MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Body of fallen Uruguayan soldier arrives in Montevideo

“The last thing he told us was that he loved us,” the soldier's widow admitted

The remains of Uruguayan soldier Rodolfo Cipriano Álvarez Suárez, who died in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) earlier this month while deployed on the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping MONUSCO mission, arrived in Montevideo on Thursday. A ceremony was held at Air Base No. 1, attended by President Luis Lacalle Pou and Ministers Armando Castaingdebat (Defense) and Omar Paganini (Foreign Affairs), among other high-ranking officials.

Sandra Lazo, who President-elect Yamandú Orsi has chosen to become the next Defense Minister after March 1, also participated in the memorial. “I think the fact that we are both here is a sign that peace missions in Uruguay are an institutional policy. Today we are going through a hard moment,” Castaingdebat told reporters.

The body was later transferred to Santa Clara del Olimar in the department (province) of Treinta y Tres for burial. Álvarez Suárez is survived by his partner and the couple's two daughters, one four years old and the other four months old, whom he never met because she was born while he was abroad. His widow, Dolly Da Fonseca, shared that their last conversation was filled with love and his commitment to the mission. She said the serviceman was her hero for saving innocent lives.

“Now we have had a difficult conversation with the family. We explained to them that we are in the middle of talks with the United Nations, but we are looking for it to be as soon as possible. The family is destroyed, trying to find an explanation for something that has no explanation. Although this is within the possibilities, it is always hard to accept. We, as the State, give backing and support to a family that is destroyed, with a four-month-old girl and a four-year-old girl,” Castaingdebat also pointed out.

“We are accompanying the family, as it should be, from the institutional and human point of view. It is admirable the fortitude in the pain of his life partner [and] her children. These are moments in which it is necessary to generate confidence in the relatives that the necessary steps are being taken at diplomatic, political, and military levels so that the replacements can be carried out. Words are superfluous at a moment like this, it is worth more the tight embrace and the empathy that one should feel, and also the gratitude from the point of view of the mission that these boys fulfill when they go out to represent the State in situations like this,” Lazo argued. Álvarez Suárez had also participated in a peacekeeping mission in Syria.

“The last thing he told us was that he loved us,” Da Fonseca stressed. “He is my hero, he gave it up to the last. I'm going to miss him a lot, but he saved many innocent lives,” she also reckoned. ”On January 25 he called me at about 17:30 and he must have cut off at about 18:05. I asked him if (the M23 rebels) were close and he told me no, that they were 17 kilometers away.“ The last thing he said to her was ”Take care. I love you very much, when I get to the base I will call you.” Hours later she received a call from the lieutenant colonel telling her that the vehicle had been attacked and her husband had died instantly.