More than
1,600 km from the riverbank where the bodies of her son and granddaughter were
recovered, Rosa Ramírez cried.
At his
home in San Martin, El Salvador, Ramírez clung to what he said were some of
Angie Valeria's favorite toys: a doll and a purple stuffed monkey with a heart.
The
devastating photo of Angie Valeria, 23 months old, and her father, Oscar
Alberto Martínez, floating in the Rio Grande, is a grim reminder of the
harsh realities on the southern border of the United States. It
shakes the spectators from all over the world.
Ramírez told reporters
of Canal 33, a CNN affiliate, how the trip began.
Months before the
river currents claimed their lives, and months before the shutter of a photographer captured the dramatic image of his death, Ramírez
said he tried to convince his son and his family not to make the dangerous trip
to the river.
·
Julia Le Duc: "I'm still touched by the bad luck that Oscar
and Valeria ran"
"As a mother, you
do not want your children to be so far away," he said. "But ...
the idea of leaving had gotten into their heads."
Óscar had been working
as a cook in a pizzeria while the family lived with her in San Martín, a
municipality in the center of El Salvador, east of the country's capital.
They wanted to have
their own house said Ramírez.
"That," she
said, "was what motivated them."
Ramírez told CNN en
Español that the death of her son and granddaughter has changed her
forever. She is turning to God and religion in search of strength.
"Nothing can fill
this void," he said. "But at least this gives me the strength to
face it."
José Martínez said he
had spoken on the phone with his son a few days earlier, on Friday.
"I had been to Mexico
for a few days, and everything had gone wonderfully," said Martinez.
But in reality,
conditions in Matamoros, Mexico, the border city where the family had been
waiting to show up at a US port of entry and seek asylum, were more difficult,
according to La Jornada, the Mexican newspaper that reported for the
first time. The story of the deaths of the father and
daughter.
At the end of May,
more than 2,000 migrants were waiting "in conditions of
starvation and overcrowding" there to seek asylum in ports where,
according to La Jornada, US agents were able to seek asylum in
ports. They granted an average of three appointments per week.
Tania Vanessa Avalos,
wife and mother of Oscar Valeria Angie, told the newspaper that his family had
become increasingly desperate as temperatures reached 43 degrees
Celsius. They had been in a migrant camp in Matamoros since Sunday, the newspaper said, citing Ávalos.
It was then that Oscar
made a fateful decision. Instead of waiting for more, they would cross the
river to the United States.
"Óscar Alberto
took Valeria in his arms and entered the water; He swam to the other side
and reached the mainland, where he left his daughter. Immediately after,
he returned and went to Tania, "said La Jornada."
However, in an instant, he realized that the girl, after seeing that she was moving away, threw herself
into the water. Óscar Alberto returned and managed to grab the girl, but a
strong current dragged them and sank them. "
Speaking to reporters
in El Salvador - while trying to understand the devastating news - Rosa Ramírez and José Martínez told what they had heard
about the tragedy.
Ramírez said her son
died while trying to save her daughter's life.
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