Some years back I met a lovely man called Carlos Luis Caceres-Callazo through an old friend. From a Puerto Rican background, he had trained as a lawyer then, to the disappointment of his family, instead of pursuing a career in law, decided to work for the UN High Commission for Refugees. At the time I met him, he had just started working for the UNHCR in Moscow and he entertained us, recounting his experiences there. These ranged from the mafia connected, strange gay bars that sprang up here and there, only to disappear again (including one with a huge glass tank in which naked young men swam), to his bafflement of the regularity he was stopped by the police in comparison to other foreigners there. The penny dropped when he began to work with Chechen refugees – through coincidence or some mysterious genetic synchronicity, he realised his hispanic appearance, resembled that of a Chechen.
Sadly, his life didn’t end well. After Moscow, he was sent to West Timor where, along with other UNHCR workers, he was murdered, burned and dragged through the streets by right wing militia members.
Remembering Carlos
See www.qsl.net/kd4syb/
and http://members.tip.net.au/~wildwood/01junresponsibility.htm
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