He left home and was missing for a year.

Absolute mystery. No trace. Nothing at all is known about Cesare Mariano Calocchio, who is 75 years old, to be announced in November 2024. He would go out at nap time for his daily walk and never show up again.. “Oh, my dear, I’m going for a walk, and I’ll be back in a bit. It’s four o’clock. duckling“So he left a message for his wife, Ophelia, who had gone to lie down.

Neuquén, who is of Mapuche descent, but has resided in La Pampa since the mid-1990s. Calocchio is retired and lives with his wife and four children.

In General Asha, almost everyone knows Patito, as they call Calocchio because of his love of water and his flair for swimming. “It’s hard to think about third parties, that someone did something to you…If that were the case, nothing would appear, hey. Asha is a quiet and simple city, and the people are kind. “I cannot resign myself to the fact that the earth has swallowed up my old father in a town where nothing happens.”

Cesare noted that his father, for a time, He was suffering from dementia in its early stagesBut “he was treated and cared for appropriately, and lived an independent life,” says the 43-year-old son, who took on the responsibility of the search “in the face of absolute loneliness.”

A restaurant owner in 25 de Mayo, Buenos Aires province, Cesar questions the indifference of the state and justice.

“They abandoned me, and the research was insufficient and ineffective They even had to change the prosecutor due to his ineffectiveness. “His name was Juan Bautista Benitez, and the person who took the case from scratch was Paula Duscher.” He goes every week by car from Buenos Aires to La Pampa He faces the search for his father almost alone, “with a family member and when they can, a friendly police officer or firefighter joins them.”

“Could the earth swallow him?” Calluqueo asks around in confusion. After lunch on Sunday, November 10.”My mom went for a nap, and my dad went for a walk like he usually did.. He left a handwritten note on the table to discourage people from worrying. This meant that he was attentive to the smallest details, in case my mother got up before her nap.”

Man’s last record They are pictures taken by some cameras in different parts of General Asha: where it was noted that he was “off the road he took daily. “He lost his way. Something made him take another path.”.

Only two people claimed to have seen him walking along a country road known as Route 9, after which there were no more signs.

The Government of La Pampa, through the Undersecretary of Human Rights of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Rights, It offers a reward of $4,000,000 to anyone who provides truthful and conclusive data To locate the resident of General Asha, who was 74 years old at the time of his disappearance.

Persevering, even if her strength sometimes fades, Cesar says he has been living a nightmare for twelve months. “My life changed forever… With these words from my father, I finally realized that life is not fair, and that we don’t always get what we deserve (neither good nor evil) in the blink of an eye.” We can find ourselves in completely unknown and painful places and situations, “Capable of leaving us helpless and helpless in the face of the world.”

On Sunday, November 10, Cesar remembers telling his family, He started looking for him at seven in the evening and then filed a complaint. At the police station then run by David Rinaldi. When Cesare discovered this on the same day, he left his post at his restaurant 25 de Mayo and went to General Acha.

“And then this journey began, the path of research As lonely as he is confused and misguidedWithout a real research protocol, without dissemination of tools, without trained personnel and the complete absence of the state. The same state that should protect us is the one that discriminates against us Determine who to protect and who not to protect“He acts selectively absent,” he chews with anger.

There is a lot of anger, confusion, and helplessness built up in these twelve months of unanswered questions. “Not only were we desperate to face my father’s disappearance, we had to face it A war of egos between institutions that should have been working together The search protocol for people (police and firefighters) was launched from the zero minute. “I encountered bureaucratic and dehumanizing responses when the pressing matter was my father’s life,” Cesar vents.

When he talks about laziness and bureaucracy, Cesare explains in detail, but not without passages of pain and tears. “There wasn’t a completely organized process. I asked for more tracking dogs, they only brought two, and they didn’t think it was necessary. I asked to start the search earlier every day, but they didn’t think it was necessary. I asked for more people and more search tools… They didn’t think it was necessary either.”

“Meanwhile, my father could be in the mountains, lost, without water or food, with only a few minutes left. “I am convinced that every decision they did not make, and every hour they left behind, could have been the difference between life and death,” he says regretfully.

in I turnedFor the affected family, there is also the former prosecutor in charge of the case, Juan Bautista Méndez, “who did not know Never what to do, he constantly conflicts with the police Showing a shameful lack of professionalism. He never allowed real research to be conducted, he never had the necessary personnel, and he never used the powers given to him by law in these cases. He left me and my family completely alone. He added: “By his inaction, he completely violated our rights.”.

Without resources or strength to fight for professional research, Cesar and his family decided to optimize their energies and invest them in their own journey.

“And my heart is in my hand We started searching the house. It was his sons who organized ourselves with some neighbors and a couple of police officers, without tools, without proper clothing, without experience but… With the absolute conviction that if we don’t do it, no one will. While the authorities apologized, it was the common people who took to the mountains, marched, chanted his name a thousand times and never gave up.”

“I still have not given up on this search, because My father can’t be missing anymore“Because wherever he is, he deserves a place to rest and we, his family, have the right to know the truth, to a dignified farewell and to our emotional peace.” Hypothesis, any new research? “We only have one place left, which is… Some sewage ponds on the outskirts of Asha City This may be one of the last possibilities. “It’s a fairly inaccessible place and we’ll need specialists to search.”

Calluqueo misses the old Patito, and they long for his kindness and joy. “He was…a good, present and generous father, and that’s why he deserves better from us. The Father who always made an effort so that we would not lack anything, Thanks to his knowledge of electricity, gas, painting and plumbing. He understood everything and always had work. “A man who is always in good spirits, smiling, warm. I have never met him with a bad face, angry or quarreling with anyone.”