Boy who died in U.S. buried in Guatemala

January 28, 2019 at 3:09 a.m. | Updated January 28, 2019 at 3:09 a.m.

by The Associated Press

The name of Felipe Gomez Alonzo, an 8-year-old Guatemalan who died in U.S. custody last month, is handwritten in the cement of his tombstone at a cemetery in Yalambojoch, Guatemala, where he was buried Sunday. The boy died of an illness days after he and his father were apprehended as hey tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
The name of Felipe Gomez Alonzo, an 8-year-old Guatemalan who died in U.S. custody last month, is handwritten in the cement of his tombstone at a cemetery in Yalambojoch, Guatemala, where he was buried Sunday. The boy died of an illness days after he and his father were apprehended as hey tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

YALAMBOJOCH, Guatemala -- Villagers in this remote indigenous community of western Guatemala said farewell Sunday to Felipe Gomez Alonzo, the 8-year-old migrant boy who died in U.S. custody at a New Mexico hospital on Christmas Eve.

They held a candlelight vigil, draped his white coffin with flowers and carried him to his final resting place. Older sister Catarina scratched his name with a stick into a simple concrete headstone. Women oversaw the last rites, because many of the men in the village left for the U.S. long ago.

The community is populated by families who fled to Mexico during the bloodiest years of Guatemala's 1960-1996 civil war but returned after the signing of peace accords.

It was poverty and lack of opportunity that drove Felipe's father, Agustin Gomez, to set off for the U.S. with the boy, the family has said. Felipe was chosen because he was the oldest son.

Felipe and Agustin were apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol in mid-December. After nearly a week in custody, the boy developed a cough, fever and began to throw up. New Mexico authorities said an autopsy showed Felipe had the flu.

A Section on 01/28/2019

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