Woman secures release of Brazilian husband’s body after 15 days

Dec 14, 2010 News

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– may have exposed body smuggling racket

The long wait is now over and after two weeks, the Guyanese wife of a Brazilian miner will now be able to bury him on local soil.
Manoel Francisco Costa Filo died two weeks ago after he was pinned under water while diving in the Konawaruk River.
His body was brought to the city and when his reputed wife, Satwantie Harpaul, the mother of his four children, thought that she would give him a straightforward burial, an ugly ordeal ensued over the next two weeks.
This led to suspicions that persons were perpetrating a racket that involved the smuggling of bodies across the Guyana/Brazil border.
Harpaul, of Annandale, East Coast Demerara, believes that the suspected perpetrators were trying to do the same with her husband’s body, but thanks to the intervention of the Brazilian Embassy in Georgetown and some other personnel, including this newspaper, the suspected move was thwarted.

Harpaul’s ordeal commenced after the post mortem examination was performed on her husband’s body at the Georgetown Public Hospital mortuary, a few days after it arrived from the interior.
She had already made arrangements with an East Coast Demerara funeral parlour where she had her husband’s body lodged prior to burial.
She told this newspaper that she was then approached by a man who indicated that he was a Brazilian friend of her husband and that he was in contact with the dead man’s relatives in Brazil, to have the body shipped there for burial.
For the 15 years she had lived with Costa Filo, Harpaul, who does not understand Portuguese, had never had contact with his Brazilian relatives, so she had no idea that the ‘friend’ was a phony.
The man told her that Costa Filo’s relatives were sending a large sum of money to facilitate the embalming of his body so that it can be transported to Brazil.
He coerced her into removing the body from the East Coast Demerara parlour to a city parlour so that the embalming process could be carried out.
But suspicions began to surface when Harpaul, through another friend of her husband, contacted the relatives in Brazil, who informed her that they were never interested in having Costa Filo’s body returned to his homeland, since they did not have the financial means to do so.
However, the phony friend insisted that the body be embalmed and even authorised the city parlour to commence the process before disappearing when he realised that his scheme was beginning to unravel. Harpaul then made moves to halt the embalming but by then the parlour had already commenced the process racking up cost at almost $350,000.
Without the means to pay, Harpaul was faced with the reality of the parlour holding up her husband’s body, preventing an early burial.
“De man, wha come and tell me bout me husband body (going back to Brazil), he lef all de strain pon me,” Harpaul told this newspaper yesterday.
In the meantime, the phony friend had disappeared but not before promising her some money to offset the expenses for the halted embalming, which he never fulfilled.
Panic set in and Harpaul contacted the Brazilian Embassy for assistance. There she learnt that the man who had claimed to be her husband’s friend and who wanted to ship the body back to Brazil was not a Brazilian after all.
Officials at the Brazilian Embassy also confirmed that her husband’s relatives, who they had contacted had no interest in having the body sent to Brazil.
“De family dem seh dey don’t have nothing to do with Manoel body; that they nah have no money, so let I go ahead with my husband,” Harpaul said.
Try as she might to contact the phony friend, Harpaul was unsuccessful.
The police were contacted and the man was subsequently located. However, he managed to wriggle out of the situation by claiming that he was acting on the instructions of Harpaul, whom he had obviously conned.
A senior police officer who had met with Harpaul had indicated an interest in interviewing the phony friend, with a view to ascertaining his involvement in the suspected smuggling of bodies.
This newspaper subsequently learnt that the man and a few others with the same agenda are working in co with a tout for another funeral parlour to facilitate the smuggling of the bodies of Brazilian miners who die in Guyana’s interior.
A few weeks ago, police at Lethem held up two bodies on their way across the border and it was only until the intervention of Brazilian authorities who used diplomatic channels that they were released.
Harpaul’s ordeal ended when her husband’s former employer provided financial assistance to facilitate the release of her husband’s body so that he can finally rest in peace in his adopted homeland.
“I want thank Samantha (employers wife) for wha she help me, and the one and two Brazilian wha help me, ah want to thank all ah dem for what dey assist me,” Harpaul said.
She is still hopeful that she can recover some of the monies owed to her husband by miners for the supply of fuel, so that she can maintain her four children.
“De children tekkin on de problem with dey father because look today is 15 days, and dem ain’t get fuh see dem father till now,” Harpaul lamented.
Manoel Francisco Costa Filo’s body will be interred today at a cemetery on the East Coast of Demerara.

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