00:00Father, I'm willing to listen to all the questions you have to formulate you and the whole team.
00:04Alejandro Bosi spent 45 minutes with Elian's parents.
00:08How long have you been there, Father? How long have you been competing in that place?
00:16And I, about three and a half years ago in July, I would be turning four years old.
00:23As a parish here, I am living in Ballesteros.
00:27And I have to attend the locality of Ballesteros Sur and others.
00:31Maybe the question is inappropriate, but I say, appealing to these three and a half years of experience,
00:36of knowing the community, what do you think happened?
00:41Look, I really have no idea. I have a lot of uncertainty, like a lot of people here in the locality.
00:50We are all worried.
00:52Moreover, yesterday at 8 p.m. in the chapel of San Juan Bautista in Ballesteros Sur,
00:57we were praying a mass for Loan, asking for his appearance,
01:01praying for all the people who are intensely looking for him.
01:06You know that we are not lucky enough to know the parents.
01:11I know that you have been with them, that you know them from before.
01:14How would you describe Elian's family?
01:19Elian's family, well, I barely knew them, because when the oldest of the daughters,
01:28I have a return that makes me a little confused.
01:31He has a turn, let's see if we can verify the turn, please.
01:34Excuse me, because I ...
01:36No, it's very good, it's very good.
01:38I barely knew them, he told me.
01:41Yes, for example, Maribel follows the return.
01:46No, no, it's fine.
01:48The question, there they will try to correct it, but the question has to do with the family.
01:52Well, the oldest of the daughters had received the Sacrament of Confirmation,
02:00I think the year before.
02:02From there I know her, because she was present at the mass celebrations in Ballesteros Sur.
02:09I remember that after she received the sacrament,
02:13at the end we all ate a cake and there the parents were present.
02:18Then it was a greeting, a little chat, but no more than that.
02:25Father, I don't want to get into the secret of confession or talk or anything,
02:32but do the parents believe that Elian was taken?
02:37Look, I limited myself to doing a work of accompaniment and containment.
02:46I didn't start inquiring, my questions didn't go to the side of where Elian was,
02:52what do you know, but I asked them how they felt, how they had spent this moment.
03:00And well, what I heard is that what caught their attention is that he disappeared out of nowhere.
03:07So they can't find an explanation, they tell me that Elian is a very docile boy,
03:13that he was always very close to his mother.
03:16Maybe the older brothers are a little more naughty, more playful,
03:21but he was a calmer boy.
03:24So it caught their attention that he disappeared all of a sudden.
03:30Father, I see that each community has its own rites, its own customs.
03:35There is a lot of talk about the presence of a shaman or a healer,
03:41or as someone might say, in the area, who came from Perico, Jujuy,
03:46and who used to treat, even medically, the Bolivian community of Ballesteros and Ballesteros Sud.
03:54I don't know if you know this person, if you knew that there was a person
03:59who regularly came from Jujuy to have this kind of relationship with the community.
04:08I don't know this person in particular.
04:12Yes, I know that in this area, not only here in the communities that work in the brickworks,
04:18but in our villages, it is frequent that there are healers.
04:24Well, here, talking with the parents, what comes up is this,
04:30that maybe in the dialogue with them, they tell you,
04:35you are bad or you are going through a difficult situation because they envy you.
04:39That is the most common thing that healers usually complain about.
04:44So people are worried, suggested.
04:47What I told them, trying to encourage them, is that there are a lot of people who love them,
04:53there are a lot of people who are praying for them, there is a whole country that is worried.
04:57There are many signs of affection, and well, I think that encouraged them a lot.
05:03Because above all, they have felt very contained by Argentines,
05:08and by many people from here in the village who accompany them.
05:11The first thing you want, Father Alejandro, is that Lian appears and that he returns with his family.
05:16You will have seen that there are a lot of versions.
05:19Some speak of a kind of between the father of Lian and another, and adjustments of accounts.
05:25You who know the community,
05:27do you think it is possible that there is such a great risk so that someone can take revenge on a creature?
05:38Look Luis, I think you should ask that to someone who is more focused on the subject of research.
05:47I do not have elements to seriously argue on the subject.
05:52Yes, what I can tell you is that it surprises me a lot that it has disappeared in this way,
05:57and it leaves us all wondering.
06:00What we have been doing is praying for them, praying for the family,
06:05for the whole community that is broken by this situation.
06:08And well, now I want to see, they have given me permission to continue doing an accompaniment,
06:14simply being with them, listening to them, we could pray together.
06:19So I think that can be my humble contribution.
06:22Father, did I get it wrong, or do the parents fervently believe that Lian, fortunately, is alive?
06:31When you said, I do not remember if the mother or the father,
06:35he said that they had not dreamed of him in the form of an angel.
06:41I do not want to misinterpret your words.
06:44No, it is not as you say.
06:47I think it is a belief that they have strongly rooted,
06:51which has to do with their culture.
06:53And well, they think that since Lian has not yet appeared in the dreams of any member of the family,
07:01they believe that this is a sign that he is alive, and they are waiting for him.
07:07Sure.
07:09The mother, they told us today that she is from the Bolivian community,
07:15does she communicate easily in Spanish, or is it difficult to do so,
07:19because her native language is Quechua, Father Alejandro?
07:25I was chatting with Placida and Elias, who is the father.
07:31Normally, they always spoke to me in Spanish,
07:35I did not hear a word in Quechua.
07:38The truth is that they handle Spanish very well,
07:41and the one who speaks very fluently is the eldest daughter.
07:45I think that has a lot to do with access to education in this town.
07:51They are convinced that that Saturday at three in the afternoon they went to sleep,
07:56Lian was there, and after they know what happened.
07:59This is what they tell you, right?
08:04Look, the truth is that I did not start to inquire,
08:08I know that there have been many previous interviews,
08:12many inquiries by the media, by the police,
08:17so I wanted to limit myself to listen to how they were.
08:21Accompany them, of course.
08:23My questions, yes, my questions were more on the side of how they felt,
08:27how they had faced this situation.
08:30Look, they told me that at first it was very shocking
08:34because they felt overwhelmed by the media from everywhere.
08:39People who are not used to, well, I am not used to being in front of so many media.
08:44Imagine these people.
08:46So, well, they felt invaded.
08:50Then the police, the gendarmerie did an important job of containment
08:55and now they are calmer.
08:56Father, has some kind of psychosis been generated in the people?
09:00Well, they are small towns, I mean, the saying says,
09:03small town, big hell.
09:05Is there some kind of psychosis or are there many versions in the people
09:11that are going around and that you have, from your place of authority, to limit?
09:20And there are many versions regarding this
09:23and in the people there are usually many versions regarding anything, right?
09:27So, what I try is not to get involved.
09:31When different types of theory begin to be argued,
09:35well, I stay out of it.
09:37I have tried to talk more with, I don't know,
09:40with the principals of the school where the boys go to class
09:43to have information as objective as possible
09:47and see how I can help.
09:50Father, thank you.
09:51Thank you very much.
09:52We are going to let him have lunch.
09:53I don't know if Cristian Balbo wants to ask you something else.
09:57No, no.
09:58I just want to ask Father if you have the feeling that this family,
10:05at this moment, is convinced that Lian is still here in this area
10:14because I have understood that she,
10:17according to what they said in the first instance,
10:19would no longer be here in the area.
10:22Look, I noticed them as very worried,
10:26well, as overwhelmed by uncertainty
10:31and, well, waiting for an answer.
10:35I think that the best thing we can do, well,
10:38those of us who have faith, is to pray for them,
10:40to accompany them with our prayer
10:42and those of us who do not have faith,
10:44to throw a good vibe, to think positively,
10:48giving all the best to these people.
10:52Thank you, Father.
10:53Thank you both.
10:55We hope we have not delayed the lunch too much, Father.
10:58I send you a hug.
11:01A big hug for you, Luis,
11:03and, well, I take this moment to invite all the people to this,
11:10to pray for the family, to pray for the community.
11:13They are having a very hard time.
11:15Of course.
Comments