Orestes Bombino Hernandez: Customs officer for life

Of the 60 years accumulated by the General Customs of the Republic (AGR), 40 indicate the existence of Orestes Bombino Hernández. She did not arrive at the institution by accident or obligation, but by listening to the voice of a calling that woke her up when she was a member, in basic high school, of a circle of interest focused on this world of work.

Currently a customs officer, four decades of hard work has made Bombino-Hernandez feel that said agency is an essential part of his life, that world that has allowed him to be who he is and be proud of.

When recounting his time with AGR, moments of joy and others of stress emerge in the memory of the Trinidad customs officer. Among his greatest joys, he says, was having the opportunity to do a job assignment in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, in 1993. He didn’t, however, get the Casilda Customs closure in 2012 with the same approval.

There are many anecdotes he cherished during these decades, especially in the acts of confrontation. “I remember a sweep on a Danish yacht that we knew had drugs in it, we didn’t find it due to lack of specific information, but later customs took care of it thanks to the information we sent it,” he recalls. .

In your opinion, what qualities should characterize a customs officer?

“First of all, you have to be professional, honest and put a lot of seriousness into your work. His main challenge is keeping up with the customs, because of the high risks he faces at the borders, both with people and in international trade operations. Self-improvement and self-preparation are the priority The first person to hold this position.

A father of two children, none of his children followed him in his efforts to take care of the borders and contribute to the reassurance of the citizen. One devoted himself to electronics and the other studied economics, but both can look in their father’s mirror to make the values ​​of responsibility and dedication their own.

What advice would you give to young people entering customs?

“They feel it as part of their lives.”

Such a response is not surprising in someone like Bombino-Hernandez, a worker convinced he has not erred in the path he took 40 years ago. “I was trained as a customs officer and would choose this profession again,” he says.