A Violent End to a Desperate Dream

A television in Santa Cristina’s is live transmitting the arrival of Santa’s remains in Guatemala City from Mexico. The migrants’ remains made the return trip on Friday, March 12, each in a coffin draped with the Guatemalan flag, flown to a military airport in Guatemala City. A somber repatriation ceremony there, with an address by President Alejandro Giammattei, was shown live on national television. Relatives, friends and neighbors in Comitancillo watched the broadcast in their homes as they made final preparations for the arrival of the bodies and for the wakes and burials to follow. Santa Cristina Garcia Perez, 20, was among the 19 victims, found burned in Tamaulipas, Mexico. She decided to migrate to the US because of her family’s economic condition and was motivated to help pay the surgery to solve a congenital physical defect, the cleft lip, of her one year old sister Ángela Idalia. The killings have stunned the community, spurred a wave of international media attention on Comitancillo and an outpouring of financial support for the victim’s families. Among other acts of largess, donations from nearby communities in the region and from the Guatemalan diaspora have paid for Ángela Idalia’s first surgery to repair her cleft lip and have enabled the García family to build a new house. Peña Flor hamlet, Tuilelén village, Comitancillo, San Marcos. March 12, 2021 On January 22, 2021, 19 migrants were killed and burned in Tamaulipas, state of Mexico, close to the US border. 16 were identified as Guatemalan, and 13 of them from a small town in Guatelama’s highlands, Comitancillo. On this Friday, March 12, the remains of the massacre’s victims were returned to their relatives who buried them in their communities between March 13 and 14, 2021. Non-fiction and non-posed picture.

Neighbors attend the official welcome to the soccer court of Comitancillo for the 12 cofins taken containing the remains of the migrants killed in Tamaulipas, Mexico. As the region has one of the highest rate of migration in the country, nearly every family in the town has relatives in the US. It’s because that tragedy is even more heartfelt. Comintancillo, San Marcos, Guatemala. March 12, 2021. On January 22, 2021, 19 migrants were killed and burned in Tamaulipas, state of Mexico, close to the US border. 16 were identified as Guatemalan, and 13 of them from a small town in Guatelama’s highlands, Comitancillo. On this Friday, March 12, the remains of the massacre’s victims were returned to their relatives who buried them in their communities between March 13 and 14, 2021. Non-fiction and non-posed picture.

As the access was limited to the direct relative, many people close with the victims that didn’t get inside, are crying behind the grid during the official welcome to Comitancillo for the 12 cofins that contain the remains of the migrants killed in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Comintancillo, San Marcos, Guatemala. March 12, 2021. On January 22, 2021, 19 migrants were killed and burned in Tamaulipas, state of Mexico, close to the US border. 16 were identified as Guatemalan, and 13 of them from a small town in Guatelama’s highlands, Comitancillo. On this Friday, March 12, the remains of the massacre’s victims were returned to their relatives who buried them in their communities between March 13 and 14, 2021. Non-fiction and non-posed picture.

Coffin of one of the victims at the official welcome to Comitancillo for the 12 coffins taken contains the remains of the migrants killed in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Comintancillo, San Marcos, Guatemala. March 12, 2021. On January 22, 2021, 19 migrants were killed and burned in Tamaulipas, state of Mexico, close to the US border. 16 were identified as Guatemalan, and 13 of them from a small town in Guatelama’s highlands, Comitancillo. On this Friday, March 12, the remains of the massacre’s victims were returned to their relatives who buried them in their communities between March 13 and 14, 2021. Non-fiction and non-posed picture.

Ricardo Garcia, 41 (light blueshirt) and Olga Perez, 40 (black sweater), Santa Cristina father and mother,during the wake in the room where is the coffin with Santa’s remains, inside anew concrete house built thanks to local and foreign donations. Santa Cristina Garcia Perez,20, was among the 19 victims, found burned in Tamaulipas, Mexico. She decidedto migrate to the US because of her family’s economic condition and was motivated tohelp pay for the surgery to solve a congenital physical defect, the cleft lip,of her one year old sister Ángela Idalia. The killings have stunned thecommunity, spurred a wave of international media attention on Comitancillo andan outpouring of financial support for the victim’s families. Among other actsof largess, donations from nearby communities in the region and from theGuatemalan diaspora have paid for Ángela Idalia’s first surgery to repair hercleft lip and have enabled the García family to build a new house. Peña Flor hamlet, Tuilelénvillage, Comitancillo, San Marcos. March 14, 2021 On January 22, 2021, 19migrants were killed and burned in Tamaulipas, state of Mexico, close to the USborder. 16 were identified as Guatemalan, and 13 of them from a small town inGuatelama’s highlands, Comitancillo. On this Friday, March 12, the remains ofthe massacre’s victims were returned to their relatives who buried them intheir communities between March 13 and 14, 2021. Non-fiction and non-posedpicture.

A band play music outside thehouse that Edgar buid in his born village while he was in the US and, accordingto his relatives, he use only when was deported. Edgar Lopez y Lopez, 50, wasliving in the US for over twenty years. He made a family in Carthage,Mississippi. During this time he was deported to Guatemala twice but the firsttime he got back to the US. In mid 2019, he was detained during a raidand deported to Guatemala. At the beginning of 2021 he tried to get into the USagain, it’s when he was killed with 18 other migrants in Tamaulipas. At his funeral in Guatemala, his daughter and son, Evelin Lopez, 21 and Darby Lopez,11, US’s citizens, could attend. It was their first visit to Guatemala. Chicajalaj village,Comitancillo, San Marcos, Guatemala. March 12, 2021 On January 22, 2021, 19migrants were killed and burned in Tamaulipas, state of Mexico, close to the USborder. 16 were identified as Guatemalan, and 13 of them from a small town inGuatelama’s highlands, Comitancillo. On this Friday, March 12, the remains ofthe massacre’s victims were returned to their relatives who buried them intheir communities between March 13 and 14, 2021. Non-fiction and non-posedpicture.

Mothers with their children, who attend the wake in honor of Edgar, have lunch in the backyard of Edgar parent’s house. As usual, the deceased’s family, in order to honor their loved one, sacrifice a cow to feed people who attend the wake and funeral, most of the people of their community. Edgar Lopez y Lopez, 50, was living in the US for over twenty years. He made a family in Carthage, Mississippi. During this time he was deported to Guatemala twice but the first time he got back to the US. In mid 2019, he was detained during a raid and deported to Guatemala. At the beginning of 2021 he tried to get into the US again, it’s when he was killed with 18 other migrants in Tamaulipas. At his funeral in Guatemala, his daughter and son, Evelin Lopez, 21 and Darby Lopez, 11, US’s citizens, could attend. It was their first visit to Guatemala. Chicajalaj village, Comitancillo, San Marcos, Guatemala. March 12, 2021 On January 22, 2021, 19 migrants were killed and burned in Tamaulipas, state of Mexico, close to the US border. 16 were identified as Guatemalan, and 13 of them from a small town in Guatelama’s highlands, Comitancillo. On this Friday, March 12, the remains of the massacre’s victims were returned to their relatives who buried them in their communities between March 13 and 14, 2021. Non-fiction and non-posed picture.

Irma Yolanda Ximena Perez, 38 (center-right), aunt of Rivaldo Danilo Ximenez, 18, who was one of the victims, is leading the funeral procession, heading Rivaldo’s cofín to the cemetery. Rivaldo Danilo Jimenez, with two of the victims of the massacre of Tamaulipas, Santa Cristina Garcia, 20 and Ivan Gudiel Pablo Tomas, 22, were buried in the cemetery of their village, Tuelelen. Tuelelén village of Comitancillo, San Marcos, Guatemala. March 14, 2021. On January 22, 2021, 19 migrants were killed and burned in Tamaulipas, state of Mexico, close to the US border. 16 were identified as Guatemalan, and 13 of them from a small town in Guatelama’s highlands, Comitancillo. On this Friday, March 12, the remains of the massacre’s victims were returned to their relatives who buried them in their communities between March 13 and 14, 2021. Non-fiction and non-posed picture.

José Miguel Miranda Tomas, 27, friend and neighbor of Rivaldo Danilo Ximenez, 18, attends his funeral. Rivaldo Danilo Jimenez, with two of the victims of the massacre of Tamaulipas, Santa Cristina Garcia, 20 and Ivan Gudiel Pablo Tomas, 22, were buried in the cemetery of their village, Tuelelen. Tuelelén village of Comitancillo, San Marcos, Guatemala. March 14, 2021. On January 22, 2021, 19 migrants were killed and burned in Tamaulipas, state of Mexico, close to the US border. 16 were identified as Guatemalan, and 13 of them from a small town in Guatelama’s highlands, Comitancillo. On this Friday, March 12, the remains of the massacre’s victims were returned to their relatives who buried them in their communities between March 13 and 14, 2021. Non-fiction and non-posed picture.

Edgar’s relatives pay him the last salute during the burial in the cemetery of Comitancillo. Edgar Lopez y Lopez, 50, was living in the US for over twenty years. He made build a family in Carthage, Mississippi. During this time he was deported to Guatemala twice but the first time he got back to the US. In mid 2019, he was detained during a raid and deported to Guatemala. At the beginning of 2021 he tried to get into the US again, it’s when he was killed with 18 other migrants in Tamaulipas. At his funeral in Guatemala, his daughter and son, Evelin Lopez, 21 and Darby Lopez, 11, US’s citizens, could attend. It was their first visit to Guatemala. Comitancillo, San Marcos, Guatemala. March 12, 2021 On January 22, 2021, 19 migrants were killed and burned in Tamaulipas, state of Mexico, close to the US border. 16 were identified as Guatemalan, and 13 of them from a small town in Guatelama’s highlands, Comitancillo. On this Friday, March 12, the remains of the massacre’s victims were returned to their relatives who buried them in their communities between March 13 and 14, 2021. Non-fiction and non-posed picture.

They leave behind homes, families, everything they have known, taking their chances on a dangerous trek north toward an uncertain future.

For most migrants who leave Central America, like those from the municipality of Comitancillo, in the mountains of western Guatemala, the goal is to reach the United States, find work, save some money and send some back home, put down roots, maybe even find love and start a family. Usually, the biggest obstacle is crossing the increasingly fortified American border without being caught.

A group of 13 migrants who left Comitancillo in January didn’t even get the chance. Their bodies were found, along with those of six other victims, shot and burned; the corpses were piled in the back of a pickup truck that had been set on fire and abandoned in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, just shy of the U.S. border. A dozen state police officers have been arrested in connection with the massacre.

The migrants’ remains made the return trip on Friday, March 12, each in a coffin draped with the Guatemalan flag, flown to a military airport in Guatemala City. Relatives, friends and neighbors in Comitancillo watched it national television broadcast in their homes as they made final preparations for the arrival of the bodies and for the wakes and burials to follow.

At dusk, after climbing along the switchbacks that wind through Guatemala’s western highlands, the cortege of vehicles carrying 12 of the coffins arrived in Comitancillo.
When the Friday evening ceremony was over, the victims’ families, traveling in small processions, carried the coffins home, some following rugged, dusty roads that branch out from the town center and lead to the hillside villages from which the migrants had departed only weeks earlier.

They crowded with friends into small houses made of adobe brick or concrete block for wakes that extended late into the night. Some of the deceased were buried on Saturday, others on Sunday.