The remains of Gabriela Tatiana Espinoza Pérez, who died on Monday, March 21, while trying to cross the Rio Grande, on the border between Mexico and the United States, arrived at her home in the 14 de Febrero neighborhood, in Managua, on the morning of this Holy Thursday.
His mother and other relatives received Espinoza Pérez’s coffin between dismay and tears. His uncle Juan Erasmo Castillo Pérez, in statements to Article 66described the death of the young migrant as “a hard blow.”
“We never thought this would happen. She left so that her mother would be well, but everything was in vain », said the uncle of the deceased migrant.
For his part, Jaime Luis Pérez, brother of the deceased, said that the young woman left Nicaragua on February 25 to “change her life.” “Throughout the journey we talked with her, we asked her how she was doing and on March 20, the day before she died, we talked to her and told her to be careful and a day later they made her cross (the river) in the afternoon and there she drowned, “he narrated.
The brother of the young migrant explained that the news of the death was learned through a person who sent a request to another of his brothers on his Facebook profile, and since then his family has been mired in sadness and efforts to collect the money. for repatriation.
The body of the young migrant will be veiled this Holy Thursday, April 14, and her funeral will take place this Friday at the Camino al Cielo cemetery, located in the community of Sabana Grande, east of the Nicaraguan capital.
After her drowning, local Mexican media reported that the woman was dragged by the currents of the Rio Grande when she was looking for the “American dream.” In recent days, her relatives explained to the national media that she knew how to swim very well.
Related news: Nicaraguan risks his life in the Rio Grande, carrying his little girl, to reach the US
Espinoza Pérez was traveling with a man and a girl who did manage to cross the border between Mexico and the United States. Reports indicate that a fisherman tried to rescue her, but was unsuccessful. Minutes later they found her body without vital signs.
The case of Gabriela Espinoza is one of many that have been registered on the Mexican border with the United States, hundreds of migrants risk their lives and that of their children in search of new opportunities and to protect their physical integrity.
In recent weeks, the death of at least three Nicaraguan women who lost their lives when crossing the Rio Grande on the Mexico-United States border was reported, one of them was traveling with her minor daughter who also died.
650 migrants died in 2021
Between January and November 2021, 650 people died when they tried to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, according to reports from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency that monitors migration. This figure exceeds the 275 and 265 deaths of 2020 and 2019, respectively.
US Customs and Border Protection. (CBP, for its acronym in English) recorded that the majority of migrant deaths at the border are related to exposure to heat. The US agency detailed 557 deaths on the southwest border during fiscal year 2021.
