Young Colombians were killed in Guatemala, family asks for help to repatriate bodies

At the end of March, two Colombian citizens arrived in Guatemala in search of new job opportunities; however, on March 31 they were found murdered and now their families are asking for help to have their bodies repatriated. The two young men, identified as Juan Esteban Cortés (23 years old) and Jhoani Albeiro Girón Vásquez (24 years old), left from Tuluá, in the department of El Valle.

María del Pilar Cortés, mother of Juan Esteban, told Noticias Caracol that young people received a job offer in that country, which is why they decided to leave. “My son had left for that country a while ago in search of better futures, since here in the city of Tulua there were no ways to work,” the woman said.

The news reported that the men's job offer was to go to work as payday collectors or drop by drop; however, after making a collection the two Colombians mobilized on a motorcycle and were intercepted by armed men who murdered them. However, for the authorities of that country the reason for the killings is still unknown.

“They were killed on March 31 in the country of Guatemala,” the mother explained, adding that the two young men come from families with limited resources, so they request the help of the national government to be able to bury their families.

Unfortunately, these are not the first Colombian families to lose their relatives in Guatemala this year. Last Friday, February 18, local media reported the murder of two Colombian men in Guatemala. According to the Central American National Civil Police (PNC), both citizens were found lifeless, and with signs of violence, near a highway in the department of Suchitepéquez, 150 kilometers southwest of Guatemala City.

The bodies were found in the bushes of the area, and belonged to Jeisson Jessler Saldarriaga Giraldo and Lenis Jhoan Sebastian Lenis Giraldo, aged 25 and 26, respectively. Both were from Pereira.

According to the information portal Prensa Libre, the Public Prosecutor's Office for Crimes Against Life, of that country's Public Prosecutor's Office, raided a building in Mazatenango on Saturday, February 19, in the midst of investigations aimed at clarifying what happened with the two Colombians.

The survey, which lasted about four hours, resulted in the discovery of a bank notebook under the name of Lenis Giraldo and a shell of a firearm. Likewise, six documents were found containing the name of the aforementioned victim and an electronic card in the name of Saldarriaga Giraldo. The security forces carried out “three searches” this Saturday in the accompaniment of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP, Prosecutor's Office) “in follow-up” to the “armed attack” in which “two people died”, the PNC said in a statement to the public opinion.

In the search of the house, according to the same media outlet, stains were found that had been hidden with paint. It was emphasized that one person had been hired to carry out those tasks. The prosecutor then ordered the property to be sealed in order to continue the investigation. So far there are no captures.

This information stands out in particular because, according to the authorities' suspicions, the two men were tortured and killed elsewhere but were abandoned on the road by the alleged killers. Police officers were able to identify the two men after finding their identification documents on the road leading to the local prison center.

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