Families of Guatemalan migrants killed in accident want answers Migration News

relatives of Guatemalan migrants involved in a fatal truck accident In Mexico, they say they are trying to get their loved ones informed and feel forgotten by governments that offer few opportunities and no protection on the dangerous path to the United States.

Just four days ago, 18-year-old Domingo Yobani Raymundo Mateo left his small village of Chajul, 260 kilometers (160 miles) from Guatemala City, to the Ixil Maya community for a second attempt to reach the United States. This time, his family sold a house to pay for the trip, hoping to secure a job after crossing the border.

Instead, he was reported dead on Thursday when a truck trailer carrying more than 160 people overturned on a curve outside the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez in the Mexican state of Chiapas on Thursday.

At least 55 people were killed, mostly in Guatemala the most serious death toll the number of migrants from Mexico in the last decade.

“A friend of my son who was traveling with him survived and informed us that Domingo was dead,” his father, Pedro Raymundo Cabak, told Chajul’s Reuters news agency. “(His friend) said he closed his eyes and covered his face with a towel he was carrying in his backpack.”

The incident highlights the dangers facing migrants on their way to the U.S. border, often at the hands of human traffickers known as coyotes. Dozens of migrants have died in Mexico over the past decade as a result of violence or accidents.

Relatives of migrants killed or injured in the crash have said they are desperate to seek information about their relatives and receive little response from the government.

“All we need is help to get Domingo’s body back home to bury him here in Chajul. The government is still not telling us anything, they are not answering the calls, ”said his mother, Teresa Mateo Mendoza, in a humble house without electricity, in a conversation with four other children growing up.

Lucrecia Alba’s husband, Celso Escun Pacheco, 34, was among dozens of injured when the trailer overturned.

He had left his home in the Guatemalan highlands the day before, saying goodbye to his wife and two young daughters before heading out into the street. dangerous journey He hoped to find a well-paid job in the United States.

At his family’s home in Pamezabal, a small village in Santa Lucia Utatlan, in the municipality of Solola province, Alba said the number of deadly incidents involving migrants made him feel left out by family state authorities.

“This is not the first time such an accident has happened. I don’t think any government is interested in the big risks because that’s often happened, “said Alba.

“We need to raise awareness among the Mexican and Guatemalan governments; migrants need more safety on the road,” said Santos Juan Alba, Lucrecia Alba’s uncle. “People are leaving because there’s no choice here.”

“Help me find my son”

The accident highlights the extreme conditions of migrants fleeing Central American countries, including severe poverty and group violence.

Dominga Tiniguar, who lives in the village of Xepol in Quiche, Guatemala, has spent days anxiously awaiting the news of her son, a farmer who was planning to make money in the United States before returning to Guatemala.

“He was going to work in Chicago to build a house in Xepol and buy a piece of land here,” Tiniguar said, holding a photo of his son Elias Salvador Mateo Tiniguar.

Elias paid $ 3,800 to a coyote and headed to the U.S. border, Tiniguar said.

Tiniguar said the family saw a photo of the truck accident and knew it from the blue shirt he was wearing while Elijah was lying on the ground, but they still don’t know if he was dead or alive.

Guatemala has not yet publicly identified the 55 people killed.

“They don’t give me any information. They don’t answer the phone, ”said Tiniguar. “Help me find my son.”

Following the accident, Guatemalan officials called on the United States to invest in development in the region. The United States, Mexico, Guatemala and other countries have pledged to remind international networks of smuggling people accused of Thursday’s accident.