The alleged smuggler Jhader Augusto Uribe-Tobar, the subject of an extradition request to the United States, will remain imprisoned for another month in Montreal. The hearing on the request for release was postponed until the end of February to give the Americans time to submit their evidence.
The detainee of Colombian origin is suspected of having helped a Mexican woman who was five months pregnant to cross illegally from Quebec to the United States on December 11, before she was found dead three days later in a river north of Plattsburgh.
While he appeared briefly on Friday by videoconference, the family of the 32-year-old Mexican woman, gathered in California, was still processing the shock of the news. “She was a beautiful person. She was really sweet », told the Duty his sister-in-law Xiomara Guevara, joined in Los Angeles. “She was so nice. She was a studious and very hardworking woman. »
The family never thought this could happen to them. Stories like that, we see them in novels, in films
Originally from a small village in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico, Ana Karen Vasquez-Flores grew up in a very modest family of 15 children. She lived in Mexico, but some of her siblings were in the United States. “The family never thought this could happen to them. Stories like that, we see them in novels, in films,” said Mme Guevara.
Last November, Ana Karen told her sister-in-law that she would try to obtain a visa to be able to enter the United States and visit her with her partner. Three days before she undertook the perilous crossing, on December 11, she contacted her sister-in-law again to wish her happy birthday; they were going to see each other soon.
But on December 12, Xiomara Guevara instead received a message from one of Ana Karen’s sisters asking her to help find her. “I was in shock. In my head, she came with a visa. I didn’t know she was going to cross like that,” she explains.
According to publications on Facebook, Ana Karen and her partner, Miguel Mojarro-Magaña, arrived together in Montreal on 1er December, but the latter would have taken a flight the next day for New York City, since he holds an American visa. He probably stayed there for around ten days before taking a bus to Plattsburgh on December 12, where he was to meet his lover. He then reported her disappearance to American authorities, who, after intense searches in the cold, found her dead in the Great Chazy River, near Champlain, a little north of Plattsburgh.
A move to $2,500 on TikTok
Before American justice, Mr. Uribe-Tobar would face three charges in connection with this affair. The 35-year-old man, who advertised his services on TikTok under a pseudonym, allegedly asked for $2,500 to help the young woman cross the border alone and on foot by guiding her remotely. Mr. Uribe-Tobar was arrested by the RCMP at his home in Saint-Hyacinthe at the end of December. He was also reportedly arrested by RCMP in September near the U.S. border along with four Mexicans, but was released.
According to lawyer Luc Trempe, his client arrived in Quebec approximately 18 months ago with a child and his wife, who is currently pregnant. “It is a very difficult humanitarian and human situation for everyone. So we are trying to see exactly what the Americans are accusing him of,” he declared, saying he was waiting for the proof. “In the United States, the sentences are more serious. He risks expulsion. »
As soon as she learned that Ana Karen was missing, Xiomara Guevara conducted an intense search. “I called everywhere around [de Champlain, dans l’État de New York], in shelters, hospitals, churches. Nobody had any news,” she reports. Through WhatsApp, she exchanged several messages with Ana Karen’s partner, whom she did not know at all, to try to find out more. According to what she says, he has already returned to Mexico.
An “avoidable” death
The announcement of the death of the young Mexican woman deeply shocked her family. ” It’s very sad. I think especially of the pain his parents must be feeling. No one should experience the pain of losing a child,” said Xiomara Guevara.
The body of Ana Karen Vasquez-Flores will be repatriated to Mexico next Friday. A gathering in his memory will take place on Sunday, at 1:30 p.m., at Jean-Talon station. According to Solidarity Across Borders and the Let’s Take Care of Social Justice collective, the young woman is “another victim of Canadian-American migration policies” and her death was “avoidable”. In 2023, at least 10 people have died trying to cross from Quebec to the United States.
Xiomara Guevara takes the opportunity to send a message. “The advice I would give to anyone who wants to go through like that is: “It’s not worth it.” We only have one life. I know we all want the dream, but we shouldn’t want to achieve it so much that we put ourselves in danger like that. »
With The Canadian Press