane. I was thinking about the man’s words “because of his age no one will suspect” so I felt a little comfortable and said to myself “I think it’s going to work.” Already on the 48-hour plane, heading to Hong Kong with two stopovers. The first few hours were not so difficult. I slept a little and we reached the first stopover and that’s when I started to feel uncomfortable, wanting to vomit, but I tried to control myself. We left for Dubai, 15 more hours of flight. Every time the discomfort was increasing, I just tried to sleep so as not to feel anything. When we reached the next stopover, I felt very bad. I felt I couldn’t keep anything down. I thought about getting it all out and flushing it in the bathroom, but I then I reasoned that I had already come this far, it was already late and these men were not going to believe me that I had to throw it away. Adding the image of my sister in the hospital, I gained strength and carried on.
When we landed in Hong Kong, I got off the plane, I walked for no more than 10 minutes when two policemen approached me. They were waiting for me. I didn’t understand anything they were telling me, I don’t speak English, let alone Cantonese. They just took me from one place to another.
I felt transported, I didn’t feel afraid, I think I knew I would go to prison, but my concern was not me, it was my sister. I felt that everything was falling on me and my sister. Now who would help her? How was I going to manage now so far from everything and without understanding a single word of what they were talking to me? I couldn’t believe what was happening, how everything being so bad for me got much worse. I just wanted to see my sister recovered at first, but now I’m in prison and I didn’t know that in Hong Kong they punish with very high penalties.
Here in a prison in Hong Kong we are stripped of absolutely everything: our clothes, our food, our music, our family. Only 10 minutes behind a cabin with glass and by phone is the relationship you have with a visitor. The bed without a mattress is hard, your shoulders hurt, your hip, everything depends on how you fall asleep. My left arm is broken just like my right leg, so it hurts every day, I can’t carry weight, but the conflicts of coexistence with people from other cultures who have different customs is the trigger for fights.
If anyone reads this letter, please, for God’s sake, never in your life, no matter how much they offer you, do not agree to bring drugs to Hong Kong.
Note: This letter has been translated from its original in Spanish. Switch language to read the original letter.