Latest update March 21st, 2025 7:03 AM
Latest News
Brazilian woman seeks long-lost relatives in Guyana
A Brazilian woman is desperate to find her long lost cousins whom she had only met once.
DEAD: Manoel
Francisco Costa Filo
Giselle Vale Costa says that her uncle, Manoel Francisco Costa Filo, who died six years ago after drowning in the Konawaruk River, fathered four children with a Guyanese woman.
She has not seen or heard of her relatives since her uncle’s passing. Vale Costa and her family back in Brazil, are now trying to locate their loved ones.
Costa Filo was a goldminer who supplied fuel to dredge owners.
He left his Annandale, East Coast Demerara home in October 2010. His lifeless body was pulled from the river between November 30 and December 2, 2010.
Costa Filo had been pinned by a huge pile of debris while diving.
According to his niece, her uncle had moved to Guyana some 15 years prior to his demise. During that time he met Satwantie Harpaul. Four children came out of that relationship: Francinettte; Abraham; Emanuel and Davi. Research done by this publication suggests that Francinettte and Abraham are now adults.
Vale Costa explained that she had been trying to track down her relatives, when she came across an article published about her uncle’s drowning in this newspaper.
“My uncle lived in Guyana for years until tragedy befell him. His family is very poor with four little children who are suffering”, she said.
The woman said that she would never forget the faces of her cousins who she said visited Brazil before their father died. She explained that she is hoping that they are still residing at the same address.
Satwantie Harpaul with her children some six years ago.
Vale Costa has never visited Guyana and pointed out that she will be overwhelmed with joy for her cousins to meet their paternal grandparents who live in the Portuguese speaking country.
“We want to contact them to be able to bring them to Brazil with their mother so that they can get to know their paternal grandparents… and for us to take care of them and their mother…his father (Costa Filo) has left a house here (in) Brazil”.
“Not only them (the children) I consider as my family…their mother too.” The only memory she has of her cousins is a photo that was posted of them with their mother in the media.
Costa Filo was laid to rest on local soil some two weeks after his death. When Harpaul was approached by a man who claimed to be a Brazilian friend of her husband and that he was in contact with the dead man’s relatives, she felt relieved.
But the woman had no idea that the friend was a “phony” even though her husband had never been in contact with his family during the time he lived here. It was reported that the friend was suspected to be smuggling the bodies of Brazilians who died in Guyana’s interior.
According to reports, the friend told Harpaul that her husband’s relatives were sending home a large amount of money to have his remains embalmed and shipped to Brazil. The friend had even authorized a city parlour to begin the process.
However, the friend later disappeared, leaving Harpaul to offset some expenses she could not have afforded. After seeking assistance from the Brazilian Embassy she was able to confirm that her husband’s relatives had no interest in having the body sent to Brazil because they could not have afforded the cost.
This ordeal ended when her husband’s former employer provided financial assistance to facilitate the release of her husband’s body.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of these people are kindly asked to call Giselle Vale Costa on +55 98 8486-8063.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
“One Guyana” is no less a national slogan than “Green Guyana”
Kaieteur News- The notion that “One Guyana” is a partisan slogan is pure poppycock. It is a desperate fiction... more
If Guyana’s President Ali is the “Zelensky of the Caribbean”, who is the Putin?
Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS, Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- In the latest... more
Weekend Cartoon
