It was a trip of a little more than two hours, by sea, which separated the brothers from the Bahamas. Juan Esteban and Maria Camila Montoya Caicedo of the dream of meeting his mother, who lives in Houston, in U.S.
They were among the more than 40 travelers, without life jackets, who hoped to reach the North American country, but that journey turned their lives upside down.
They thought that the journey would not take more than an hour and a half from Bimini, in the Bahamas, according to what they had been told by some inhabitants of the islands where they arrived for a walk, but the fishing boat in which they were going with 38 other travelers was trapped between gigantic waves and a storm.
But those who know these trips and navigate know that covering a journey of these lasts much longer, since from Bimini, an island chain in the Bahamas, there are about 88 kilometers (55 miles) east of Miami.
This whole nightmare started last week, when the brothers born in Guacaríinseparable since childhood, decided to go on a trip from this town in the center of the Valley del Cauca that does not exceed 50,000 inhabitants. They went to the Bahamas to rest. That’s what they told some relatives and their relatives.
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However, being in these Caribbean islands, they wanted to embark on Saturday to reach the lands of Uncle Sam, risking possible inclement weather and the sea, and being detained on the mainland because they would not be documented.
We need each other to support each other, to be able to overcome the loss of our little girl; I ask you to please not deport him
Apparently, they had assumed that the trip was going to be easy and so they let some friends know. That is why they decided to extend what was a walk to visit Marcia Giraldo, their mother, whom they had not seen since they were little. But family members, such as Hugo Viveros and grandfather Danilo Caicedo, affirm from Guacarí that they do not know how both brothers ended up on the shipwrecked fishing boat or how the contact with their crew had been to take them.
However, when the ship was about 20 nautical miles from the US coast, the sea began to get rough. Juan Esteban, 22, and his sister, 18, began to be frightened by waves that exceeded three meters in height. As the sea roared, winds of 10 to 20 knots rocked the ship from side to side.
The passengers and these Valle del Caucanos panicked because of the storm that engulfed them. Many of them did not have life jackets.
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Panic seized all the occupants of the ship. Juan Esteban was fighting with his strength to cling to his sister, his best friend and his ally since childhood.
But due to those raging waves and the winds that raged against the ship, the brothers could not continue together. The desperation and screaming increased until they were out of sight of each other and then the speeder capsized. The screams and anguish increased from those who were already in the water. Juan Esteban wanted to continue clinging to something firm and that is why he sought to climb onto the capsized ship.
Hours later, everything was loneliness and despair for the Valle del Cauca until four days had passed. During that period, he was glued to the part of what would have been the bow that remained afloat and continued to sink, from that Saturday of the tragedy until he was found on Tuesday by a commercial ship that notified the US authorities. The ship sank in the middle of the journey, between Miami Y Cape Canaveral.
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This Colombian felt that he had no more strength, that he would drown or disappear like his younger sister and the other castaways; that he would never see his mother again, for whom he had fought to reach the United States, nor his family who remained worried in Guacarí. During the day, the sun bent him down in those lonely hours and also the cold that worsened at night.
Juan Esteban told all this to his mother, Marcia Giraldo, with whom he was able to communicate from the hospital in the United States where he was sent to tell him that his soul sister had disappeared. Meanwhile, the authorities of that country continue to review his immigration status.
He really likes the social part, here in Guacarí he has many friends, they are very good people. Please, let’s all help my daddy. he is a good young man
The mother continues to raise the clamor to the media in the United States. She asks that her son be able to stay with her so that the journey of Juan Esteban and her daughter who disappeared is not in vain. “We need each other to support each other, to be able to overcome the loss of our little girl; I ask you to please not deport him,” the mother pleaded through the Telemundo network.
In this area where the shipwreck occurred, the defense force reported that last Friday they rescued 31 migrants who were in another overloaded boat that was also shipwrecked. Those too had sailed from Bimini.
Attached to his sister and a lover of agriculture
Juan Esteban and María Camila adored each other to the point that they studied at the same university: the Minuto de Dios University Corporation (Uniminuto), in Buga, less than half an hour from Guacarí.
María Camila had begun studies in International Trade, and Juan Esteban, in Business Administration. But this young man, a lover of exercise, riding a bike and going to the gym like his sister, had previously studied technology in Agricultural Sciences. He helped his grandfather with tasks related to this field and also works in a sugar mill, also in Valle del Cauca.
“Juan Esteban and María Camila are my beloved grandchildren. Juan Esteban has always been very enterprising and intelligent. He is a farmer like me. We plant corn,” says grandfather Danilo. “He really likes the social part, here in Guacarí he has many friends, he is very good people. Please, let’s all help my daddy. He is a good young man.”
“It was very common for the whole family to share almost daily in front of the Guacarí stadium. Almost everyone came, including Juan Esteban and María Camila, with whom we would talk, recollect and tell many stories,” recalls Hugo Viveros, whose daughter is a cousin of the Montoya Caicedo.
Both young people lived with their grandparents, because the father of these brothers is in Buga and his mother, in the United States, looking for a better future.
“He was quite close with his little sister and both were attached to their mother, despite being very far away,” says Viveros, who is one of the administrators of a variety and entertainment portal in Guacarí. He assures that the information about this tragedy is very scattered and unclear. He maintains that the only thing the family is certain of is that Juan Esteban is deprived of liberty and there would already be a lawyer. That’s why they ask to be released.
“I understand that they were in a tour and for a walk over there (United States), but they say that they were kidnapped and ended up on that boat that was shipwrecked, but for sure, nobody knows anything, only many versions are heard. The only thing I know is that he (Juan Esteban) is the only survivor and only four bodies have been found. That is why we have faith that María Camila will be found alive”, says Viveros.
“We only ask from Guacarí for this cry to be heard in the United States that they have humanity, because Juan Esteban is receiving inhuman treatment and he does not deserve that, because he is a hard-working and very healthy boy,” they say in this family known in Guacarí as one of the greatest and most beloved. That is why the news of the tragedy spread quickly in this small town, dressed in mourning and where candles continue to be lit so that Juan Esteban does not continue to be detained and returns to his family.
CAROLINA BOHÓRQUEZ AND JOSE ANTONIO MINOTA
TIME CORRESPONDENTS
CALI
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