TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS.- “They screamed all they could,” he said with deep sadness Jesus Vargas, a fisherman who was born next to Bravo river between the southern border of the United States and Mexico, recalling how several Central American migrants drowned on March 16.
The horrific scene began when Vargas, leaving work, saw an Astro Van being pursued by US authorities. So he decided to continue the chase until he saw ten migrants get out of the vehicle and jump into the Rio Bravo to reach Mexico and avoid getting arrested. However, not all of them made it.
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“Two or three returned (to the American side), two made it to the other side (Mexico) and three women and a little boy stayed,” the fisherman told the Telemundo network.
He also explained that the migrants shouted incessantly at the gaze of border agents U.Swho did nothing to deliver them from the waters.
Vargas, asked the authorities why they were indifferent to the tragic scene, as people were at risk of drowning. The authorities replied that the migrants had “almost crossed to the other side”, so “they were not allowed to enter the water”.
Apparently, the migrants had entered the United States illegally, and when they found out that they had been discovered by the Border Patrol, they preferred to jump in the river and return to Mexico to avoid being detained.
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“Life jacket?”
During the recording, the fisherman hears shouting: “You don’t have any life jackets, nothing? They are drowning these boys! That girl is gone.”
At the time, the witness realized that a child was trying to get out of the water and decided to stop filming to come to his rescue.
“I tried to get his attention, he could already see this side and I threw a fishing rod at him. He reached out and grabbed the line and that’s how I brought him to the river bank,” Jesus recalls.
However, the patrols did not help to save his life, but asked the minor to turn to arrest him.
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“That’s not the way,” Vargas said to the officer. “Take him to the hospital, he had to drink the water from the river, the little boy gets sick. I got mad at the officer and then no, um. I didn’t remember,” said the fisherman.
Release
For his part, Border Patrol of the Laredo, Texas sector, confirmed in his Facebook account that “two people succumbed to the dangerous waters of the Rio Grande and died.”
And they added that “some individuals entered the river and made it safely to the banks of the Mexican River. One person was rescued by a local fisherman and received first aid from agents … The incident is still under investigation.”
So far, the nationality of the detained migrants, or those who drowned, has not been disclosed.
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