A Cuban mother identified on social media as Sol Chango posted a heartbreaking video in Facebook groups pleading for help to find her daughter, Naomi Álvarez Ramírez, one of the 19 people missing who left on a vessel from the Cuyo area in Pinar del Río on August 11 heading to Mexico.
"Good morning, I am the mother of Naomi Álvarez Ramírez, one of the girls who is there on the boat, who has been much talked about along with the twins, who left here from Cuba on the 11th of this month, August. Please, I implore the authorities in Mexico to do everything possible. I am a mother who is completely desperate, I am desperate for my daughter," says the woman at the beginning of the recording.
Eight days without news
The last time the mother spoke with Naomi was on that same Tuesday, August 11, at 4:22 p.m., and since then she has received no sign of life.
“It has been several days, and today is Wednesday, it has already been eight days since I have been completely cut off from my daughter,” she stated with a trembling voice.
The anguish is greater because the woman claims that the supplies her daughter had were scarce.
“I am very worried because the food she was carrying was only enough for a few days. I hope those who are there have shared a little piece, a bit of water for my daughter, because I don’t want my daughter to die of dehydration, I don’t want that”, she said with anguish.
Direct plea to Mexico
Throughout the video, the grieving mother directed her words straight at the Mexican authorities, whom she accuses of acting with too much delay.
“I see that search is very slow; they should search along the coast, they should search everywhere. I beg that government of Mexico, I beg them as a desperate mother that I am. I am dying, I am dying from desperation.”, she cries out.
"I feel shattered, I feel collapsed. It’s a distress, it’s a nightmare that I am living," she added through tears.
Drifting children and adults
A total of 19 people are on board: 12 adults and seven minors, including the twins Leosdel and Leosniel, who are only two years old, and their mother Yusimy Garrobo Leiva, 35, originally from Vertientes, Camagüey.
The father of the twins, Leobel, has been working in construction in Mexico for almost a year, waiting to reunite with his family.
According to an interview with journalist Mario Vallejo, the boat's engine was already experiencing failures before losing contact, and the vessel ran out of fuel due to an accidental spill after they had already covered more than half of the journey.
Leobel described his despair in words that echo those of Naomi's mother:
"Neither sleeping nor eating, the only thing I’m having is soda, nothing more. I sleep with the phone next to me in bed, and I’m awake all the time; no one can catch a moment of peace thinking, nor can you eat anything knowing that your children have nothing to eat."
Another relative, Yunaidy Martínez Ramírez, a Havana native living in Cancun, whose husband and three small children are also among the missing, confirmed to Martí Noticias that the boatman attempted to continue the sailing journey after the breakdown.
"The Marina always tells me the same thing: that they are searching without results. In the first days, they kept tossing me from one place to another," he denounced.
The search, without results
The Permanent Guard of the V Naval Region of the Mexican Navy, based in Isla Mujeres, confirmed that it is aware of the case but admitted it has not located the vessel.
The case occurs within a context of an extremely serious migration crisis. Just days earlier, two young rafters died in the waters of Sandino, Pinar del Río —Leodannis Sánchez, 17 years old, and Osmaikel, 19— when the boat they were on sank near Las Martinas while heading to Cancun.
While Mexican authorities continue to search for the vessel, Naomi's mother made her final plea.
"Please, I am asking that government of Mexico, those authorities in Mexico from the bottom of my heart, to help me, I am desperate," she concluded.
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