30-06-2016, 12:46 PM
And on the opposite side [that of goodness, humanity] were a few...here is the brief story of one....
04/28/16
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Forty years ago, Roberto Kozak, an official with IOM (or the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration [ICEM] as it was known then), was instrumental in the release and relocation of more than 30,000 political prisoners from Chile.
Fast forward to January 2010, when Roberto and his son, Nikolai, had just arrived in front of Chile's Museum of Memory and Human Rights, which was being inaugurated that day. Suddenly, his father's attention was placed firmly on this individual in the large crowd that had gathered for the ceremony. This individual was also looking directly at Roberto.
"I felt a very strong connection. They walked towards each other and embraced," recalled Nikolai, then 20, "and the tears began to fall. I had never seen him like this."
The man in the crowd was Dr. Patricio Bustos. The first time Roberto had seen him was in the mid-70s, when he was heading ICEM in Chile. In one of the many visits to the political prisoners' detention center in Tres Alamos, Patricio caught Roberto's attention. Despite the torture, Patricio was doing gymnastics. "I was tremendously impressed," recalled Roberto, who ended up helping Patricio leave the country.
"There, in Tres Alamos, I saw Robert Kozak as a person who exuded solidarity and humanity," recalled Patricio. Not only did Roberto prepare the paperwork to get him out of the detention center, but he also helped him reunite with his wife in Italy.
"To meet with Roberto, as a free man, in my own country, meant a lot to me," said Patricio.
Roberto Kozak passed away in September 2015.
Read more (in Spanish)
Roberto Kozak speaking about IOM's role in saving thousands of Chilean political prisoners (Spanish)
The Man Who Saved 30,000 Political Prisoners
04/28/16
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![[Image: cl20160428-blog1.jpg?itok=5rEqpEQN]](https://weblog.iom.int/sites/default/files/styles/content-picture/public/photo/cl20160428-blog1.jpg?itok=5rEqpEQN)
Roberto Kozak, then Chief of the IOM Mission in Chile, welcomes refugees returning to Chile in 1993 after the dictatorship. Photo: IOM 1993
Forty years ago, Roberto Kozak, an official with IOM (or the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration [ICEM] as it was known then), was instrumental in the release and relocation of more than 30,000 political prisoners from Chile.
Fast forward to January 2010, when Roberto and his son, Nikolai, had just arrived in front of Chile's Museum of Memory and Human Rights, which was being inaugurated that day. Suddenly, his father's attention was placed firmly on this individual in the large crowd that had gathered for the ceremony. This individual was also looking directly at Roberto.
"I felt a very strong connection. They walked towards each other and embraced," recalled Nikolai, then 20, "and the tears began to fall. I had never seen him like this."
The man in the crowd was Dr. Patricio Bustos. The first time Roberto had seen him was in the mid-70s, when he was heading ICEM in Chile. In one of the many visits to the political prisoners' detention center in Tres Alamos, Patricio caught Roberto's attention. Despite the torture, Patricio was doing gymnastics. "I was tremendously impressed," recalled Roberto, who ended up helping Patricio leave the country.
"There, in Tres Alamos, I saw Robert Kozak as a person who exuded solidarity and humanity," recalled Patricio. Not only did Roberto prepare the paperwork to get him out of the detention center, but he also helped him reunite with his wife in Italy.
"To meet with Roberto, as a free man, in my own country, meant a lot to me," said Patricio.
Roberto Kozak passed away in September 2015.
Read more (in Spanish)
Roberto Kozak speaking about IOM's role in saving thousands of Chilean political prisoners (Spanish)
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass