A young family left El Salvador for a better life. Their tragedy encapsulates the immigration crisis
When Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez told his mother that he was planning to take his wife and young daughter from their home on the outskirts of the San Salvador and head north to the US, she felt a shiver of foreboding. “I had a feeling,” said Rosa Ramírez, 46. “An ugly premonition.”
But Óscar was eager to follow his dream of a better future for his wife Tania Vanessa Ávalos, 21, and their 23-month-old daughter Angie Valeria. The family set out in April, heading for Mexico.
Twelve weeks later, Óscar and Angie Valeria drowned in each other’s arms as they attempted to cross the Rio Grande and reach US soil. A harrowing photograph of the two bodies lying in shallow water cast a harsh spotlight on the region’s migration crisis, and once again underlined the dangers facing families seeking to escape poverty, violence and corruption in Central America.
Pope Francis expressed his “immense sadness”, while in the US, the image turned up the heat on a bitter partisan debate over immigration.
Back at the family’s neatly painted brick house, Ramírez was left struggling with her loss. “I feel a huge emptiness,” she said. The last time she spoke to Óscar was on Saturday, when he called from Mexico. He told her he was fine. She wonders if he said so only to calm her worries.
The next morning the couple arrived in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, where they attempted to seek asylum at the port of entry. They were turned away and decided to cross the river which divides Mexico from the US. Óscar crossed first with Angie Valeria, then turned back to help Ávalos, but the little girl followed him into the water; Óscar tried to save her, but the current swept them both away. They were found on Monday, Valeria tucked inside her father’s T-shirt – presumably in an attempt to stay together. For Ramírez, the photograph is a source of pain but also a measure of comfort.
“It’s tough … that image. But at the same time, it fills me with tenderness. At no time did he let go of her.” “They died in each other’s arms.”
(Courtesy The Guardian, UK)