They are mothers and sisters of migrants that in the last decade left their countries due to violence and extreme poverty in Central America and that disappeared along the way, never reached the United States, either due to the kidnapping of the organized crime in Mexico or because when crossing the border with Texas, Arizona or another state, he lost his trail in the Rio Grande or in the desert.
It is the Caravan of Mothers of Missing Migrants, which 16 years after being held in Mexico crossed the Rio Grande and traveled Texas, North Carolina, Washington, New York, Boston and Pennsylvania in search of their children, reviewing files in forensic offices, leaving DNA samples, making the drama of their families visible and seeking the solidarity of congressmen and organizations.
“Three mothers who are looking for their children, as well as a sister who is looking for her brother and a mother whose son was one of the victims of the San Fernando graves. They are from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador. They spent 12 days in the United States, both looking at ranches in Texas, where many migrants die, and exposing the migration situation at Harvard University ”, he told THE UNIVERSAL the spokesman for the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement, Rubén Figueroa.
From Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador, the seeking mothers spent 12 days in the United States. Photo: Rubén Figueroa. The universal
This is Yolanda Pérez, from Guatemala and mother of Gerber Stuart Perez; Ángela Lacayo, a Honduran mother of Jarvin Josué Velásquez Lacayo, and Karen Morales, also originally from Honduras and sister of Aaron Eliécer Carrasco.
“We started in Texas, in the South Texas Human Rights Center directed by Eduardo Eddie Canales, who is dedicated to locating and rescuing the bodies of migrants who die in that area of the United States in their attempt to reach an American city.” said Figueroa.
This place is key and is known as the “last frontier”, because although it is already the United States, migrants still have to walk hundreds of kilometers under high temperatures in a hostile terrain where many end up disappearing. So far this year alone, 99 bodies have been located in Brooks County, Texas. Most of the deceased migrants came from Central American countries.
The same in ranches as in Harvard University, the mothers went to various states of the American Union. Photo: Rubén Figueroa. The universal
This particular area has in recent years become a forgotten death row that traps migrants who have already passed through all kinds of obstacles in Mexico and will possibly end up victims of drug traffickers, coyotes or desert traps. dying from heat stroke, dehydration and hypothermia.
“With the Brooks County Sheriff, Benny Martinez, the mothers left DNA samples to be compared with the hundreds of migrant remains that have been found in the desert and on the ranches of this area of Texas, which has become a large migrant cemetery, “he added.
The so-called Caravan of Hope later moved to North Carolina; later to the capital of Washington, where they met with congressmen like Raúl Grijalva, among others, to whom they exposed the drama of the migrants who disappear in search of the “American dream”.
At the meetings in New York, testimonies from relatives of several people who have disappeared in the last four months were exposed, according to Patricio Campoverde, who also has a lost relative since June of this year and whose whereabouts are known.
On their journey, the women met with various American authorities, from sheriffs to congressmen. Photo: Rubén Figueroa. The universal
Campoverde is looking for his sister-in-law, who traveled from Ecuador to the United States, carried by a coyote in late May of this year. “The stories are different, but the suffering is the same. The desperation of the relatives has made them fall into the networks of drug traffickers and common scammers, who with threats have taken a lot of money from them, ”said Figueroa.
Later, the caravan had a meeting with students from several New York universities and later they traveled to Boston, where they went to Harvard University to present the situation. Then they went to Pennsylvania, where there was a series of lectures on the causal roots of poverty and migration.
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