The body of Kelvin Antonio Torrez Medina, A 30-year-old Nicaraguan who died in 2022 while trying to cross the Rio Grande, finally returned to his homeland this Sunday, April 21, according to the organization. Texas Nicaraguan Community (TNC).
According to the information published by TNC on its official website Facebook, the compatriot, originally from the municipality of Mateare, department of Managua, “left Nicaragua in April 2022, heading to the United States.” The last contact he had with his family was on May 22 of that year.
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The immigration group indicated that “different efforts were made to locate the body, until it was found in the Webb County morgue, in Laredo, Texas.” TNC stated that this mortuary is “one of the most difficult” due to its “lack of access to information and its demanding way of identifying the remains.”
Although the body was recovered with his identification card, the American morgue demanded DNA collection from Torrez’s family. However, TNC noted that although the samples were sent, “they were once rejected because they did not arrive through the Nicaraguan Consulate in Houston, since “who did not want to support the DNA collection process.”
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“The other accepted samples were taken in collaboration with the Argentine Forensic team,” the organization added.
The Nicaraguan’s body was delivered to a funeral home in Houston and, in August 2023, the due procedure began with the legal procedures, which took more than eight months.
“After all this hard process, the repatriation of the young man’s body to Nicaragua could finally be completed, which arrived on an Avianca airline flight,” TNC said.
“The family’s love for their relatives is admirable, who persevered all the time until the repatriation could be completed,” the organization said.
As a result of the sociopolitical crisis facing the country, many Nicaraguans decide to move to other countries in search of better jobs for their families, despite the risks and dangers of illegal migration. As of February of this year, some 25 Nicaraguan migrants have died on the way between the United States and Mexico. Last year, 148 died, mostly from traffic accidents, violent crimes or suicides.
