Latin America and the Caribbean account for only 8 percent of the world鈥檚 population 鈥� but the region has recorded twenty-eight percent of the world鈥檚 COVID-19 cases and thirty percent of the pandemic鈥檚 deaths.
And you can find reasons for that tragedy in the story of Carlos Henr铆quez.
His ordeal started amid the early March chaos at the El Salvador International Airport in San Salvador. The Salvadoran government was taking tough lockdown measures against the new coronavirus, and Salvadorans returning home from abroad knew they鈥檇 have to quarantine to make sure they weren鈥檛 infected.
But they didn鈥檛 expect armed soldiers would herd them to places where they were more likely to be infected.
That鈥檚 what happened to Henr铆quez. He was a Salvadoran steel company engineer arriving back from business in Guatemala. He was 67 鈥� and he had a document from the Salvadoran embassy in Guatemala City clearly stating government protocol allowed persons his age to quarantine at home. Henr铆quez instead was forced onto a bus to a makeshift quarantine center.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where the nightmare began,鈥� says Oscar Monedero, Henr铆quez鈥檚 son-in-law.
鈥淭he conditions were just horrible. You didn鈥檛 have functional toilets or showers. You had bunk beds eaten by rats that were not distanced. Just appalling.鈥�
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Monedero, an international sales manager, is also Salvadoran and lives in Sunrise with his wife Karen, Henr铆quez鈥檚 daughter. Henr铆quez鈥檚 son, Carlos Henr铆quez Jr., says his father made sure all four of his children were educated in the U.S., and they all live in this country today.
鈥淗is family meant everything to him,鈥� says Carlos Jr., who lives in California鈥檚 Silicon Valley, where he works in the tech industry. 鈥淗e knew that being here was the best thing for us.鈥�
But Henr铆quez also believed his country could modernize. He was born into small, developing El Salvador鈥檚 lower middle class; he rose through education 鈥� and as a young man became a big Beatles fan, back when that was considered subversive in culturally conservative Central America. That hope for change is why Henr铆quez, who loved to play guitar for his family, voted last year for a young political outsider, Nayib Bukele, who is now El Salvador鈥檚 president.
鈥淗e had that faith that things would be handled differently with President Bukele,鈥� says Monedero. 鈥淏ut that was shattered, totally shattered.鈥�
What Henr铆quez鈥檚 family went through this year is something more and more expats are struggling with as COVID-19 explodes back in Latin America. They鈥檝e had to watch helplessly as loved ones get caught in the region鈥檚 web of decrepit public health systems and authoritarian government actions.
Henr铆quez texted his family photos of the abandoned athletes鈥� residence on the outskirts of San Salvador, the Villa Ol铆mpica, which had now become a squalid quarantine facility.
鈥淗e started telling us people are coughing all night, sneezing, spitting on the floor,鈥� says Carlos Jr. 鈥淚t was a recipe for disaster.鈥�
Carlos Jr. says his father was healthy when he arrived from Guatemala. Henr铆quez sent his family pleading texts to 鈥済et me out of here鈥� because he was quarantined alongside people returning from places like Europe 鈥� which at that time was being ravaged by COVID-19. Not surprisingly, Henr铆quez himself was soon infected and eventually needed a ventilator to breathe.
He was transferred from one hospital to another. But his family here was kept largely in the dark as they kept trying to locate him. As soon as they鈥檇 establish communication with a doctor in one facility, Henr铆quez would be inexplicably moved to another.
鈥淗e was a man of strong religious faith, so when they first moved him he felt grateful, like things were going to be better,鈥� says his son-in-law Monedero.
鈥淏ut then we鈥檇 call a hospital he told us he鈥檇 been sent to and they鈥檇 tell us he鈥檚 not there,鈥� says Carlos Jr. 鈥淲e鈥檇 be like, What the hell?鈥�
And since the borders were closed, they weren鈥檛 even able to be with their mother Patricia in San Salvador.
鈥淪he was alone,鈥� says Carlos Jr. 鈥淚t was a complete lockdown in El Salvador. Nobody could come see her.鈥�
They lost touch with Henr铆quez in April when his cell phone was somehow taken from him during another hospital transfer.
鈥淭he last conversation I had with him, in early April, was, y鈥檏now, I still can鈥檛 breathe on my own, but I鈥檓 improving,鈥� Carlos Jr. recalls. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know at what point he got that bad.鈥�
He adds, his voice choking: 鈥淚, um鈥e didn鈥檛 hear from him again.鈥�
They found out later Henr铆quez鈥檚 suffered a collapsed lung and his kidneys eventually failed. He died April 22.
AUTHORITARIAN SYSTEM
Carlos Jr. 鈥� who last month also lost his father-in-law to COVID in El Salvador 鈥� says the family feels fortunate his father was able to visit his children and 10 grandchildren in the U.S. during last year鈥檚 Christmas holidays. But he and his brother-in-law Monedero say keeping his memory alive 鈥� and the memory of his controversial death 鈥� has become a mission, if only to remind people that if this could happen to an affluent professional like him, things are even worse for poorer Salvadorans.
We rightly complain about the pandemic situation in the U.S., but at least here we still have certain rights people in countries like El Salvador still don't.Carlos Henriquez Jr.
鈥淢y dad believed in helping people thrive who don鈥檛 have the opportunities he had,鈥� says Carlos Jr. 鈥淲e rightly complain about the pandemic situation in the U.S, but at least here we still have certain rights people in countries like El Salvador still don鈥檛. Right now it's like optics matter more there than people.鈥�
Says Monedero: 鈥淎fter this experience we want to be a voice for Salvadorans who don鈥檛 have a voice.鈥�
So now do Salvadoran watchdog groups, like Central American University鈥檚 Human Rights Institute in San Salvador. In a recently released report, it blames Henr铆quez鈥檚 death on a dysfunctional, 鈥渦ntransparent鈥� and 鈥渁uthoritarian鈥� government and public health system whose pandemic strategy relies more on muscle than medicine. His family says that reflects how little things have really changed under Bukele 鈥� the man Henr铆quez hoped would reform El Salvador.
Bukele鈥檚 government refutes the report and others like it; and it insists its actions have contained the pandemic in El Salvador. But in the past month COVID-19 cases there have quadrupled to more than 20,000.
And several Salvadoran epidemiologists 鈥� including Dr. Iv谩n Solano, vice president of the Central American and Caribbean Infectology Association 鈥� say independent data bases indicate the actual number of cases and deaths is far higher than the official count.
鈥淭he data are being manipulated for political, not public health purposes,鈥� Solano recently said.
If that is the case there, it鈥檚 one more reason expat families like Carlos Henr铆quez鈥檚 are speaking out here.
