The sister of the Luxembourger who was reported missing in Bolivia at the end of June has taken matters into her own hands to find her brother.
Catherine Holzem left for Bolivia on 7 August to try and find a trace of her brother, deploring that her family has not heard from Nicolas since 15 June.
Catherine spoke to our colleagues at RTL 5Minutes about her experience since embarking on her own search.
"I've dropped everything to go and find Nicolas," she told our colleagues. Catherine left her work, her friends, and her family behind when she left Wellington, New Zealand on 7 August to go to Bolivia. She confirmed that she has combed through the country and struggled to find the slightest trace of her brother.
Listing all the families efforts to find their missing loved one, she cited contacting motorcyclist communities to spread the missing person alert and launching a Facebook page to collect local witness statements of people who saw Nicolas.
The campaign has even had a celebrity motorcycling endorsement: Juan Carlos Salvatierra, a Bolivian Dakar Rally star, helped spread the message, but to no avail. The last official trace of Holzem goes back to 16 June, when he entered Bolivia.
Upon her arrival, Catherine met the Luxembourg honorary consul, who put a lawyer at her disposal to get the necessary paperwork to find her brother in hand. She has since worked with the Bolivian police, but has admitted that the police force "is sorely lacking the means" to carry out the investigation.
As Catherine explained, "the Bolivian police officers are doing what they can and are very humane, but have incredibly limited means. I went to Puerto Acosta, the border crossing where Nicolas was officially registered as arriving in Bolivia, with the FELCC (the special force charged with investigating crime) inspector in charge of the investigation. We travelled there by minibus. They didn't even have the means to provide him with a vehicle."
"It is no use being a Luxembourger..."
Having been in South America for three weeks, Catherine has above all deplored the lack of help from the Luxembourgish authorities:" The Luxembourgish police does not give a toss! Every time we contact them we're told 'this isn't our issue', 'contact the Bolivian police'. They've even accused us of filing the report too late."
Comparing the case with the disappearance of two Dutch hikers in Bolivia in 2000, Catherine pointed out how the Dutch embassy put together an expert team to find the hikers. The Luxembourgish authorities, on the other hand, have done nothing.
Catherine's assessment of the Luxembourgish response is damning:" It is no use being a Luxembourger when you vanish in South America. Luxembourg has next to no representatives here and instead you have to rely on the goodwill of embassies representing other countries."
By now, Catherine is exhausted and considered returning. She told RTL 5Minutes that she has spent all her money in Bolivia and barely has the means to continue. However, she is scared of leaving as she believes that will mean that searches will stop.
Searches on the other side of the world, in Poland
Catherine has not been working alone. Her younger sister, Sophie Holzem, left for Poland as their brother had been based there. Sophie's goal is to access her brother's apartment to find any further information on Nicolas's planned trip and potentially access his credit card details.
As Catherine explains, knowing the details of his credit cards is imperative. It would both help his family try and track him down based on transactions, but could also provide a lead: an unfortunate practice exists in South America, whereby foreigners are taken hostage and forced to regularly withdraw cash until their accounts are empty.
On Thursday, RTL 5Minutes received the confirmation that the Polish police allowed Sophie Holzem to access the apartment, albeit under police supervision. She returned to Luxembourg on Thursday and said she was able to take what she could.
The current investigation is taking place over three different fronts and may be able to progress thanks to the two sisters' perseverance. When RTL 5Minutes contacted the Luxembourgish police on Thursday morning, they did not receive an official response.
Nous avons constaté que malgré les déclarations de la police luxembourgeoise, le profil de Nicolas Holzem ne figure pas encore dans la base de données des personnes disparues d'Interpol. / © Capture d'écran Interpol
