Families of Guatemala immigrant families killed in the crash want answers | Migration Issues

Their relatives who emigrated to Guatemala participated in the activities of a fatal car damage in Mexico they say they are eager to hear the stories of their loved ones and feel forgotten by governments that offer less and less security on the dangerous road to the United States.

It was only four days ago that 18-year-old Domingo Yobani Raymundo Mateo, 18, left his home village of Chajul, Ixil Maya village 260 kilometers (100 miles) from Guatemala City, to try again for the US. Meanwhile, her family sold an apartment to pay for her trip, hoping to find work across the border.

Instead, he received word that he had been killed just one day when a truck carrying more than 160 people overturned at a curb outside the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez in the state of Chiapas in Mexico on Thursday.

At least 55 people, mostly from Guatemala, have been killed, one of them the worst threats of death of Mexican immigrants in the last decade.

“My son’s friend who was traveling with him survived and told us that Domingo was dead,” his father, Pedro Raymundo Caba, told Reuters in Chajul. (His friend) said he closed his eyes and covered his face with a towel that he carried in his bag.

The incident highlighted the dangers that refugees face along the way to the US border, often in the hands of human traffickers known as coyotes. Many refugees have died in violence or accidents in Mexico over the past decade.

Relatives of refugees who died or were injured in the crash said they were keen to know about their relatives and the government’s response.

“What we need is help to get Domingo’s body back home for burial here in Chajul. “The government has not told us anything, it has not answered the phone,” his mother, Teresa Mateo Mendoza, said in an interview at her home without electricity, where she is raising four other children.

Lucrecia Alba’s husband, Celso Escun Pacheco, 34, was among those injured when the wagon overturned.

He left his home in the mountains of Guatemalan a few days ago, kissing his wife and two young daughters goodbye before leaving for home. a dangerous journey in the US, where he hoped to find a well-paying job.

At the couple’s home in Pamezabal, a small village in Santa Lucia Utatlan, in the town of Solola, Alba said the high number of killings involving immigrants made the family feel abandoned by government officials.

“This is not the first time such an accident has occurred. “I believe that no government wants to be more dangerous because this has happened so many times,” Alba said.

“We want the Mexican and Guatemalan governments to inform the public – refugees need more road safety,” said Santos Juan Alba, his uncle Lucrecia Alba. “People are leaving because there is no chance here.”

‘Help me find my baby’

The tragedy illustrates the situation, including extreme poverty and gang violence, in which refugees from Central America flee.

Dominga Tiniguar, a resident of Xepol, Quiche, Guatemala, has been in a state of shock for days, waiting to hear from her son, a farm worker, who was planning to make a living in the United States before returning to Guatemala.

“He was going to Chicago to work on building a house here in Xepol and buying land,” said Tiniguar, taking a photo of his son, Elias Salvador Mateo Tiniguar.

Elias paid $ 3,800 for a coyote and headed for the US border, Tiniguar said.

Tiniguar said the family saw a picture of the car crash and recognized Elias lying on the floor from the blue shirt he was wearing – but did not know if he was dead or alive.

Guatemala did not identify the 55 people killed.

“She did not tell me anything. He does not answer the phone, ”said Tiniguar. “Help me find my baby.”

Following the disaster, Guatemalan officials urged the US to use the region’s funds to boost development. The United States, Mexico, Guatemala and other countries have pledged to end the smuggling network around the world, which has been blamed for Thursday’s crash.