25-year-old Cuban dies while trying to cross the Rio Grande

The CubanJill Leyva Toledano, 25, drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande on the border between Mexico and the United States, she informedCyberCuba a friend of the victim.

Our media contacted Anabel Díaz Campos, who confirmed that the young woman had left Cuba almost two years ago bound for Uruguay, from where she began a long migratory journey to the border with the United States about a year ago.

"Cuba, a country that throws its children to death," Díaz Campos had denounced on his Facebook profile, and assured that Leyva Toledano, a native of Guantánamo, drowned while trying to cross the river.

In statements to our publication, he explained that the young woman's body was found on September 22 on the banks of the river.Bravo and is currently in Tamaulipas, a state in northern Mexico.

The young woman's father, who lives outside of Cuba, asked a family friend to travel to that territory to identify the body, and will leave tonight for Mexico to claim it.

"She was in Mexico City (Mexico City) a week ago. She wrote to me to see us but I'm in Guadalajara. She was 25 years old, she was born the same day as my dad, April 23, that's why I never forget it," Díaz Campos said sadly.

He described Leyva Toledano as a happy girl, who loved Cuba and cried with emotion at the posts of the11J, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets on the island to demand a change of regime.

"This hurts, it hurts a lot and his mother is very bad," he said.

Several Cubans have lost their lives trying to cross thedangerous river that divides Mexico from the United States.

Last April, another young Cuban who was trying to reach the United States also died while trying to swim across the tributary.

Others have lost their lives in equally dangerous migratory steps such asDarien jungle on the Colombian-Panamanian border, which since January has been crossed by more than 10,700 Cubans, according to data from the National Immigration Service of Panama.

The prolonged economic and political crisis in Cuba, as well as the lack of opportunities, have been pointed out as the main causes of the island's young people taking risks on these risky journeys.