Jacqueline Aramuni barely has time these days to shed tears. This woman has decided to focus her life on trying to recover the body of her son, Maximiliano Camino, who passed away while fighting in one of the fronts of the Ukraine War, supposedly due to a drone attack, when he was just 15 steps away from a trench and 250 from the Russian soldiers in the Andriivka area.
This citizen, originally from Venezuela, but a resident of Santa Úrsula for 21 years, hopes that diplomatic negotiations bear fruit and that the conflicting parties agree to a ceasefire to recover the bodies of both sides. But, as of today, it is uncertain whether the remains can be recovered and repatriated to Tenerife.
Maximiliano Camino Aramuni was also born in Venezuela, but since the age of 11, he settled in the north of Tenerife with his mother. He was 1.80 meters tall and slender. The island was too quiet and small for his interests and his personality. From the time he was old enough to work, he left to make his life in other countries, which he considered more dynamic. His mother explains that he studied Computer Science and always worked outside the archipelago. In fact, as Jacqueline Aramuni explains, Maximiliano returned to Tenerife to rest and see his family. He defined these breaks in his habitual life as “spiritual retreats”. To his mother, he was a man with an adventurous spirit, who traveled to numerous countries throughout his life. “He was enterprising, he started many businesses, but he wasn’t consistent,” says Aramuni.
This Tenerife citizen is convinced that her son did not go to fight in the war in Ukraine for money, “but for another adventure,” Clarifies that the money that soldiers receive as mercenaries is not excessive and, furthermore, according to Jacqueline, they do not have it available to send to their families immediately.
This Wednesday, she received an email from the Spanish consulate in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, confirming that Maximiliano has the official status of “missing”. For her, this designation is an “administrative figure”, from which she can make arrangements to try to recover the body.
In the last few days, Jacqueline has been constantly making arrangements, making calls, searching all kinds of information on the internet and utilizing her contacts in different countries. Last week, she was lying in bed, shattered by the pain of losing her son in these circumstances.
Demise
[–>
She found out that Maximiliano had passed away last Tuesday, the 13th of February. And she found herself without anyone’s support. But the arrival of her brothers from Venezuela has filled her with strength to face the singular battle to recover the body of one of her four children. She admits that “I am medicating myself, of course”. In the last few days, she has spoken with the Ombudsman’s staff, with deputies, mayors. Yesterday, she received the commitment from the Presidency of the Government of the Canary Islands to carry out procedures that will help prevent her cause from being forgotten.
She insists that she has no choice but to exhaust all the resources at her disposal to achieve her goal. In the first few days, she encountered the obstacle that “no one had information” about where the body was. But she utilized technology and the internet to obtain information.
Maximiliano was assigned to the 1st battalion of Infantry Company Charly 3 of the International Soldiers Regiment A7420.
Despite the official designations, this determined woman found a Russian website where soldiers of Vladimir Putin’s regime celebrated the victory in the clashes of Andriivka. On the portal, there were “horrific” comments, according to her. She notes that in the list of all the deceased soldiers of the Ukrainian side, there is a photo and the name of her son: Maximiliano “Caleb” Camino Aramuni. As a military nickname, the Tenerife man used the name of his older brother.
Jacqueline comments that she does not want to see that page again because of the cruelty it displays. She recalls that her second son had dual nationality: Venezuelan and Spanish. And she is convinced that the Russians were intrigued by the fact that a Venezuelan was on one of the fronts of Ukraine fighting against Russian interests.
Maximiliano’s last months were complex and difficult for many people to understand. In 2023, his mother remembers that he was in Venezuela, Barcelona, the United States, Poland, and Germany. His family is certain that his first work contract to go as a soldier to the war caused by the invasion of Russia in Ukraine was signed and became effective in October of last year. Later, after a period in the conflict, his relatives know that he was in Germany and supposedly worked in a depot for the company Amazon.
And later, he was hired by a company again to enlist as a mercenary. “It’s all a business,” concludes his mother. Maximiliano had informed his father, who lives in the United States, of his intentions to go to the military conflict.
As she narrated to her mother after the death of her second son, the father told him that if he went back to war, “he might as well forget he had a father”. It was a final attempt to convince him not to go to war. However, that effort was unsuccessful, and nothing stopped Maximiliano from returning to being a soldier. Additionally, he cut off all communication with his father.
When his fellow mercenaries learned about the ties he had with his family, from humble origins, but very close-knit, some of them asked him what he was doing there, his mother points out.
In the weeks leading up to his death, according to Jacqueline, her son was living in the house of the sergeant of his battalion. On February 11, under circumstances that are still to be clarified, the Hispanic-Venezuelan soldier was hit by a Russian drone attack.
Based on the testimony known to his loved ones, another mercenary of Colombian origin tried to recover Maximiliano’s body and take it to the trench, but that man was also shot by Russian soldiers in the same place. A courageous act that did not yield positive results.
Click Image to Join Community
Previous News
