Press Releases

Missing American Citizen Child and His Salvadoran Grandfather Could be in Guatemala

Nicolas Marcel Santin Enlarge Photo

Andres Santin Arguera Enlarge Photo

Guatemala, March 15, 2006

Nicolas Marcel Santin’s 13th. Birthday is today and he has been missing since December 2005. He is 5’5” tall, 120 pounds, has nut-brown eyes, light-brown hair, blonde eyebrows, and was born in Pennsylvania on March 15, 1993.

His maternal grandfather, Andres Santin Arguera, is 63 years old, is 5’5” tall, 180 pounds, has black eyes and brown eyes. There is a warrant for his arrest for international parental kidnapping.

Nicolas Marcel Santin disappeared in December 2005. His mother, Simone Santin, who lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States, last talked to him on December 19, 2005, when he was on his way to El Salvador with his maternal grandfather, Andres Santin Arguera. Both of them crossed the border from Mexico to Guatemala on December 21, 2005. That was the last time that Simone Santin heard anything about them. They were traveling in a white vehicle (1995 Geo Metro, Penssylvania plate GCJ-2922).

Mr. Santin Arguera, who was living in New York, contacted his daughter Simone in December 2005 to ask her authorization to take Nicolas to El Salvador for Christmas vacation. Mr. Santin Arguera picked up Nicolas on December 17, 2005 when they started their trip. Andres Santin Arguera’s family in El Salvador say that they never arrived. There is no immigration record showing that they have left Guatemala.

After their disappearance, Nicolas’ mother has legally denied Mr. Santin Arguera the custody of her child Nicolas. Additionally, a warrant for arrest has been issued against him. Mr. Andres Santin Arguera was born on March 8, 1943 in Usulutan, El Salvador, but has an American passport with the name of Jose Gonzalez Ortiz, born on October 19, 1946, in Puerto Rico, and it is known that he uses other aliases. The known aliases are: Andres Arguera Santin, Jose Gonzalez Ortiz, Jose O. Gonzalez, Jose Ortiz, Andres Santin-Arguera, and Jose Gonzalez.

If you have information regarding them, please call the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala during working hours (502)2326-4405 or after working hours (502)2331-2354.