The two men, Fernando Jose Redondo Caballero, 20, and Alejandro Miguel Andino Caballero, 24, had left home in the beginning of June and paid a smuggler to make the journey north. They traveled with Margie Tamara Paz, 25, the girlfriend of Alejandro Miguel.
Caballero described her sons as “healthy, studious,” telling journalists they loved soccer and dancing and left “in search of a better future.”
“For me they were the sweetest boys in my world,” she said through tears.
As the medical examiner’s office began the painstaking process of identifying victims, families across Mexico and Central America have begun learning that loved ones who left in search of a future in the United States are among the 53 dead.
Slowly a portrait of those who were inside the tractor trail is coming together. The migrants hailed from as far away as the remote Mayan village of Nahuala, high in the mountains of Guatemala. Some had been in the United States before. Others had plans to reunite with relatives. Most were young and sought out to accomplish simple dreams like earning enough to build a home.
Two of the youngest were 13.
Pascual Melvin Guachiac Sipac, had left Sololá, Guatemala, 15 days ago to live with his dad in Houston. On Wednesday morning the teen’s mother, Maria Sipac Coj, received a call from a local congressman telling her that her son’s body had been found in the trailer.
“He was so excited to be with his father again,” she said, weeping.
She still has his last message to her on her phone: “Mom, today they are taking me in a trailer.”
Pascual’s cousin, Juan Wilmer Tulul Tepaz, also 13, accompanied him on the journey and died as well.
Four people — the driver of the trailer and three others associated with the human smuggling ring — were charged late Wednesday for their involvement in the incident as more details about those behind the operation, the path of the truck and who was inside came to light.
The head of Mexico’s immigration agency, Francisco Garduño Yáñez, said the trailer originated in Texas and “did not pass through Mexico, through any of its checkpoints in the country.” Homero Zamorano Jr., 45, was captured on security footage driving the vehicle through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Encinal, Tex., shortly before 3 p.m. on Monday, he said. The vehicle continued north, Yáñez said, before stopping in San Antonio, where it was discovered on a desolate stretch of road.
Yáñez said the truck had been packed with 67 people, and the dead included 27 from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador.
U.S. federal authorities said Zamorano was found hiding in brush nearby. According to Yáñez, he attempted to pass himself off as a surviving migrant. He was charged with one count of alien smuggling resulting in death and faces up to life in prison or possibly the death penalty if convicted.
Investigators found cellphone communications between Zamorano and Christian Martinez, 28, who has been charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death. Two other men, Juan Claudio D’Luna-Mendez, 23, and Juan Francisco D’Luna Bilbao, 48, face weapons charges.
The tragedy has resonated across Mexico and Central America, where all those thus far identified hailed from — a region where rising numbers are looking to flee violence, corruption and poverty for a life in the United States.
In the small village of San Marcos, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, Yolanda Olivares Ruiz was desperate after losing contact with her two sons, Yovani Valencia Olivares, 16 , Jair Valencia Olivares 19, who departed for the United States last week. The brothers left with their 16-year-old cousin, Misael Olivares.
The family last heard from her sons on Monday morning, when they wrote a text message saying they were in a warehouse in Laredo, Tex., and waiting to be “picked up,” the mother said. The brothers were elated that they had made it to the United States after wading across the Rio Grande.
“They were so happy and hopeful that by next morning, they would be joining a relative who was waiting for them in Austin and start working,” she said.
Since that last message, they have not replied to desperate calls and countless texts.
“We don’t know anything about them. The uncertainty is killing us,” she said, carrying a photo of her two sons. “I have no tears left.”
Olivares Ruiz’s sons, like so many others in this town, dreamt of finding a job in the United States and making enough money to construct a house and buy a car, she said. They promised to come back to Mexico.
“I couldn’t say no to them because there is nothing here for them,” she said.
Olivares Ruiz sold her house to raise $10,000 for each of her sons to pay the smuggler, who she said, seemed like a kind man and had helped other relatives cross to the United States earlier this year.
“I am sure they were inside that trailer,” said Teofilo Antonio Valencia Olivares, father of the two missing boys. If it turns out that they were, Yolanda Olivares Ruiz hoped they might be injured.
“I just want to know if they are ok, and if they lying in a hospital bed, to tell them, ‘my son, I am here with you,’” she said.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office said they have tentative identifications for 37 of the 53 bodies turned over to them. A team of dedicated staff are combing through personal effects, documenting distinctive features and other evidence found on the individuals that could help identify them.”
“Sometimes it’s state identifications or a voting card from their country of origin,” said county spokesman Tom Peine. “But it’s only a potential identification. We still need to verify whether the documents belong to the person or someone else. Our team is dedicated and passionate about putting a name to every life represented.”
Peine said once the team develops a possible identification, they coordinate with consular staff to corroborate as much information needed to verify a positive ID. The consulates also help with finding and contacting families once they are sure they have identified an individual. The consulates have been publicizing a specific phone number for families to call if they suspect their loved one was supposed to be on the tractor trailer.
The medical examiner’s office is currently coordinating with the consulates of El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras but Peine said they expect the process will be take time. But they won’t sacrifice diligence for speed, he said. Workers from Travis and Dallas County medical examiners office’s are helping with the autopsies.
“We also ask for patience, as the large number of victims and the expectation that most or possibly all are citizens of foreign countries likely lead to a prolonged process,” the office said in a statement.
For some families, the news arriving from Texas has brought both hope and anguish.
Alejandro López said his cousin, José Luis Vásquez Guzmán, 32, survived. But another cousin, Javier Flores López, is still unaccounted for. The two were from the small village of Cerro Verde in Oaxaca, Mexico, a place where many residents at one point or another have tested their luck in trying to reach the United States.
Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister, posted a photo of Guzmán’s identification online Tuesday, saying he was one of about a dozen migrants still hospitalized.
“They are dehydrated and receiving medical attention now,” Ebrard said.
Guzmán’s father died when he was 10 and the family is poor. He briefly served in the military, he said. Both Guzmán and Flores López were hoping to get to Ohio, where they had family.
“The options are: be a police officer, join the military,” Alejandro López said, “or go to the United States.”
Gabriela Martinez in Mexico City contributed to this report
