Shropshire Star

Mother’s heartbreak over migrant son and granddaughter’s deaths

Rosa Ramirez’s son and granddaughter were swept away by the current near Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas.

Published
Rosa Ramirez cries over a photograph of her son and granddaughter

The mother of a man who drowned alongside his young daughter while trying to reach the US has said she is comforted by how they clung to each other in their final moments.

Rosa Ramirez said she finds a photograph showing the bodies of her son and his 23-month-old daughter drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas hard to look at.

She said: “You can see how he protected her, they died in each other’s arms.”

Her 25-year-old son, Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez, and his daughter Valeria were swept away by the current near Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas.

Ms Ramirez showed journalists toys that belonged to her nearly two-year-old granddaughter Valeria
Ms Ramirez showed journalists toys that belonged to her nearly two-year-old granddaughter Valeria (AP Photo/Antonio Valladares)

The grim photo showed the girl tucked inside her father’s shirt for protection with her arm draped over his neck — an image that underscores the dangers migrants face trying to make it to the United States and the desperate measures they resort to in the face of policies designed to deter them.

Speaking at their Salvadoran home, Ms Ramirez said: “It’s tough, it’s kind of shocking, that image. But at the same time, it fills me with tenderness. I feel so many things because at no time did he let go of her.”

Ms Ramirez had shared the home with barred windows in San Martin on the outskirts of the capital, San Salvador, with her son, his wife, 21-year-old Tania Vanessa Avalos and their daughter until the young family decided to make the journey north.

In their working-class neighbourhood of about 40,000, Mr Martinez worked in a pizzeria and Ms Avalos as a cashier in a fast-food restaurant, Ms Ramirez said.

The area has had problems with gang violence but these days it “is calm” she said, adding that he never had any problems with gangs — they left for economic reasons.

Ms Ramirez said that she had given them the big room in the two-bedroom house, but they dreamed of saving money for a place of their own and that drove the family to head for the United States in early April.

“I told him, ‘Son, don’t go. But if you do go, leave me the girl,'” Ms Ramirez said.

“‘No, mama,'” she said he replied. “‘How can you think that I would leave her?’ He didn’t have the courage to leave her.'”

Now she feels a hole that “nobody can fill, but God gives me strength,” Ms Ramirez said.

Marta Argueta de Andrade, their 50-year-old neighbour, said she met the family about five years ago. She described them as “good people” and Mr Martinez as an easygoing young man.

“I would see him walking with the girl. He called her ‘little curly one,'” Ms Argueta said. “It was very sweet.”

Officials have said the bodies were expected to be returned to El Salvador on Thursday. Ms Ramirez said she was not sure when they would arrive, but that the government was paying for it.

“I would say to those who are thinking of migrating, they should think it over because not everyone can live that American dream you hear about,” Ms Ramirez said.

“We can put up a fight here. How much I would like to have my son and my granddaughter here. One way or another, we get by in our country.”

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.