Mexican migrant in Texas tragedy hoped to reach kin in Ohio
Two cousins from a remote community in southern Mexico were among the 67 people packed into a tractor-trailer and abandoned under the sweltering Texas sun
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Your support makes all the difference.The two cousins returned to the tiny, hardscrabble hamlet they grew up in in southern Mexico about two weeks ago to say goodbye in what has become a right of passage for generations of migrants from their remote, impoverished mountainous region in Oaxaca state.
It would not be the first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border for Javier Flores LĆ³pez, now in his mid-30s, who had left Cerro Verde years ago and went to Ohio, where his father and a brother live and he worked in construction.
He was back home to see his wife and three small children briefly, said a cousin, Francisco LĆ³pez HernĆ”ndez. This time he was returning to the United States with another cousin, JosĆ© Luis VĆ”squez GuzmĆ”n, 32, who was going for the first time and hoped to join his oldest brother who was in Ohio as well.
While everyone knew the risks, countless people from Cerro Verde had made it safely across the U.S.-Mexico border with the help of smugglers, so it came as a shock, LĆ³pez HernĆ”ndez said, to learn his cousins and dozens of other migrants were abandoned inside a tractor-trailer sweltering under the Texas sun.
Flores LĆ³pez is now among the missing, his family said, while VĆ”squez GuzmĆ”n is hospitalized in San Antonio. At least 53 people have died, including 27 people from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador, said Francisco GarduƱo, chief of Mexicoās National Immigration Institute.
The driver along with two other men from Mexico remained in custody as the investigation continues into the deadliest smuggling episode ever in the U.S.
VĆ”squez GuzmĆ”n was among 67 people packed into the truck found abandoned Monday near auto salvage yards on the edge of San Antonio. The family believes Flores LĆ³pez was, too, but they are still awaiting confirmation.
Officials had potential identifications on 37 of the victims as of Wednesday morning, pending verification with authorities in other countries, according to the Bexar County Medical Examinerās Office. Forty of the victims were male.
Identifying the dead has been challenging because some were found without identification documents and in one case carried a stolen ID. Remote villages, like Cerro Verde, have little to no phone service to reach family members and fingerprint data has to be shared and matched by the governments involved.
Cerro Verde is a community of about 60 people that has largely been abandoned by the young. Those who remain work earning meager livings weaving sun hats, mats, brooms and other items from palm leaves. Many live on as little as 30 pesos a day (less than $2).
āThe truth is people leave here out of necessity,ā said Felicitos GarcĆa, who owns a small grocery store in nearby San Miguel Huautla, adding that he saw the two men about two weeks ago. āLife is tough here. People survive by growing their own crops like corn, beans and wheat. Sometimes the land gives and sometimes it doesnāt, when the rains arrive late. There is nothing in place for people to have other resources. People live one day to the next.ā
VĆ”squez GuzmĆ”nās mother, who is trying to get a visa to see her son in Texas, raised him and his three siblings alone after their father died when VĆ”squez GuzmĆ”n was 10, GarcĆa said. She now is the only one of the family left in Cerro Verde. VĆ”squez GuzmĆ”n left when he was 18 and joined the Mexican military.
His oldest brother, Eloy, went to the United States just over a year ago and settled in Ohio, said LĆ³pez HernĆ”ndez, who grew up on the neighboring ranch and went to school with him.
āI imagine that he commented to him about how the work situation was and everything and how to make more money,ā LĆ³pez HernĆ”ndez said. āI imagine he called him so that he would come over, too, to have a better life. Thatās the draw for why he was going.ā
VĆ”squez GuzmĆ”n, who had been living in Mexico City the past six years, returned to Cerro Verde only to say goodbye to his mother, LĆ³pez HernĆ”ndez said.
He knew it was an expensive and risky trip. LĆ³pez HernĆ”ndez said most people rely on those who have made it to the U.S. to send them money for the journey, which usually costs around $9,000.
āThere are a lot of risks but for those who are lucky, the fortune is there, to be able to work, earn a livingā he said.
With so many leaving and heading to the United States, it is easy to find a smuggler and until now the people have gotten across safely, LĆ³pez HernĆ”ndez said.
āI donāt know in this case if they changed or what happened, why they were abandoned,ā he said.
LĆ³pez HernĆ”ndez, who also has a brother living in Ohio, has thought about joining him. But he said family, work, school and other responsibilities have kept him in Mexico.
On Sunday night, he asked his uncle if he had heard from VƔsquez GuzmƔn. He told him he was in Texas.
āI told him, āHow cool, thatās heās trying hard and weāll see him on his return,'ā LĆ³pez HernĆ”ndez replied before they lost their phone signal.
He later learned from the Internet about the tragedy.
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Watson reported from San Diego.