Off Ecuador's Coast, Grief for Lost Migrants and Dreams
 Juan Forero - NYTimes
Aboard the Calicuchima, off Ecuador - With tears streaming down his face and sea spray blowing through his hair, Manuel Coyago was the first to toss a bouquet of flowers into the choppy waters where three of his sons, just hours into their illegal and dangerous journey to the United States, died earlier this month, with 91 others.
"Claudio Esteban, receive these flowers, my lovely son," said Mr. Coyago, 64, as dozens of other mourners wailed behind him aboard this Ecuadorean naval vessel. "Manuel Jesús, receive these flowers, my lovely son. Saúl Benito, receive these flowers, my lovely son."
He finished by throwing a rosary into the sea, saying, "Please use it, my sons, to pray."
Others flung letters, drawings, Bibles and even photographs in an emotional ceremony on Saturday that captured the blinding pain that has throttled this country since Aug. 12, when a creaky, wooden ship made for 15 people sank with the 94 Ecuadorean migrants who had hoped to seize the American dream.
They were people like Stalin Zhunio, 16, who had not seen his father in seven years and wanted to join him in Chicago. There were Sandra Laso, 17, who had hoped to live with her parents in New York, and Cristian Ortiz, 18, who planned to work in New York for three years, saving money to give his baby boy a better life.
"I never imagined we would separate this way," said Gabriela Pintado, 18, who had been married to Mr. Ortiz for just a year. "I thought he would go, complete his dream and come home."
Now, their remains are at the bottom of the ocean, trapped in the hold of a little boat that was only one day into a seven-day journey, with the goal of delivering its passengers to a secluded drop-off spot in Guatemala, 1,000 nautical miles north. From there, the coyotes, smugglers who make a living moving human contraband, planned to take the Ecuadoreans through Mexico to the United States.
It is a ritual repeated over and over in this Andean country of 12 million, where tens of thousands of immigrants every year pay up to $12,000 each to be smuggled to what they hope will be a better life. While most make it to their destination, tragedies at sea are not uncommon.
"In this region there are tremendous winds and rough waves, but the boats are wood and fragile," explained Capt. Julio Cabrera, commander of the Calicuchima. "The migrants who get on those boats don't have the slightest idea what they're getting into."
But details of the drownings of these migrants rarely become public, and government authorities have done little to investigate.
"People die all the time, but no one knows," said Rodrigo Matute, a reporter from the mountainous Azuay Province, where most Ecuadorean migrants come from. "Why? Because the coyotes call their families and threaten them to be quiet."
But this time it is different, he said.
Of 103 passengers aboard, 9 survived, picked up at sea two days later when fishermen aboard a skiff found them clinging to boxes and buoys, more than 200 miles off southern Colombia. "They wouldn't have been able to hold on longer," said Leonardo Hernández, 17, the fisherman who first spotted the passengers. "They had no strength left."
Their stories have hit Ecuador like a sledgehammer, prompting Azuay Province leaders to call for a crackdown on human smuggling. Ecuador's president, Alfredo Palacio, promised that his government would act, calling smugglers "an evil that hits the poorest especially hard."
The families of those who left said their loved ones had carefully weighed the risks of a long journey but ultimately decided getting to the United States was worth the risks.
"I told him, 'Why go?' " recalled Alejandro Ortiz, speaking of his son, Cristian. "But he said, 'Papi, what do I do? I have a child now, and I have no work.' "
Mauricio Macas, 20, also insisted, saying he wanted to make it to New Jersey to help his family make their way out of debt. "He wanted to work so that he could help them pay," said María Lucía Pando, an aunt.
Hopefully cautious, the young migrants said goodbye to their families this month and left for the coast to begin their clandestine journey. It was only after the survivors started to recount their experiences from a coastal hospital that the families up in the Andes began to wonder if their loved ones had drowned.
"I called the coyote to see if he knew anything," recalled Lourdes Pérez, mother of Cristian Ortiz. "The coyote said, 'Your son was on board and he died, and you have to be strong.' "
On Saturday, with about 100 families split into three groups, the relatives of the dead boarded two naval corvettes and the Calicuchima, a naval supply vessel, in Manta for a symbolic funeral at sea. They had made a daylong bus journey from Azuay Province.
"This was a way for them to say goodbye, to say, 'I love you son, I miss you,' " said Julia Esther Tepanguama, 47, who accompanied friends from her indigenous community.
Accompanied by Ecuadorean reporters and cameramen, as well as high naval officials in dress whites, the ships steamed for two hours off the coast of Manta. About 35 miles from shore, the vessels started to sail in formation, not more than 200 yards from each other, as the Rev. César León celebrated an emotional Mass that was piped from the Calicuchima to the other ships.
Mr. Coyago recalled how he saw his three sons off. They carried $600 among them and had little idea where they would wind up, only that they would work in the United States.
"Their dream was just to get out of poverty," he said. "How can we live here earning $5 a day?"
Some who participated in the memorial could not stop blaming themselves for the death of a loved one.
José Zhunio, who worked at Gibson's Steakhouse in Chicago, said he encouraged his son, Stalin, to join him. When Mr. Zhunio saw news of the sinking on Telemundo in Chicago, he feared the worst.
"I did nothing but cry," he said. "I had the intuition that he was on that boat."
Now back in Ecuador, with no intention of returning to Chicago, Mr. Zhunio said he attended the ceremony on Saturday to ask his son for forgiveness, "for all the years of abandonment."
"I also told him we would meet again," he said. |
Vallarta Weddings
News from Around the Americas | August 2005 
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