Members of the Mariachi Azul play in front of a shrine representing the 53 migrants from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala who died in a caravan on Quintana Road on June 27. Hundreds of other people gathered at the site on July 27, 2022.
A boy will pay tribute on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 on the Quintana Highway where on June 27 53 migrants died in a caravan. The migrants arrived here from Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala. A shrine has been erected in the Array
People gather on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at Quintana Road in San Antonio at the site where 53 migrants died in the summer heat of June 27. The migrants arrived from Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala.
People gather on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at Quintana Road in San Antonio at the site where 53 migrants died in the summer heat of June 27. The migrants arrived from Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala.
Members of the Mariachi Azul play in front of a shrine representing the 53 migrants from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala who died in a caravan on Quintana Road on June 27. Hundreds of other people gathered at the site on July 27, 2022.
An angel stands at a shrine erected on Quintana Road where 53 migrants from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala died in a hot trailer on June 27. People gathered on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 to honor them with a month-long anniversary of the tragic event. .
People gather on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at Quintana Road in San Antonio at the site where 53 migrants died in the summer heat of June 27. The migrants arrived from Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala.
Sandragrace Martinez speaks Wednesday, July 27, 2022, at a rally to mark a month since migrants died in a burning caravan on Quintana Road on June 27.
Father Dennis Darilek visits the sanctuary of 53 migrants who died in a burning trailer on Quintana Road on June 27 of this year. Hundreds of others gathered on July 27 to pay their respects.
A shrine dedicated to migrants who perished in a burning caravan on Quintana Road on June 27 lights up at night while an exercise was held on July 27, 2022.
Mariachis sang the brown, pink and white crosses as the sun set at the spot where 53 other people were found dead or dying in a sweltering semi-trailer on a secluded street on the southwest side of San Antonio.
A rite marking 30 days since the human trafficking tragedy on June 27 brought together another hundred people on Wednesday night. They sought to honor migrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras who died on the beautiful platform.
“They experienced joy. They were loved. They had hopes, dreams and were looking for more. They are the American dream,” said Sandragrace Martinez, a volunteer caregiver at The 53 Migrants Memorial, a row of crosses adorned with flowers. crowns, rosaries and photographs of the 40 men and thirteen women between the ages of thirteen and 55 who died.
“It’s not enough to single them out as the 53 migrants who died in a semi-trailer in sweltering heat on a highway outside San Antonio,” Martinez said. “It is not enough to list their names, ages and places of origin. If we need to make adjustments in this county, this country, this city, this state, it’s critical that we continue to show their faces and reveal individual stories in detail.
Martinez, a licensed professional counselor and former probation officer, is the daughter of immigrants. She describes the monument on the road as her non-public “vocation. “He said sharing migrants’ stories is a way to counter the “hateful rhetoric that rejects them. “
“We know some came here because they had lupus and needed treatment,” he said. “Some came here to meet their mothers and sisters. Other people came here to get cash for their children’s quinceañera.
The tragedy is the deadliest case of migrant smuggling in the country involving a large platform. Authorities say smugglers packed the migrants into the trailer in Laredo and the rig passed undetected through a federal immigration checkpoint north of the border city. That night, the driving force abandoned the red Volvo truck on Quintana Road near JBSA-Lackland.
Two men, Homero Zamorano, 46, and Christian Martinez, 28, both from Palestine in East Texas, are charged with illegally sending undocumented immigrants and conspiracy to send immigrants with death and serious physical harm. If convicted, anyone faces the death penalty.
Wednesday rite a dark night of commemoration, mirror image and call to action. Rev. Katrina Ornelas, who served as hospice chaplain and grief counselor, led the organization in prayers in Spanish and English.
“We go to the love they had so that they only sacrifice, so that they only come to the United States. May his death not be in vain. Amen,” Ornelas said.
Bexar County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores said at least two survivors “continue to fight for their lives in local hospitals. “One of them, a Mexican teenager, is in the university hospital. Consular reached his mother.
“Once she traveled here and he felt her through his side, he realized it,” Clay-Flores said, urging the organization to continue advocating for human reparation for immigrants, even in the face of opposition.
“Whatever the criticism, we will have to stand tall and be a voice for the voiceless,” he said.
Ramon Vasquez, executive director of the American Indians in Texas in the Spanish colonial missions, said his organization planned cleanup days and paintings at the monument and helped Martinez raise funds.
He recalls that 4 women, members of the circle of relatives of one of the victims, Juan Jesús Trejo Téllez, 31, from Mexico, showed up at the memorial and began to cry when they saw his photo.
“At the time, it was very genuine to me,” Vasquez said. “It’s a tragedy, but there are families who stay. “
The memorial symbolizes only the tragedy of June, but the countless deaths of immigrants, many of them indigenous, who followed ancient migration routes from Mexico and Central and South America to the United States, he said.
“If there is going to be a monument to raise the general image of what we have in this country, what better place than San Antonio?”
shuddleston@express-news. net