Colombian Héctor Marino Núñez Ramírez joined the caravans of migrants seeking to reach Central America through jungle territory and USA.
In a video released on networks it can be seen that the man is collapsed and voices are heard telling him not to let himself die in the Darien jungle. His relatives, in a chain of prayer, raise pleas to find out about his fate on a trip that is described as hellish.
The story is from Hector Marino Nunez Ramirez, who was working in Ipiales, a border city between Nariño and Ecuador.
Last month he returned to visit his family, who live in the Nacional neighborhood, on the western slopes of Cali. But he came with the idea of continuing his journey in search of the so-called “American dream”.
Some relatives told him that he was a danger, but he wanted to give his life and that of his relatives a better future. He decided to leave. He initially went to the border, more than 700 kilometers away, to enter the so-called Darien Gap.
The man, possibly with other people embarking on that route, would have advanced until he reached the path of the Darienthrough which 133,000 migrants crossed in 2021.
Haitians were the most numerous on that trip, but now Venezuelans and not a few Colombians have joined.
It is a displacement for which there are no official figures of deaths or disappearances. Last year there was a serious social crisis when 25,000 migrants gathered in Necoclí, seven hours from Medellín and on the edge of the border with Panama.
Over the weekend, a video appeared on TikTok that left the family speechless and distressed Nunez Ramirezin Cali.
The man first appeared collapsed on a kind of beach, in shorts, shirtless and muddy. He then sees himself in another video in which he is sitting, with his face marked by mud and repeats that he can’t take it anymore.
Voices are heard from those who would be Venezuelans who encourage him to return to the path.
“My legs are weak, they hurt,” he says Nunez Ramirez and a voice repeats “stretch them, let’s go”. The Colombian asks to be taken, but they tell him that “you can’t, not even if you were skinny. He grabbed us the night.”
“The last news we have about Héctor is that he was in camp 3, but we don’t know if he’s still there. We tell them that no one should go on such a dangerous route.”says one of the close friends from the National neighborhood of Cali.
The relatives, in a chain of prayer, ask the Foreign Ministry, the Ombudsman’s Office and all those who know of his whereabouts “for mercy to find out if he is okay and help him get out of there. The mom is waiting to hear about her fate.”
In mid-August, through the same social network, a Haitian woman was shown who had been abandoned on the road and who received help from Venezuelans.
They say that they had been walking for four days and the group left her thrown. “We are Venezuelans, we are not going to let her die. If she wants to walk two or three more days, we’ll take her. As Venezuelans we make this humanitarian gesture.”