14ymedio, Havana, 15 October 2023 — This Sunday, relatives of Shakira Martínez received the body of the 21-year-old who died along with nine other Cuban women in a traffic accident on October 1 when the truck they were traveling in to reach the U.S. border was driven at excessive speed and overturned in Pijijiapan, in the Mexican state of Chiapas. A source confirmed to 14ymedio that after 9 o’clock in the morning, the body of the Holguinera was already at the funeral home at the entrance of the province.
With the video of a plane taking off from an air terminal, the Cuban Embassy in Mexico announced on Saturday that “according to the family’s wishes” the “bodies of Cuban citizens who died in the accident in Chiapas” were returned. As has been usual in such matters, no details on the number of victims or their names were provided.
The main diplomatic office limited its statement to saying that consular officials and Mexican authorities were traveling on the flight.
A nurse at the Pijijiapan hospital confirmed to this newspaper that in addition to Shakira Martínez, the victims included 23-year-old Dayanes Morales Piedra, Naelis Carrillo Rodríguez, Aylen Moreira Guimarais, María Fernanda Lara (12), Zulema de la Caridad Amarral Valverde (16) and Alicia de la Caridad Rodríguez Montero (22).
The accident recorded 15 injured, whose names were revealed by the user Ernesto Sánchez. Among the injured Cubans are Danelis Talavera Sánchez, 32; Maylen Melisa Aliaga Tamayo, 24; Ariany Nolasco Moreyda de la Caridad, 7; Yaritza Alen Cuitic, 44; Eliani Dueña Carrillo, 6; Melisa Guiarte Serrano, 18; Eylisa Mauro Chávez Prieto, 20; Sonia Tamayo Rosales, 53; Dykenia Rodríguez, 46; Diana Iris Lozano Moleón, 26; Armando Cárdenas Céspedes, 60; Alejandro Adrián Velasco, 12; Yorlayne Valverde Pastol, 17; Roos Liz Cortina Mandearabe, 18; and Félix Arreaga Suárez, 46.
The desperation of Cubans and the difficulties in obtaining a letter of safe-conduct that allows them to travel freely through Mexico has led Cubans to pay truck drivers to take them out of the state of Chiapas so they can continue their journey to the U.S.
The desperation of Cubans and the difficulties in obtaining a letter of safe-conduct that allows them to travel freely through Mexico has led Cubans to pay truck drivers to take them out of the state of Chiapas so they can continue their journey to the U.S.
The Chiapas District Attorney’s Office opened an investigation for the crime of negligent homicide in “traffic events” against the person or persons responsible for this accident. So far, the driver, who fled after the accident, has been identified as the guilty party.
Among the Cubans who are stranded in Tapachula, there is fear of being detained and deported due to the delay in immigration procedures. A source from Migration confirmed to 14ymedio that the 138 Cubans deported on Saturday “were at the Siglo XXI Migratory Station”, which is located in Tapachula.
The Cubans were taken to the airport in five vans from the National Migration Institute and “a luxury bus”. The operation was overseen by Carlos Eduardo Espinoza Morales, who has been exposed by migrant defenders for “abuse of authority.”
Translated by: Dylan Roberts (Spanish 321, University of Miami)
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