In two separate incidences, two Belgians have disappeared in Colombia’s capital city, Bogota, since 2008, reported El Tiempo on Saturday.
Denis Maurice Jean Marie Pierre Heilporn was last seen in Bogota on November 25, 2008 by a Belgian embassy official who saw him board a bus heading the the south side of Bogota. Twenty-four days later Heliporn’s employee, Eliécer Narváez Beltrán, reported him missing to the police.
Heliporn had lived in Colombia for seven years and was a human rights activist. He had an organization in Santa Marta called Sueños de Mañana (Dreams of Tomorrow) that helped street children.
A friend of Heliporn, Eduardo Chavarro, said that it is possible that “some of the paramilitaries who abound in the region” had something to do with his disappearance.
Government officials have been unable to shed any light on Heliporn’s disappearance.
On April 30, 2010, Andre Benayer disappeared in Bogota as well. Benayer was last seen when he travelled from Cali to Bogota by plane. Airport cameras record his arrival in Bogota at 3:30 pm, but he was not seen after that.
Benayer was a businessman who was apparently interested in importing fruit pulp to Spain and Belgium. Alberto Cortes, a friend of Benayer’s, told El Tiempo that Benayer was traveling with a large amount of cash.
The businessman was a naturalized citizen of Belgian and was born in Israel. He was fluent in Hebrew, French, Arabic, and Spanish.
Cortez also said that although Benayer had a family in Brussles, he had a relationship with a young woman in Medellin and El Tiempo reports that in 2001 Benayer was convicted of cocaine trafficking in Brussels.
Last July, a Belgian newspaper reported that Benayer had been murdered by drug traffickers.
Colombia has seen over 50,000 disappearances many of which remain unsolved.