Five years in hell – Hungarian drug smugglers in the prisons of Peru

Mária Körömi works in Peru as the social worker of the Hungarian – Latin American Association and helps Hungarian prisoners survive the cruel conditions.

In the past years, she helped fourteen Hungarian prisoners survive the Peruvian hell.

Mária Körömi, social worker: Since they are foreigners, there’s no one to visit them. For instance, now, one of the prisoners is sick and there’s no one to help him with his medicine, but I can help with these things. I buy what they need, visit them, bring them packages. Their families send me money and sometimes we even get some support.

But let’s get back to Krisztián. He had started off to Hungary. The journey lasted for a couple of days. He is welcomed by his best friend at the Liszt Ferenc Airport. They haven’t seen each other for years. You can say that Krisztián is very excited, he’s been waiting for this moment for a long time. He saw awful brutality in the prisons of Peru. He says that murders and fights were regular. The majority of the guards were corrupt and if you didn’t have money, you had to sleep on the ground of the yard. Many times the guards even expected money for taking off someone’s handcuffs. You could only get any type of treatment if you had money. They never gave meat to the prisoners, usually oatmeal and rice was for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Krisztián: I’ve been waiting for this moment for five years, but now that it has come I’m trembling and I can’t believe that I’m finally at home. I’m going to kiss the ground straightaway.

Then he leaves to the city centre, where his kids are waiting for him. The moment they meet is truly touching. His older daughter was two years old when Krisztián was imprisoned, while this is the first time he meets his younger daughter. Krisztián’s daughter spent six years of her life without knowing her father. Even the journalist tears up when the six-year-old girl falls upon Krisztián’s neck while shouting “Dad, dad!”

Krisztián: I didn’t even know whether to cry or laugh, I only knew that I wanted to hug them and never let them go. It’s hard to describe this feeling after five years. I was waiting for this moment all along. But I still can’t describe how I feel. It’s like a dream, I have to bite myself. The little one calls me “dad”, for which I’m really happy since she had never seen me. This was the first time we met and I’m really happy that she considers me her father. This is all thanks to my wife, who told them about me and didn’t let them forget me.

The Hungarian – Latin American Association helped Krisztián get home. The President of the organisation is Sándor Balogh, who is also the president of the African-Hungarian Union.

President Sándor Balogh, Hungarian – Latin American Association:

One of the main activities of the Hungarian – Latin American Association aims to protect Hungarian young adults from getting imprisoned for drug smuggling, thus spending decades of their lives in prisons where human life isn’t worth a pin and where they have to go through sufferings we can’t even imagine.

In the opinion of the President of the association, Europeans are mostly roped in as dummies: They are only the baits, who get sacrificed so that big amounts of drug are smuggled through the border. We try to put an end to this with raising awareness since the opportunity of gravy – just like in the case of African frauds – can be enticing. This is why we try to attract attention to both the African an South American frauds and the issue of drug smugglers, thus unfolding the reality. As far as we know, currently 41 Hungarian drug smugglers are imprisoned in the different prisons of South America.

Krisztián wants to warn everyone enticed by the opportunity of gravy. Even though you’re offered three to eight thousand dollars for one case, East European smugglers are only roped in to be betrayed later on. The mafia uses them as dummies so that while the custom officers and policemen deal with them at the airport, the mafia can smuggle literally hundreds of kilograms of drug through the border behind their back.

Krisztián

It’s not worth it at all. I lost my family, my daughter, I had to wait six years to hug them. I don’t recommend anyone having a go at a business like this. Trust me, life in the prisons of Peru is the Hell itself.

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Source: GLOBS Magazine