Relatives, friends and the Nicaraguan American Human Right Alliance (NAHRA) organize a collection to repatriate the body of Gabriela Tatiana Espinoza Pérez, 32, who died on Monday, March 21, while trying to cross the Mexico-United States border.
Local Mexican media reported that the woman was swept away by the currents of the Rio Grande when she was looking for the “American dream.” Relatives explained to 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.
If you want to support the family of Gabriela Tatiana to repatriate her body, I can do so through the bank accounts set up for this purpose.