The brother of Stoke City’s Wilson Palacios was kidnapped on October 2007 by five armed men and the family was forced to pay a ransom of €125,000 in order to bring the boy back home but even though everything was paid, he was never actually released and a few years’ later police found the remains of Edwin. A funeral was made one day after the body was officially confirmed by the authorities and now Wilson Palacios has spoken about the impact and difference it has made losing his brother.
‘My brother was taken from us by one of these gangs, they wanted money so we paid the ransom but he never came back to us. It was devastating. It changed my life and made me think I didn’t want any other children to go through the same things. After the kidnapping I wanted to quit football. But I realized that my brother would have wanted me to keep playing. He loved football. So as a family we decided that I should continue’’ Palacios told the press.
Ever since that terrifying incident occurred Palacios has been working to help prevent gang crime as he wants to help avoid seeing other kids and families going through similar things.
All of this occurred while Wilson Palacios was performing for Birmingham City a few years ago and now Wilson Palacios has launched an emotional appeal for youngsters to take a decision now and avoid anything related to gangs or crimes.
The death of his brother is now his motivation for helping other families especially in Honduras which are going through or have already gone through similar situations as this is something that affects many people in Honduras. Wilson Palacios admitted in saying that his native country is beautiful but it’s also being plagued by gangs and things of that nature.