Disappearance of a Colombian in Paris: "Help us find my uncle José"

“My uncle is 74 years old.

He measures 1.62 m, is of strong build, has a beard and white hair.

He speaks neither French nor English, only Spanish.

Help us find him, we are very worried.

»

Since Monday June 13, Tatiana Vargas, her niece, and seven other members of her family passing through Paris have had no news of José Vargas Astudillo.

The family, originally from Cali (Colombia), is on vacation in Europe.

After Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, José had to fly, with his brother, his nephews and nieces, to Italy, where part of the family lives.

“My father, Miguel Angel, flew with my sister, a cousin, and those who were traveling with us.

I stayed in Paris to find my uncle”, explains Tatiana.

This Monday, José, a retiree, former high school history teacher, is getting a little impatient as lunch takes a long time to prepare.

For the last day in France, he wants to visit some emblematic places of the capital.

“We agreed to meet in the Luxembourg Gardens and he left well before us, around 2 p.m.

»

"It is not customary of the fact"

Logically, he had to take the RER D from the Vigneux-sur-Seine station (Essonne), close to their vacation spot, an Airbnb in the suburbs.

Notre-Dame de Paris, the Latin Quarter… José intends to enjoy a morning under the Paris sun.

A dream city in Colombia, a symbol of romance and culture.

“Finally, we went directly to the Luxembourg Gardens, where we arrived a little before 3:30 p.m.,” continues his niece.

There, they wait for him until almost 8 p.m., before returning to the rental, in case he has returned.

On Tuesday, with one of her uncles, Tatiana reported the disappearance of José to a police officer at the Châtelet-les Halles station.

“He has some money on him, but we don't know how much.

He must be completely lost.

And it does not look like him, he is not customary to the fact, ”declared to the police Tatiana, who asked this Wednesday to see the films of the surveillance cameras of the RER in Vigneux-sur-Seine, in vain.

Has he been assaulted?

Victim of a malaise or an accident that would have caused him to lose his memory?

Tatiana telephones several hospitals, firefighters, without result.

“Since then, we have been looking for him everywhere.

I show his picture in the street.

The network of Latinos in Paris helped us with posts on Facebook,” she says.

Reported on line 12

This is how she learns that José would have been seen by two different people on line 12, around 7 am this Wednesday.

Tatiana goes there and questions a metro driver who also recognizes him in the photo.

“He wanders.

He is a shy person, isolated by language and who does not have a cell phone.

The driver saw him heading for line 6, which I took to look for him.

»

Tatiana then goes to Roissy airport, in case he has tried to find his little group leaving for Italy.

She tries to broadcast an oral message, but is refused, on the pretext that it is an adult who has the right to disappear if he wants.

“With the heat, perhaps without money to eat, my uncle, who is undergoing treatment for hypertension, may be dehydrated, worries the niece.

Here, he has no reference.

»

On the Place de Clichy side, where he would have been seen, she distributes wanted notices, as well as in Latin restaurants.

The Red Cross and the consulate have been notified.

The whole family was supposed to return to Colombia on June 21, but Tatiana cannot imagine returning without José.

If you have crossed paths with this Native American-looking septuagenarian, dressed in a light blue polo shirt, beige pants and green and white tennis shoes, who was carrying a black backpack on the day of his disappearance, you can call his niece Tatiana (

, on WhatsApp) or Patricia (

).