The 23-year-old Guatemalan had decided to emigrate to the United States with her mother and died along with 12 other immigrants in a fatal accident in California. His uncle claimed they had left the country because of the violence.
Guatemalan Yesenia Magali Meléndrez Cardona spent most of her 23 years knowing that the United States was the refuge of those fleeing violence and death. That is why he was encouraged, together with his mother, Berlin Cardona, to follow the path that his relatives had already taken to start a new life, without knowing that he was going to encounter tragedy.
Yesenia and her mother were traveling, along with 23 other people, in the van that crashed last Tuesday against a truck near California’s border with Mexico, leaving 13 dead and 13 injured. The young woman was one of the deadly victims, while her mother was injured.
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“Yesenia left everything behind, the university, her job, her friends, because she knew that here (in the US) she would find peace, and her life would be far from violence,” Rudy Domínguez, uncle, told Efe mother of Yesenia.
Domínguez said the two Guatemalans had been fleeing a death threat.
The need to leave behind Chiquimulilla, the Guatemalan department of Santa Rosa, even forced them to keep their departure a secret from some relatives and close circles. “Very few knew,” he commented.
The Death that lurks
“This trip was a real necessity to save their lives,” Rudy stressed of the irony of the young woman’s death.
And it is that 16 years ago, Berlin had experienced closely the consequences of violence when it had to take care of Rudy after he was the victim of a gun attack.
The Guatemalan was hit in the head by a bullet. The scars that remained and a pain that comes and goes remind him daily of the danger in his country, and the reason he left it could barely recover.
“We all lived in the same house, and Berlin was the one who took care of me. And even though Yesenia was small she also realized the risks,” he said.
A collision between a truck overloaded with passengers and a truck left a dozen dead and several injured Tuesday morning in Southern California, traffic police said. Photo: EDH / EFE / Sandy Huffaker
Meeting that never happened
The two women began their journey on February 2nd. After arriving in Baja California, Mexico, they stayed there for about a week before boarding a Ford Expedition that had been modified to be able to transport 24 immigrants and their driver, a young Mexican who also died in the crash.
Yesenia came with the illusion of reuniting with her younger brother, who had traveled weeks earlier by plane to California.
“This meeting could not be given. The boy waited for it,” Rudy explained.
Yesenia’s father emigrated to the United States more than 15 years ago, and is based in New York. He couldn’t see his daughter either.
Rudy knows first hand what it means not to be able to say goodbye to his loved ones. He was unable to attend his mother’s funeral 11 months ago in Guatemala. He couldn’t hug his niece either.
NO TIME TO CRY
No time to cry
Berlin was released from hospital on Thursday and is recovering from his injuries at Rudy’s home. What little he remembers is that after fainting from the impact he woke up with his daughter in his arms.
“I was already without vital signs,” the mother told local media.
Rudy wanted to stay home caring for his sister but the financial obligations that come with Berlin’s medical treatment and the repatriation of Yesenia’s remains do not allow him to stop working.
“We were just able to shed a couple of tears, and it was our turn to continue the fight,” said the Guatemalan, who had the difficult task of identifying his niece.
An account on the GoFundMe site was set up in the name of Yessenia Cardona QEPD “to help the family.
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“We will also need a lot of help with Berlin; it still needs medical attention, and I think psychological care,” Rudy stressed.
He also appealed, especially to the Hispanic community, to stop criticism of undocumented immigration: “They can’t judge lightly. No one leaves their home because they want to. They do it out of necessity,” he said in a broken voice.
He argued that it was not an easy decision for Yesenia to leave her law career at the University of San Carlos, as well as her job and her friends on the football team. The young woman was part of what is good about Chiquimulilla, so they want to go back there.
without Identifications
The family will have to wait several weeks to receive the young woman’s body. Just yesterday DNA tests confirmed to authorities that Yesenia was the daughter of Berlin. The two immigrants were traveling without identification.
According to the California Roads Patrol (CHP), of the 12 migrants who were injured, only three could be identified through a photo document.
Authorities are trying to establish the identity of a 15-year-old who is hospitalized at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs this Friday.
Authorities have also not been able to establish the nationality of Jorge Gutiérrez Martínez, 24, and Esteban Montiel, 22. Both immigrants are in the same medical center, the CHP detailed.
Among the injured migrants is also a minor under 16 years of age. Three of the injured are under 30 years old.
Undated family photo showing Guatemalan Yesenia Magali Meléndrez Cardona (i) and her mother Berlin Cardona, who were traveling, along with 23 other people, in the van that crashed into a truck last Tuesday. Photo: EDH / EFE / Rudy Domínguez
The information of the 13 dead has come out drop by drop. They are known to be 10 Mexicans, from the states of Oaxaca (3), Michoacan (3), Guerrero (1), Morelos (1), Nayarit (1) and Baja California (1).
Yesenia, another Guatemalan, and a third unidentified dead migrant complete the list of the tragedy involving the largest undocumented in recent years in California.