Politics

Funerals begin for Mexican migrants repatriated after Texas truck tragedy

Querétaro, Mexico, Jul 14 (EFE).- The first funerals for Mexican migrants repatriated after the Texas truck trailer tragedy were held Thursday in states including Querétaro and Oaxaca.

The government on Wednesday announced the repatriation of 16 Mexicans out of 53 migrants who died after they were abandoned inside a trailer in San Antonio last month.

On board the second military flight carried out by the Mexican foreign ministry was the body of Marcial Trejo, the only citizen of Querétaro who died in search of the American dream.

This was not the first time that Trejo had traveled to the United States in search of a better life than that offered by his native Pinal de Amoles, in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro.

His wife Guadalupe Lizbeth Ramírez told EFE that ever since Trejo left high school he wanted to go to the US, as most of the young people in the region do, since they not only live in the poorest municipality in Querétaro, but also one of those with the greatest migration numbers to the north.

For his family, his death is still hard to believe because many did not know that he had left for the US as he had told them he planned to stay in Mexico for a while.

Ciro Reséndiz, a resident of Ahuacatlán, in Pinal de Amoles, where Trejo’s remains were buried, said his and Trejo’s families are very close so, despite walking difficulties, he did not hesitate to join the family to say goodbye.

Reséndiz said that around 1988, while also seeking the American dream, he feared he would meet an ending like Trejo’s.

“One goes in search of life and finds death,” he said. “I went once and I was almost dying – we didn’t have oxygen in a closed van, and I didn’t want to go back.”

Agustín Casiano de la Cruz is Trejo’s godfather and knew him since he was a child. He will remember Trejo as “a quiet boy” who he never heard anything bad about.

He acknowledged that after the tragedy he cannot help thinking about his five children, who live in the US, but for whom he recognizes there is no promising future in Mexico.

In the state of Oaxaca, relatives, residents and friends of Javier Flores López, one of the four migrants from the state who died in San Antonio, said goodbye to him in the community of San Miguel Huautla.

The other three are Marco Antonio Velasco, also from San Miguel Huautla, as well as Josué Díaz, from Santa María de Tlahuitoltepec, and Mariano, from San Felipe Usila.

On Thursday, the third military flight arrived in Mexico with the bodies of seven people who lost their lives at the end of June in Texas.

The fourth and final repatriation flight is planned for Friday, transporting the two remaining bodies.

The abandoned truck with dozens of people inside was discovered on June 27 in San Antonio, Texas.

So far, the county coroner has confirmed the deaths of 53 migrants – including 26 Mexicans, seven Guatemalans and 14 Hondurans – who were transported in the truck trailer without air conditioning or water in soaring temperatures. EFE

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