Colombian mother and daughter die in desert after trying to cross the US border

In a family tragedy, the attempt to a Colombian mother and her two young children illegally crossing the border between Mexico and the United States. They are Claudia Marcela Peña, who left the country on August 21 with her children, María José Sánchez, 10, and Cristian Pinzón, three, mother and son, died in a desert, while the little one miraculously survived .

Noticias Caracol published this story which once again highlights the enormous risk faced by people trying to reach the North American country with the help of the famous coyotes, men who charge large sums of money. money to cross dangerous roads and finally get to the target. The mission of this trip was that Claudia Marcela will be reunited with her husband, Hugo Pinzón, already based in the United States.

Yeni Acevedo, cousin of the deceased, told the television news about the trip of this mother and her two children to the Mexican border. “She left Saturday August 21 for Mexico, Sunday and Monday she was in Mexico, Tuesday morning she went to Tijuana by plane, then she traveled by land where an alleged coyote was going to take them to the border”he commented.

During this trip, Claudia Marcela recorded with her mobile phone several stops they made across the country. In fact, there is a video recorded in the Basilica of Guadalupe, where they asked for the protection of their entire family. He also took several photographs of the trip, including when he was in a vehicle with the coyote.

According to a relative of the Colombian, the last communication she had with her took place at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, August 25, the day Claudia Marcela took the last photographs of her children undergoing the intense heat of the desert.

The victim’s husband, who was waiting for them in the United States, told a relative the coyote abandoned them under a pole and the heat beat 10-year-old María José and her mother, who died. But in the midst of all this tragedy, little Cristián was found alive by border officials from this country and taken to a health center from where he will be transferred to Los Angeles.

“I came to ask the Colombian Foreign Ministry to help me repatriate the body of my wife and daughter who died on the line between Mexico and Arizona, I came to look for a better future but I did not completed”said Hugo Pinzón, husband of Claudia Marcela.

The Mexican government has reports which indicate that migrant smugglers on the northern border of that country have opted for a key alternative to strengthening measures at the crossing: now they are using the By sea to smuggle undocumented people of Mexican and Central American origin into the United States.

In the past 18 months, at least 115 migrants have left the coast of Baja California in small boats, without the protective measures required for this type of navigation. Official information also shows that the departure points of these ships are between the ports of Popotla and Punta Banda, located in the municipality of Playas de Rosarito.

The migrants they indicate as saved end up with levels of dehydration, dizziness and hunger in general. When they were found, they refused to identify the people who trafficked them for fear of the consequences.

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