“The border is an area of piranhas waiting to devour you and in which you don’t live if you don’t have money. Or also in some cases, you die if you have it. It depends on how you arrive and who brings you because if things are done well, everything is possible here with tickets”. (German Castro Caycedo, ‘The Hollow’)
The night of February 23, 2022, Colombian Juan Carlos Rivera began his long journey through Mexicali: his destiny was to cross the border of the United States at any cost.
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I have mistrust of the man who takes me, he has made me change cars several times
Before starting his journey through the desert sands of this border area, he sent a WhatsApp voice message to his older brother, Jhon, who remembered what he said: “I have mistrust of the man who takes me, he has made me change cars several times.”
Then, he told his relatives that his cell phone was about to die, to pray and that they would hear from him once he reached the top and was safe, enjoying the American dream.
Mexicali, border city with the United States.
Months ago Juan Carlos was desperate for his present in Colombia. The economy of his home was scarce due to the ravages of two years of the pandemic. The business in his father’s butcher shop, with whom he worked, did not pick up and he had no other choice but to explore ways so that the crisis would not knock him down.
I was trying to give everything to them. At the end of the year they planned to get married
First, he got into debt with loans that allowed him to buy a car, with which he intended to work from sunrise to sunset on mobility platforms. That’s how he tried for a good part of 2021, but the accounts still didn’t add up.
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“Brother, what do I do?” Jhon recalled that Juan Carlos asked him, desperate.
It was there, at the beginning of February, that they began to explore the possibility that Juan Carlos, the second of four brothers, would cross into the United States as many other Latin Americans and Africans do: through the gap.
And that border between Mexico and the United States, which has become a dream for many illegal migrants to cross, can also be a grave. According to data from the Customs and Border Protection Office, only in 2021 557 deaths of people seeking to cross illegally into US territory were recorded.
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He did it to help his family
Such was his point of desperation to support his children and wife, whom he loved and adored, that he ventured
Juan Carlos was a man who lived for his children, ages 10, 6 and 3. With Karen, his wife, before the covid-19 pandemic broke out, they tried to travel through Colombia, but the couple’s economic muscle progressively weakened.
Xiomara Méndez, a close friend of the couple, commented that they planned to marry at the end of this year. A goal that would have been one of the heights of her happiness.
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“I was trying to give everything to them. At the end of the year they planned to get married.” However, the happiness she projected was almost always being swallowed up by the anguish of debt and not being able to meet the needs of her family.
Juan Carlos Rivera and his family.
“He was a nervous man, that’s why it seemed strange to me that he made the decision to go through the gap to the United States. He always tried to be with a friend or a physical support. Such was the point of desperation of him to support his children and wife, whom he loved and adored, that he ventured. There was no complaint about him, he was a great person,” said Xiomara.
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Juan Carlos, 37, devised his plan to travel to Mexico. With his brother Jhon, they watched videos, asked acquaintances who made that journey for advice, until they found the human trafficker, who is known in these worlds as the ‘coyote’; the man in charge of being the illegal transport across the border between the two countries.
The price that he assessed to cross it to the United States was 800 dollars (approximately 3 million Colombian pesos). Juan Carlos sold the car, with that money he bought tickets to Mexico and saved the money for the coyote.
The plan did not leave the family nucleus because of how convoluted and dangerous the subject could be for other people. Even more so when, just 4 months ago, Colombian Claudia Marcela Pineda and her 11-year-old daughter succumbed to high temperatures while crossing the Sonoran desert. The route that these compatriots had taken was also through Mexicali.
the day of the tragedy
After leaving his house in the Villa del Río neighborhood, in the south of Bogotá, saying goodbye to his children, wife, siblings and parents, this Bogota native left on February 21 for Cancun.
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Two days later he took a flight to Mexicali, a city that borders the United States and is surrounded by the Sonoran desert, whose area is immense: it covers 260,000 square kilometers, which is why many people – like Claudia’s case – can lose their way and die of thirst and hunger if the coyote abandons them in a desolate field.
Juan Carlos Rivera leaves behind three children aged 10, 6 and 3.
It was on February 23 that Juan Carlos met the coyote. That day he alerted Jhon: “In some voice notes, at 8:20 at night, my brother told me that the person was very strange. I tried to calm him down, I told him it was normal, because the Mexican police could get to them.”
A few minutes later, he wrote to Jhon again, telling him that the coyote had left him at a point where he had to walk 300 meters until he found a place where he would find other migrants.
During that walk through the desert, the man informed Karen that her cell phone was about to turn off due to running out of battery.
Hours passed. The family assumed that Juan Carlos had managed to cross the gap, despite the fact that he had not communicated.
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After 48 hours, the communication about the whereabouts of Juan Carlos arrived. The Colombian consulate in Los Angeles, United States, informed the family, via email, that he was dead.
What happened in the desert?
Jhon says that the first thing he thought was that Juan Carlos had been murdered. It was strange to them. A thousand things came to mind.
The family, devastated by the news, began to consult with the United States authorities about the possible causes of Juan Carlos’s death.
The medical examiner explained to the family that the man’s body was found on the morning of Thursday, February 24, by Arizona border guards.
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They left him there all night, alone. His mind could have played a trick on him, he got scared and ventured over the wall
Jhon stated that, after finding out what had happened, it was established that Juan Carlos was late for the group that was going to cross the border that night. He was left alone at the point where more migrants were supposed to arrive and after waiting for hours, not knowing what to do, he made a decision.
“Before him, it seems, there was a group of 14 people who had already been taken to cross the border. They left him there all night, alone. His mind could have played a trick on him, he got scared and ventured past the wall”, John counted.
This is the wall on the border between Mexico and the United States that Juan Carlos was trying to cross.
At that border point there are two walls, which are up to 9 meters high and are made of steel bars. Juan Carlos, according to his brother Jhon, was able to cross the first wall, but when he crossed the second, he fell and died instantly.
It is not known how long the Colombian waited for other migrants to arrive in the area, nor the hours that his body was lying in the desert.
“It is very sad. He hurts a lot for his three little children.” John said. Juan Carlos’s family is now trying to gather the resources to be able to repatriate the body of the Colombian, whose body will be delivered to an acquaintance this Saturday.
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However, the procedures cost approximately 25 million pesos, money that the family does not have, but which, they said, the solidarity of Colombians is helping to obtain.
*The Rivera family is seeking donations to repatriate the young man. If you are interested in helping, you can call 302 4194949, 301 6975521 and 322 3297598.
The savings account number that they have arranged is: 91230368151 from Bancolombia, in the name of Karen Julieth Sánchez, whose citizenship card is 1024527646.
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