The Texas Nicaraguan Community (TNC) organization denounced that the relatives of migrants Francisco Téllez and Kelvin Torrez Medina, who drowned in the Rio Grande —a natural border between Mexico and the US—, have not been able to carry out DNA tests to his recognition in the morgues of the United States for lack of support from Nicaraguan institutions.
According to TNC, the relatives went to the Ministry of the Interior, the Foreign Ministry and Legal Medicine, in Managua, to ask for help to carry out the tests, an essential requirement to repatriate the bodies; however, they did not receive an answer.
“The taking of the samples has to be done in Nicaragua and there is no indication from the consulate (in Texas) for these cases. They have been presented to the Interior, the Foreign Ministry, Legal Medicine and nobody gives them an answer on how to proceed ”, denounce the volunteer organization through its Facebook page.
They explain that communication with the Nicaraguan consul in Houston, Texas, Samuel Trejos, was lost because the diplomat “does not answer calls or messages from relatives”.
“According to indications from the (American) morgue, the DNA kits -which are swabs-, were sent to Consul Trejos since August, when he was sent an e-mail (electronic mail) of these requirements”, affirms TNC, who have supported the families of deceased and disappeared migrants on their way to the United States.
The DNA sample to identify the bodies is a requirement requested by the US authorities for repatriation. This process must be carried out through an instance of the Government of Nicaragua, so that it endorses it and gives custody to the sample until it enters the morgues where the bodies are found. Because of this, families cannot test independently.
Torrez Medina, 22, drowned in the Rio Grande at the end of last May. His body was recovered on US soil and has been in a morgue in Laredo, Texas ever since.
Very little information is known about Téllez. His body was found in the Webb County Medical Examiner’s morgue on August 26 during a TNC field trip to three Texas morgues. The organization was looking for the bodies of 12 Nicaraguan migrants, but only found that of Téllez.
Four of the six bodies have already been identified.
For months, TNC has warned that in the morgues of the United States there were five bodies of Nicaraguans, who were identified by the documentation they brought, and are awaiting the procedures to repatriate them to Nicaragua.
The migrants are: Torrez Medina; Carelia Velásquez Selles, 54 years old; José Antonio García Ramírez, of unknown age; Melvin Zelaya Hurtado, 42 years old; and Lester Castillo Jarquín, 28 years old. All of them drowned in the waters of the Rio Grande and were reported to the Nicaraguan consulate between May 24 and 27, 2022. The body of Téllez, of unknown age, was added to this list in August.
Four of these six bodies have already been identified through DNA tests. The last recognition through this analysis was that of Castillo. This was done in late October, after a brother provided DNA samples for comparison at the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office morgue in Laredo, Texas. Procedures have already begun to repatriate the body.
The volunteer organization has also reported that the morgues in Texas, near the Rio Grande, exceeded their capacity to store the bodies of migrants who drown in the waters of the Rio Grande, for which they have decided to bury the migrants who die now. onwards.
“In the Laredo state morgue there is a huge number of unidentified bodies and we are not just talking about Nicaraguans, we are talking about all nationalities. The difference that exists with other nationalities is that the consuls are going to the morgue, they are sending emails and they are waiting for the bodies to be identified as soon as possible, those that they consider may be from their country,” they explain.
During this year, at least 50 Nicaraguan migrants have died in their attempt to cross into the United States. 60% of these drowned in the waters of the Rio Grande.
