Child labor in Colombia is unfortunately an increasingly evident problem. It's common to see a child approaching with a box of candy when walking down the street, many of which sometimes go unnoticed. But Juan José, as the 11-year-old boy identified himself, who displayed a special ability and not only caught attention but also dazzled anyone who saw him on social media, as a human being more agile than a calculator when performing mathematical operations, is surely the most remembered these days.
"I sell confectionery to help my family. Unfortunately, my father went to heaven, and my mother is very sick, and my two little brothers are 5 and 4 years old," the boy says when asked what he does.
The viral video showed that his numerical skills were being used as a sales pitch. He was apparently challenging some young people who were recording him with addition, subtraction, and division, but it all turned out to be false.
Although in principle It was believed to be true, apparently it was a staging of some influencers.
“How much is 5 x 5?” the woman being challenged asks. The younger man replies, “25.” And then the man recording the hit video approaches him and asks, “How much is 5 x 8?” The boy, smiling and in a Paisa accent, says, “No, that’s for kids, 40.” So the operations go up a level.
26 x 50 = 1,300. While the child answers the result with ease, the potential client takes out his cell phone's calculator to confirm. So the next operation is 260 x 50 = 13,000 and the other: 250 x 135 = 33,750. He answered any question with ease and accuracy, even in decimal numbers. "185 divided by 7" is one of the tests. Not even a second passed before Juan José answered: "It's 26, exactly 26.4285714."
"This isn't normal... this guy even had a calculator in his hands. He's faster than fingers," says the man, still in shock. The question that arises after such brilliant skill is where he learned it, and the minor makes it clear that he does not study, because he has not been given the opportunity. "Whenever I can, I read," he says, adding that he even wants to be president because he claims to know the exact number needed to end poverty. He confidently names the last 10 presidents of Colombia.
The video grew in popularity by the minute, and even the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, his ministers, and members of his government team were tagged, along with many other personalities who called for help and the search for the minor.
One of the celebrities who spoke out was Paola Turbay, who stated on her Instagram that the video came to her through a family group. "Juan José works in a park in Medellín and because of life circumstances, instead of studying, he's working to help his family, which isn't right," said the former queen. before asking for help to locate him and ensure that his rights as a child are respected.
Hundreds of people searched for the child, but neither he nor his family were found. Some netizens identified the video as having been recorded in a section of Cartago, Valle, known as La Isleta, where people often go to eat cholao. But no one gave any information about him there. Even at the time when the images were released, there were already those who claimed that the video was staged. And they argued their position on the quality of the sound and that the young man challenging him was wearing a lapel microphone on his shirt.
The minor also reportedly had a microphone attached to the strap holding the candy box. It is currently unknown whether this is an independent video from content creators or a campaign.
Watch the full video:
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