Now, as his life slipped away in a country where he had no family, he had a final wish — to reunite with his wife and children. On a phone call, a friend of his asked Cecilia Rebeca Chavez: Would they come? This is the story of Eduardo Hernandez:
Every month in the town of Nicolas Romero, the family of Eduardo Hernandez gathers at his grave and, with his guitars, sings to him.he sun had set on a cold winter day when two men from Mexico’s civil protection agency knocked on Cecilia Rebeca Chavez’s door.
Now, as his life slipped away in a country where he had no family, he had a final wish — to reunite with his wife and children. On the other end of the phone line, a friend of his asked Chavez: Would they come? In Nicolas Romero, a town northwest of Mexico City, they built a humble three-room brick house with a corrugated metal roof. They had three children: a girl named Ivonne and two boys, Hugo and Alfredo.
Cecilia Rebeca Chavez had last seen husband Eduardo Hernandez in 2008, when he showed up unannounced at the family home in Nicolas Romero.Everything will be different, he wrote. He promised to send money so she and the children could build themselves a nicer house. When Ivonne turned 15, Chavez asked him to pay for the quinceañera celebration. Find the money somehow, he told her, and I’ll send some later. He never did.
During his last visit, he stayed just eight months before deciding again that he was fed up with life in Mexico. He couldn’t stand the house, its lack of insulation, primitive flush toilets and unreliable electricity. But a few months after he crossed the border in 2008, he stopped calling. When Valentan visited Hernandez at his apartment a week later, his eyes looked yellowish and he had lost significant weight. He told Valentan he wasn’t sure he’d live to see the new year.
But as Hernandez’s condition worsened, he started losing his eyesight. Valentan needed a new plan. He put out a Facebook blast, asking friends to share Hernandez’s story in hopes that it would reach his children. Nothing.Then Valentan’s cousin, a police officer in Mexico City, saw the post. He asked Valentan for the names of Hernandez’s wife and children, their birth dates and hometown. He found their address, but no phone number, using a police database.
Chavez, Hugo and Alfredo arrived at the border in Mexicali at 3 p.m. on Feb. 10 with letters from the hospital and the Pasadena job center, as well as their birth certificates. Ivonne couldn’t get the time off work and was devastated that she didn’t get to go. Edgar, 18, Chavez’s youngest son from a different relationship but who considered Hernandez his father, also stayed behind.
Close to 10:30 p.m., they video-called Chavez’s brother Alvaro in Mexico. Hernandez had taught him to play guitar as a teenager, and Alvaro had in turn taught Hernandez’s children. Alvaro began playing one of the first songs Hernandez ever showed him. They finally understood why Hernandez hadn’t offered more details about his life, why he’d made so many promises he never kept.It was their first real insight into his years in the U.S. He was just a man without much to show for his life.
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