I used to trust people easily, thinking everyone was good. Perhaps it was due to my naiveté and lack of experience. I was born into a respectable family during a difficult time in my country, marked by conflict and crisis. This forced us to move constantly.
I studied from a young age with the goal of becoming a professional. I graduated, completed my military service, and then entered university to study commercial engineering. I worked during the day in private security and had several close friends from university.
I didn’t understand how illegal businesses operated or how seemingly good people could professionally deceive and manipulate others.
A trusted friend introduced me to some other people at a party. We spent weekends and traveled together.
During a vacation, I was strolling around São Paulo when I received a call from my friend. He told me about some acquaintances he had in Brazil who were very kind and could host me at their home. I agreed to stay for a few days, and my friend said they would call me since I had given them my number.
A few hours later, they called, and I gave them my location. They came to pick me up in a black SUV and took me to their house inside the favela, a place where even the police don’t go and where criminal groups operate by their own rules. There, you can only obey or face fatal consequences.
That place is scary because there are a lot of criminals with guns who rob, kidnap, and kill. I started to suspect that something wasn’t right and that these acquaintances weren’t good people.
Once I arrived at their house, they treated me well, gave me a nice room and food. However, they wouldn’t let me go outside and kept the door locked. When I wanted to go to the store, they wouldn’t let me, saying it was too dangerous because there were a lot of criminals and gunshots could be heard.
They told me, “Tell me what you want to buy, and I’ll buy it for you. Write down what you want on this piece of paper.”
Then they told me about Dubai, a very elegant and luxurious city, and that if I wanted to travel there, they would pay for my round-trip ticket and hotel stay. I was surprised and asked if they were serious. They said yes and asked for my passport to buy the ticket.
I gave them my passport, and one of them went to buy the ticket. Later, he returned with the flight ticket: Brazil to Dubai and Dubai to Hong Kong, round trip.
I said, “Why Hong Kong too? We only said Dubai.” Their expressions and personalities changed, and I got scared. They started firing shots into the air and shouting, “Just listen to me and do what I tell you!”
When the day of the trip arrived, they brought a black bag containing some white capsules. I asked what they were, and they told me they were medicine.
I was used as an object for trafficking, under duress. I was practically kidnapped.
They forced me to swallow them, and I absolutely refused. They started threatening to kill me. When I tried to escape, several of them held me down, and in the struggle, I hit my mouth against one of their heads and broke a tooth.
Afterward, I tried to make a phone call, and while I was on the phone, they took it from me and smashed it on the floor. They told me, “You can’t call anyone. If you call anyone again, we’ll kill you, and you’ll leave here dead. You’d better obey us and start swallowing those capsules.”
One of them said, “I’ll help you, little brother.” He forced the capsules down my throat with a device he made by bending my toothbrush after heating it up. My phone screen was shattered, my toothbrush was bent from the fire, and my tooth was broken.
So I swallowed those capsules under threat of death inside the favela. When I finished, they took me to Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo.
They told me not to talk to anyone and that one of them would follow me, watching my every move, and that I shouldn’t tell anyone that one of them was following me.
On the plane, I had severe stomach pain. I vomited up some of the capsules.
When I arrived in Hong Kong, customs officials asked me where I was from and forced me to sign some papers to go to the hospital for X-rays. At the hospital, the translator answered the questions the inspector had taken from me as statements.
MY REFLECTION
I never thought I’d be in prison, but everything happens for a reason. Trusting the wrong people landed me here.
I just had the mindset of a student who wanted to become a professional and live a peaceful life. This shock taught me that not everything in life is good, and I needed to have this experience to understand it better.
I always lived well, studied, and acted properly. Now I understand that life is short, and we must value it.
Everything has its time, and we can always improve. This experience taught me a lot about life and gave me hope that everything is temporary, even hardships.
I understand now that organized groups exist all over the world. I am an innocent victim. The real culprits are the groups that sell drugs and coordinate with the cartels.
I ask the authorities to understand my situation. I am just a student who needs to return to my country to continue my studies.
Note: This letter has been translated from its original in Spanish. Switch language to read the original letter.