The bodies of Nicaraguans Melvin Alexander Zelaya Hurtado Y Jose Antonio Garcia Ramirezwho drowned in the Rio Grande, were repatriated on Saturday, November 27, as reported by the organization Texas Nicaraguan Community.
Zelaya’s ashes and García’s body were sent on an Avianca airline flight, which landed at nine in the morning at the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport in Managua.
Related news: Nicaraguan authorities denounce “abandonment” to repatriate deceased migrants in the US
Both bodies remained in the Laredo, Texas morgue; in United States; since May 26. That day, the citizens tried to cross the Rio Grande, but were swept away by the waters.
“We extend our condolences and strength to the family. His remains are already in our homeland, they will be able to give him a Christian burial,” said the organization that has supported families who have had to find a way to repatriate migrants who have died.
Like these two citizens, other Nicaraguans have lost their lives trying to cross the Rio Grande, in their attempt to reach the United States. Many have decided to migrate for economic reasons or because of the persecution that the Daniel Ortega regime has carried out against opponents.
Consulate, “inert” in cases of repatriation
On the other hand, the Texas Nicaraguan Community has previously denounced that the Nicaraguan Consulate in Houston did not answer calls or emails to the relatives of those affected to give them further instructions on the process and in Nicaragua, in the Interior, they are not aware of the procedures, since the Consulate has not issued any report. “The work of the consul Samuel Trejos who has not lifted a finger so that this can be carried out,” they denounce.
Diplomat Samuel Trejos is in charge of the Nicaraguan Consulate in Houston, Texas, United States; and by law, the Nicaraguan delegation is the one who must intervene in the process of repatriation of the bodies of the compatriots who died in North American territory.
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Currently, Nicaragua ranks third among the countries that sends the most migrants to the United States, only surpassed by Guatemala and Honduras. More than twenty Nicaraguans have perished after trying to reach the US Some die while crossing the Rio Grande, others are victims of extortion or kidnapping.
Before these repatriations, the last body to be transferred to Nicaragua was that of the migrant Eliazar Josué Pérez Quintero, 32, who died on October 7 in a traffic accident in the municipality of Sabinas, Coahuila, in Mexico.
