36-year-old Angel Alpuche was described by many as the life of the party with his arsenal of corny jokes and funky dance moves. But that smiling face is one that will be missed by his loved ones since Alpuche lost the battle against COVID 19 yesterday. The loss has hit many people across the country since he was well-known and well-loved. Today, his colleague and friend at BTL reminisced on the fun-loving man they will always remember. Courtney Menzies has this story.
When the news of 36-year-old Angel Alpuche's death reached the ears of his many loved ones, there was an outpouring of grief on social media. Alpuche was a victim of COVID 19. e was hospitalized earlier this month and after over a week in the ICU, he lost that fight.
His passing has left a hole in the lives of everyone who knew him, and his colleagues at Belize Telemedia Limited, where he had worked for the past ten years, said that his ever present smile and his spirited personality will be missed.
Jacqueline Hernandez, General Secretary, BCWU
"It's devastating news, it's very sad for the company and it's very very sad for the Belize Communications Union. Angel Alpuche was a very active member, I could remember him and I having very passionate conversations about what we wanted to change in the copy and what we saw fair. He was a person that loved fairness, him and I we go way back, he's like a brother like I mentioned to you before."
"I know he was very passionate about what he did and he was truly truly a joyous person who was full of life and loved his job."
But apart from his passion, they'll also miss his humour, and his can-do attitude, and his dance moves - he was the life of every party:
Jacqueline Hernandez, General Secretary, BCWU
"He was very outgoing, he was always participating in items, anything that was happening, angel would definitely be a part of that. At the Agric show he would volunteer to be a part of the technical team that would be out there to set up computers and do all that so he was very very involved."
"Every single staff and manager could remember Angel for his big joyous laugh and just that contagious laugh and that joyful smile he would always carry no matter how bad the day was, Angel would be here laughing and talking to everyone, trying to bring up everybody spirits and just be that fun staff member that you could always say hi to and look forward to seeing."
And that's why they couldn't believe the news at first.
Jacqueline Hernandez, General Secretary, BCWU
"Yesterday when we got the very sad news, nobody wanted to believe it, when I got the information that he had passed away, I started getting phone calls and my reaction was basically to tell them that I needed to get the actual truth from the hospital before I pass on that information. Because we would joke and we would say that Angel would be back in office very soon and we would tease him about being in the hospital. So at no point did we expect or even imagine that he would have not recovered."
But that's how COVID is, it's indiscriminate, it's swift, and in this case, unstoppable. It killed this step-father of two within days.
Jacqueline Hernandez, General Secretary, BCWU
"Our most sincere condolence to everyone that lost him, to the family of course, we feel your pain and we're so grateful for the opportunity we had t o meet Angel and for him to be a part of our lives."
Alpuche reportedly had gotten his first dose of the AstraZeneca Vaccine - but it was too late since at the time, he had already contracted COVID and did not know.
