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Little Wilder Ladino García was found abandoned and shirtless, next to the lifeless body of a migrant, on a highway in southeastern Mexico.
At just 2 years old, he left at the end of June with his father, Isidro Ladino, from a small town in the municipality of Santa Rita, in western Honduras.
Both were trying to reach the United States. But at one point they broke up and the little boy was accompanied by a group of unknown migrants.
Mexican authorities from the National Guard and the National Institute of Migration (INM) found him on June 28 on a highway near Las Choapas, Veracruz, which migrants use to reach the United States.
He came with a hundred “overcrowded” Central Americans in the unventilated crate of a freight trailer.
The migrants “exhibited symptoms of dehydration and suffocation” due to the vehicle’s excessive heat, the MNI reported in a statement.
“Sadly, the body of a lifeless young man, around 25, was found there.”
From Honduras, Wilder’s mother, Lorena García, mourns the plight of her husband and son.
Although she is relieved that both are safe, she cries out for help so that both can reach the United States, because returning to Santa Rita means continuing to be doomed to the poverty that forced them to head. to the north.
“That they would help me take my child with my husband there, together. But not my child alone. If that is not possible, let them return my child to me,” García said between sobs to the BBC Mundo.
Your departure from home
Isidro Ladino took Wilder away on June 25 because they had heard rumors that, despite the risk, being accompanied by a minor gives them more opportunities to manage their passage to the United States.
“We have seen that a lot of people live with children,” explains Lorena García.
They started from a small population of the municipality of Santa Rita, an area historically affected by poverty and the recent destruction left by hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020.
“You cannot support yourself here. When there is work, Isidro earns around 100 pesos (US $ 4.1). He did not work every day, only when he found a job,” the mother explained. by Wilder and Nancy Abigail.
“Since this Sunday, I have not had any more contact with him, until the consul (from Honduras to Mexico) informed me that the child was found alone,” said García.
Although she had the opportunity to speak on the phone with her husband, it is not yet clear why Ladino separated from little Wilder on Mexican soil.
“I have no news of how he left it there,” he explains.
Trailer hell
What the Mexican MNI authorities were able to determine was that the journey of more than 100 migrants in the box of a trailer turned into a nightmare due to the terrible conditions in which they were traveling.
“[Los migrantes] reported that a few hours earlier, several of their companions and travel companions began to pass out due to the lack of air and heat, ”explains the MNI.
“Others demanded by shouting and hitting – on the walls of the vehicle – that the driver stop walking,” he continues.
“After a while the transport stopped and one of the ‘polleros’ or supposed ‘guides’ opened one of the doors, with which men and women started to jump and run on the sidewalk and in the undergrowth. ”
Eight people were still at the scene when they were found by the authorities. Some migrants were “suffocated” inside the trailer and others “lying” outside, where little Wilder stood next to a deceased young man of around 25.
“With his back naked, he was left on the edge, between the metal fence, loose clothing, backpacks and food thrown in. None of the adults claimed to be a relative of the minor,” according to the MNI.
García learned from a call from the Honduran consulate that his son had been found. But it wasn’t until he saw him on the news that he realized what condition he was in.
“It was very hard for me,” he laments.
Safe but apart
Until this Tuesday, Lorena García could not know that her husband and her son are safe.
“They told me Wilder was fine, but as he was going through this, they had to take him to see a therapist,” he explains.
“Isidro told me that Tuxtla Gutiérrez was there. That he was migrating. As they barely let him make calls, we couldn’t speak. But he was fine,” he adds.
“The girl who has the child wrote to me on Wednesday, June 30. I sent her messages, but they hardly answer me.”
The INM has the obligation to repatriate migrants to their country, with the support of the national authorities of origin.
Yet Garcia insists that they need help bringing her husband to the United States and finding work.
“I hope they will help me get through this.”
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