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The family of a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who died in the custody of the US Border Patrol is challenging a story by US officials who claimed they did not receive food or water for days.
In a statement released by lawyers, Jakelin Caal's parents stated that the girl had received food and water and appeared to be in good health while she was crossing Mexico with his father, Nery Gilberto Caal, 29 years old. The family added that Jakelin had not traveled to the desert for several days before being arrested.
Tekandi Paniagua, Guatemala's consul in Del Rio, Texas, told The Associated Press that he had spoken to Jakelin's father. The consul stated that Nery Caal had told him that the group they were traveling with had been dropped in Mexico about 90 minutes walk from the border.
Border patrol officials did not immediately respond to the family's comments.
published Saturday at a press conference in El Paso, Texas, in an immigrant shelter where Jakelin's father resides. His family was not present and asked for the protection of his private life.
Jakelin and his father sought asylum in the United States and were part of a large group of migrants arrested on December 6 near a remote border crossing in New Mexico. A few hours later, they were placed on a bus to the nearest border patrol post, but Jakelin began to vomit and finally stopped breathing. She died later in a Texas hospital.
Border patrol officials said Friday that officers had done everything possible to save the girl, but that she had neither food nor water for days. They added that a first exam showed no evidence of health problems and that her father had signed a form stating that she was in good health.
But the family has challenged this form, in English, language that his father does not have. speak or read. He has communicated with border agents in Spanish, but he mainly speaks Mayan Q & # 39; eqchi & # 39 ;.
"It is unacceptable for a government agency that people in detention have documents signed in a language they clearly do not understand," the statement said.
Jakelin's family urges the authorities to conduct an "objective and thorough" investigation into the death and to determine whether the authorities were complying with the standards of arrest and custody.
The cause of death has not yet been released. A private prayer service was held Friday in Texas so his father could see Jakelin's body before transporting him to Guatemala, said Ruben Garcia, director of the Annunciation House shelter where his father resides.
"We were all moved by the depth of his faith and his confidence that the hand of God is in all of this," said Garcia.
Family members in Guatemala said that Caal had decided to migrate with his favorite child to make money that he could send home. Jakelin's mother and three siblings remained in San Antonio Secortez, a village of about 420 inhabitants.
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