20 years ago in the United States, the September 11, 2001, More than 2,900 people were killed when 19 Al Qaeda men hijacked three commercial planes and crashed them into the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon on the outskirts of Washington.
By this time, millions of Colombians they had fled the violence perpetrated in Colombia and were living abroad. According to data from the Dane and the Chancellery, at the beginning of the century 1,392,508 compatriots resided permanently in several foreign countries, but especially in the United States.
(Read also: 9/11 – 20 years since the worst terrorist attack in history).
Many of these people were living in the American power to fulfill the so-called ‘American dream’; however, a 19 Colombians terrorism hit them in exile and they died in the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
One of the victims was Luis Eduardo Torres, 31, who had arrived in New York in the late 1980s with the goal of entering the Wall Street Stock Exchange. On September 10, 2001 Torres had begun a new job as a runner in Cantor Fitzgerald. The offices of the prestigious firm were in the WTC, so sadly, on his second day of work, his dream ended.
(You may be interested: A Colombian ex-policeman survived 13 hours under the WTC rubble).
In this archive photo, pedestrians on the East Riverfront in New York City watch the Twin Towers burn in flames.
HENNY RAY ABRAMS / AFP
Another Colombian who died during the tragedy was Caleño Victor Hugo Pau, 43, who had arrived in New York in the mid-1990s, fleeing the violence that had killed his brother in Colombia. The man worked as a pastry chef at one of New York’s most famous restaurants, Windows on the World, located on the 103rd floor of one of the towers of the World Trade Center.
Another compatriot who worked in the prestigious restaurant next to Víctor was Wilder Alfredo Gómez, 38, who had been working as a bartender in this place for five years. The man, who traveled from Cali to the ‘city that never sleeps’ in the early 1990s, left four children.
Jorge Luis Morón, 39, left the city of Barranquilla in 1993. Three years after living in New York he got a job as a security guard in the main room of one of the Twin Towers. Morón was about to become a father and become an American citizen.
The tragedy also impacted the family of Antonio Montoya, 46, who had settled with his wife and son 20 years ago in Boston, where his two youngest daughters were born. He worked for 12 years at the Boston Harbor Hotel, where he worked as a key owner. Due to a booking error, the Colombian boarded American Airlines Flight 11, bound for Los Angeles, which crashed on the 93rd to 99th floors of World Trade Center 1 (North Tower). His plan was to visit his sister in California, whom he had not seen for years.
(We recommend you read: They reveal never-before-seen photos of the 9/11 terrorist attack).
This was the time of the impact of Flight 175 on the South Tower.
Seth McCallister / AFP
Sonia Ortiz had left Colombia in 1971 and two years after arriving in New York began working as a cleaner at the World Trade Center. The woman, who lived in Queens with her daughter Alexa, came to operate the elevator that connected the main room with the Windows on the World restaurant.
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Another Colombian who died in the tragedy was Carlos Cortes Rodriguez, 58, who came to the city that never slept in 1967 to study civil engineering at New York University. On September 11, he was at his Washington Group International office, located on the 91st floor of the south tower.
Anny Correa is the youngest Colombian to die during the attacks. At the age of 25 he was about to graduate as an accountant at Berkeley College and in July had begun work in the accounting department of Marsh & Mclennan, the office was on the 98th floor of the south tower.
Arcelia Castell, 49, also worked alongside Correa at the Marsh & Mclenna securities firm at the WTC. The woman, who had two jobs to support her two children, had come to the United States from a very young age. She always strove to climb labor and give a better life to her family, in fact, in November 2001 she would have received her degree as an accountant.
(Also: The UN is committed again to terrorism 20 years after 9/11).
According to the 9/11 Commission, approximately 16,000 people were at the WTC at the time of the attack.
The bombing also claimed the life of Milton Bustillo, 37, who worked as a computer technician at Cantor Fitzgerald, a five-story brokerage firm in the south tower. The Colombian was the father of a seven-month-old girl and had married at just three.
Adriana, 32, worked at Carr Futures, the office was located on the 92nd floor of the north tower. The Colombian was the first professional in her family, after graduating in business administration from Boston University.
Alejandro Castaño Hainaut was 35 years old when he died at the WTC. The son of Colombian immigrants worked for the company Empire Distribution, which although located in Carlstadt, New Jersey, distributed office supplies to the Twin Towers. This September 11 the man, who had a 14-year-old son, made his last delivery.
The other seven compatriots who died in the 9/11 attacks were Pedro Francisco Checho, 35, Sharon Cristina Millan, 33, Rafael Humberto Santos, 42, Hernando Sales, 71, Gloria Neus, of 48, Carlos Mario Muñoz, of 43, and Caesar August Murillo, of 32.
(Continue reading: New York announces identification of two more 9/11 victims).
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