May 2022 was the month in which more Nicaraguans died in their attempt to migrate to the United States. According to a monitoring CONFIDENTIALIn that month, 19 Nicaraguan citizens died in traffic accidents and in the waters of the Rio Grande. However, the list of migrants who drowned continues to grow because there are still unidentified bodies.
The organization Texas Nicaraguan Communitywhich in recent months has helped find and repatriate deceased Nicaraguans, reported that in the morgue of Laredo, Texas, there are still five bodies of nationals who have already been identified, but they have not been sent due to lack of resources.
They also report that there are another 175 migrants in that morgue who have not been identified and could include more Nicaraguans.
“Of the five bodies, only one has left the morgue to give him a Christian burial, according to data from the performance of our consulate in Houston, Texas. And there are many suspicions that there are more Nicaraguans in that morgue in unidentified condition. We hope that the Nicaraguan Ministry of the Interior and Foreign Ministry will take action on this matter of repatriations,” they said.
From March to July 2022, 35 Nicaraguans died in their attempt to reach the US. However, 54.5% of these died in the month of May.
Of the total deaths, there were 21 migrants who drowned in the Rio Grande and nine in traffic accidents. Likewise, there were two who died from a human stampede after being locked in a trailer, including a pregnant woman, and there was also a Nicaraguan who died of a heart attack.
The number of dead Nicaraguans can rise to 45 deaths, according to data from the Nicaraguan American Alliance for Human Rights (Nahra, for its acronym in English), which offers legal support and social assistance to Nicaraguan migrants seeking refuge in the US. In the US, according to their own records, in April they identified 17 deceased, ten more than those tracked by CONFIDENTIAL. These are the 18 nationals who died in May. Not all of them have records of their stories.
The Nicaraguans who died in May
Calixto Rojas Borda. He was 53 years old and for many years he was a radio announcer on Metro Stereo and Radio Darío, in León. In 2018, he left Nicaragua for Belize, where he had family, due to threats from Sandinista sympathizers. However, his dream was to go to the US to provide for his three children, so last April he undertook the trip, but drowned in the Rio Grande.
His death caused a stir because other migrants filmed the moment he sank in the river waters in the presence of the Mexican and US National Guard, who did nothing to rescue him. Calixto Rojas died on May 1, 2022 and his body arrived in Nicaragua nine days later.
The boy José Torres Rodríguez. The four-year-old died on May 3, 2022, after spending several days hospitalized after suffering an accident on April 29. The boy was traveling with his parents in the cab of a truck when it crashed into a trailer.
The boy’s father, Guillermo Torres Sánchez, died on impact and his mother, Ellen Rodríguez, survived. According to what the family told the newspaper La Prensa, they left Nicaragua on April 9 and in the US they were going to be received by Torres’ mother.
Heidy Padilla Hernandez. He died in a traffic accident in the Mexican state of Tabasco. She was originally from Mateare. The Nicaraguan migrant died on Tuesday, May 3, three days after her birthday, as described on her Facebook account.
Kevin Kenneth Blass Cardoza. He was 26 years old and originally from Managua. His body disappeared in the early hours of May 16, 2022 and was recovered three days later. He was a merchant at the Iván Montenegro market.
Beyonce Nicole Avila Estrada. He lived in Ciudad Sandino, Managua. He was 18 years old and died on May 14 from a heart attack. The young woman finished her high school in December 2021 and this year she decided to leave in search of better opportunities with other family members.
As the family learned, the trip was very hard for her and when she was waiting for an opportune moment to cross to the United States, she had an insulin imbalance and this triggered a heart attack.
Irma Yaritza Huete Church. The Nicaraguan migrant was 25 years old and was traveling with her brother and her 4-year-old daughter, who has been missing for two months. The three tried to cross the Rio Grande, but as they reached the shore, the girl and Huete were swept away by a current.
The young woman worked as a domestic worker, but had not found a job for months. So, with the help of her husband, who had already migrated, she put together money to join him. However, she didn’t make it.
Keythell Nazareth Borges Castellón. She was 20 years old and originally from Jalapa, Nueva Segovia. She had finished her high school in 2017 and wanted to study nursing. According to her father, Luis Enrique Borjas, she did not have a formal job and had decided to go to the US to reunite with her partner, who left in December 2021. The young woman drowned on May 18 and two days later she was found her body.
Catalina del Socorro Luna Orozco. He lived in Boaco and was 40 years old. Her body was swept away by the waters of the Rio Grande on May 14, 2020, and her family was able to identify her “by a particular mark on her left foot,” reported the Texas Nicaraguan Community. Her family was able to bury her until June when she was repatriated.
Migrants from the same family drowned
Darling Francisca Rosales Ortiz. I was 32 years old. She was traveling with her husband and her two children, whom they both carried in their arms when they tried to cross the Rio Grande. However, Darling and her six-year-old son were swept away by the current. The minor was found alive on the Mexican side and was able to join his father and his brother in the United States, since they did manage to pass the flow.
Darling had illegally immigrated to the United States in the past, but was deported. According to what she told her twin sister, Eveling Rosales, she was afraid to try again because she was now the mother of two children.
Father and son drown. Melvin Zelaya, 54, and his son Kevin Zelaya, 22, died in the waters of the Rio Grande on May 26, 2022. They were originally from Managua. The father’s body was found until the second week of July 2022, in a morgue in Laredo, Texas. By then, his son had already been repatriated and buried in Nicaragua.
Ivan Ramiro Rivera Velazquez. He had graduated as a lawyer, was 32 years old and was originally from Chinandega. He was the father of two girls, one 12 years old and the other six. His wife told Radio Darío that before leaving he worked selling CDs because he still did not have his notarial seal and since what he earned was very little, he decided to leave. He sold his motorcycle and with that money he left.
Derbin Xavier Jimenez Valladares. He was originally from Macuelizo, Nueva Segovia, but had lived in Managua for several years. He was 33 years old and died from a traffic accident. As reported by the Texas Nicaraguan Community, on May 21 the vehicle in which he was traveling along with other migrants suffered an accident, Chiapas, Mexico. Because of the incident, four people died. His body arrived in Nicaragua on June 21, 2022.
Omar Alejandro Guevara Brenes. The last time his family had information about him was on May 26, 2022, when he was about to cross the Rio Grande to reach the United States. They did not hear from him again until mid-June, when the Texas Nicaraguan organization Community contacted them and informed them that they had found a body with their characteristics.
Very little is known about him, the only information available is that he was originally from Masaya. His body arrived on July 1, 2022, along with two more nationals who died in their attempt to reach US soil, including: the body of Nestor Adolfo Rodriguez Avileswho died of a heart attack en route to the United States.
Nicaraguans who have not been able to repatriate
Carelia del Carmen Velásquez Selles. Her family lost contact with her on May 24, 2022 and it was until 33 days later that they managed to identify her body in a morgue in Laredo, Texas. Karelia was 54 years old and originally from Estelí. His body could not be repatriated to Nicaragua.
Kelvin Antonio Torrez Medina. He was 31 years old and originally from Mateare. He attempted to cross the Rio Grande on May 21, 2022, but was swept away by a current. His body was found days later in a Texas morgue and his family began a collection to repatriate him, but as confirmed by the Texas Nicaraguan Community organization he has not yet been sent to Nicaragua.
Jose Antonio Garcia Ramirez. Her body was identified on July 5, 2022, but she drowned in the Rio Grande on May 26. García’s family learned that her body was found in a morgue by authorities from the Nicaraguan Ministry of the Interior. But this could not be sent to Nicaragua to bury her.
“The repatriation of bodies on the Texas side is slow and it is a long and very bureaucratic process, where you have to intervene for jurisdiction in the consulate in Houston, Texas. Until now, it has been an inaccessible entity, resulting in the bodies spending a long time in the morgue, even after they have been identified, due to lack of management by the Nicaraguan authorities,” explained the Texas Nicaraguan Community.
Lester Sotero Castillo Jarquin. He disappeared on May 26, 2022 when he was trying to cross the Rio Grande, but it was not until July 18 that his body was identified in the morgue in Laredo, Texas. He was 28 years old. More information about him is unknown.
According to figures from the Customs and Border Protection Office, the number of Nicaraguans who irregularly migrated to the US during 2021 was 87,575, which is 25 times more than the previous year, and in the first half of 2022 84,055 Nicaraguan migrants are counted. The month with the most illegal migration was May, with 19,080 apprehensions at the border, which was also the month with the most deaths of nationals reported.
