Migrant quest for Mexican dream cut short in quake

The women working at ABC Toys on the second floor of a nondescript office building in Mexico City's working-class Obrera neighborhood drew so little attention to themselves that when the building collapsed in last week's powerful quake few living nearby could recall them.

In this March 2016 photo provided by Mercedes de la Fuente, Amy Huang, left, is pictured with friends at a hot air balloon festival in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Huang was originally from Taiwan and among the immigrants killed during the recent 7.1 magnitude earthquake. (Mercedes de la Fuente via AP)

In death, they remained nearly as anonymous: Government officials identified them in a list of foreigners killed during the 7.1-magnitude quake as simply "four Taiwanese women."

But Helen Chin, Amy Huang, Carolina Wang and Gina Lai did have names — and stories that came to a sudden end under the rubble of the building at 168 Bolivar Street.

The glass-and-concrete building housing an assortment of Taiwanese toy and technology businesses, along with a clothing company run by an Argentine-born Jewish immigrant, is where nearly all the foreigners killed in the quake died. Aside from the four Taiwanese women, they include Jaime Askenazi, whose friends affectionately called "Che," and Pepe Lin, a Taiwanese-born father of two who made his way to Mexico after first moving as a young boy from Paraguay.

"He came here, like many people," Margarita Cohen, a distant relative said of Askenazi's arrival from Argentina. "To search for more luck."

Their numbers were small but collectively their lives provide a snapshot into recent migration to Mexico. As trade ties between China, Taiwan and Mexico have tightened a new wave of immigrants has arrived to invest in factories and open import-export businesses. Larger numbers arrive from other Latin American nations, either hoping to make their way to the United States or improve their economic prospects in Mexico.

Mementos sit at a memorial where a building collapsed in last week's 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Mexico City, in the Obrera neighborhood of Mexico City, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

"He loved it here," Moises Lin, Pepe Lin's younger brother, said. "He found an opportunity to come so he took the chance."

The businesses at 168 Bolivar Street were located on four floors of offices inside the peeling red-painted concrete building with tinted floor-to-ceiling windows. Each business had no more than a half-dozen employees and there were likely no more than 50 people believed to be inside the building when the quake struck.

ABC Toys had a showroom and administrative office in the building, while Lin ran Dashcam System Mexico, a company providing security cameras for vehicles, from the fourth floor. On the same level Diesel Technic, a German-based auto parts company, operated an exhibition space.

Though the building appeared dated and ill-maintained, Moises Lin and other friends and relatives of those who worked there couldn't recall them ever complaining about feeling unsafe.

Rather, they saw the modest office in a neighborhood filled with warehouses and convenience stores as a beacon of opportunity.

Carlos Liao, the head of the Economic and Cultural Office of Taipei in Mexico, said the four Taiwanese women included a recent university graduate, a mother of a 3-year-old girl, and a mother and daughter who worked together. Interviews with friends and relatives provided more details about who they were.

A policeman stands over mementos and flowers at a memorial where a building collapsed in last week's 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Mexico City, in the Obrera neighborhood of Mexico City, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Helen Chin left Taiwan with her husband and three children a decade ago. Her daughter, Amy Huang, worked with her at ABC Toys, a family business.

Chin did not speak Spanish, but her daughter seemed to adapt quickly to the family's new home. She picked up the language and had a tight-knit group of Mexican friends that she traveled with. Photos from their journeys showed Huang smiling during beach outings, a cruise and a birthday party. In one photo, she stands with friends in front of a giant balloon depicting a Mexican mariachi player.

Mercedes de la Fuente, who met Huang through a mutual friend while they were attending the same university, said the 23-year-old was overjoyed when she obtained her Mexican voter ID card, joking with friends in a heavy Asian accent that now she was Mexican.

Recently, she had taken the lead at her family's business after her father was diagnosed with cancer, de la Fuente said. The recent graduate seemed firmly committed to making ABC Toys a success.

"Her plans were with ABC Toys," de la Fuente said.

Lin, who worked two floors above the women, had also worked for ABC Toys at one point, according to his brother. Born in Taiwan, Lin moved with his family to Paraguay when he was a child. There his family ran a Taiwanese restaurant in the capital and Lin helped take care of his little brother.

A man rides his bike past the site of a building that collapsed in last week's 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Mexico City, in the Obrera neighborhood of Mexico City, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017.  (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Born Lin Chia Ching, he took the name Jose in Paraguay.

After moving to Mexico when he was about 30, friends began calling him Pepe, a nickname often used for Jose.

Askenazi had also arrived in Mexico as a young adult pursuing the winds of prosperity.

"Argentina was very bad and Mexico was developing very good," Cohen said.

In Mexico, his family grew to include seven daughters and one son. His clothing business employed a number of people in Mexico City's Jewish community, Cohen said, and as his company flourished he became known for his generosity.

Friends liked to call him Che, a popular word for "pal" in Argentina.

On Sept. 19, all five were at 168 Bolivar Street when the ground began to tremble. Witness video shows the building toppling in a matter of seconds, leaving a gray cloud of dust in its wake.

Word quickly spread in the tight-knit Taiwanese and Jewish communities that some of their own were trapped in the rubble. In Paraguay, Moises Lim called his brother's cell phone repeatedly and got no response. He didn't worry at first, but grew concerned when his sister-in-law called, saying she'd been trying to reach her husband all day and hadn't been able to reach him.

A photo of the Virgin of Guadalupe stands in a memorial at the site of a building that collapsed in last week's 7.1 magnitude earthquake, in the Obrera neighborhood of Mexico City, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017.  (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

The Lin family boarded a flight from Paraguay and arrived in Mexico City the next day. Even when he saw the mass of rubble that used to be 168 Bolivar Street, Moises Lin could not believe that his brother might be dead.

One ambulance came and left with a body from the rubble. Then another. Workers found women's clothes and toys among the debris.

"It can't be Pepe," the distraught family members whispered to one another.

Meanwhile, Huang's and Chin's families and friends launched a massive online effort to try to locate them, spreading photos and pleading for any information.

Late on the day after the quake struck, Moises Lin said the family got an unexpected call from Pepe Lin's cell phone. It wasn't his brother's voice on the line, but rather that of a rescuer. They had found a destroyed phone on a man's body and had managed to recover the SIM card with its phone numbers.

"Can you come and check if it's your brother?" the man asked.

"We went to the morgue," Moises Lin said. "And it was my brother."

In this 2010 portrait provided by Moises Li, Pepe Lin is pictured at a birthday party. Pepe in was born in Taiwan, raised in Paraguay and moved as an adult to Mexico in pursuit and economic and professional opportunities. He was among the migrants killed in the 7.1-magnitude earthquake. (Moises Lin via AP)

The four Taiwanese women were all pulled from the wreckage lifeless within three days after the quake. Liao, who spent hours at the search site and accompanied the families, said the force of the collapse left the women nearly unrecognizable. One was identified through a birthmark, another by her jewelry. The last was identified with the help of her acupuncturist.

Two Buddhist monks were flown in from Los Angeles for a traditional ceremony that stretched through the weekend and into Monday, the seventh day of their deaths, when Liao said many Taiwanese believe the deceased passes from the world of the living into heaven.

In the days since, Moises Lin said he's wondered about the building where his brother was trying to forge his future. He wonders why the company didn't choose a space that was better maintained. But he considers such questions useless now and is trying not to anguish over them.

"A part of me is frustrated," he said in Spanish, before switching to English. "But I cannot feel that. Because if I feel that my brother won't rest in peace."

All of the women and Pepe Lin were cremated. Relatives recently began the journey of taking their remains home.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Relatives have identified three bodies found in a well as those of two Australian surfers and one American who went missing last weekend, Mexican authorities said Sunday.

Baja California state prosecutors said the relatives had viewed the corpses recovered from a remote well about 50 feet (15 meters) deep and recognized them as their loved ones.

Thieves apparently killed the three, who were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Baja peninsula, to steal their truck because they wanted the tires. They then allegedly got rid of the bodies by dumping them in a well near the coast.

The well was located some 4 miles (6 kilometers) from where the foreigners were killed, and also contained a fourth cadaver that had been there much longer.

Three suspects are being held in connection with the case, which locals said was solved far more quickly than the disappearances of thousands of Mexicans.

The three men were on a camping and surfing trip along a stretch of coast south of the city of Ensenada, posting idyllic photos on social media of waves and isolated beaches, before they went missing last weekend.

Chief state prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez described what likely would have been moments of terror that ended the trip for brothers Jake and Callum Robinson from Australia and American Jack Carter Rhoad.

She theorized the killers drove by and saw the foreigners’ pickup truck and tents and wanted to steal their tires. But “when (the foreigners) came up and caught them, surely, they resisted.”

She said that’s when the killers would have shot the tourists.

The thieves then allegedly went to what she called “a site that is extremely hard to get to” and allegedly dumped the bodies into a well they apparently were familiar with. She said investigators were not ruling out the possibility the same suspects also dumped the first, earlier body in the well as part of previous crimes.

“They may have been looking for trucks in this area,” Andrade Ramírez said.

The thieves allegedly covered the well with boards. “It was literally almost impossible to find it,” Andrade Ramírez said, and it took two hours to winch the bodies out of the well.

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers expressed sympathy for the Robinson family. “I think the whole country’s heart goes out to all of their loved ones. It has been an absolutely horrendous, absolutely horrific ordeal and our thoughts are with all of them today,” he said at a news conference Monday in the capital, Canberra.

The site where the bodies were discovered near the township of Santo Tomás was near the remote seaside area where the missing men’s tents and truck were found Thursday along the coast. From their last photo posts, the trip looked perfect. But even experienced local expatriates are questioning whether it is safe to camp along the largely deserted coast anymore.

The moderator of the local Talk Baja internet forum, who has lived in the area for almost two decades, wrote in an editorial Saturday that “the reality is, the dangers of traveling to and camping in remote areas are outweighing the benefits anymore.”

But in a way, adventure was key to the victims’ lifestyle.

Callum Robinson’s Instagram account contained the following slogan: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room.”

At the news conference, Andrade Ramírez was questioned by one reporter who expressed approval that such a massive and rapid search was mounted for the foreigners, but asked why, when local people disappear in the area, little is often done for weeks, months, or years.

“Do you have to be a foreigner in Baja California in order for there to be an investigation if something happens to you?′ asked the reporter, who did not identify herself by name. ”Every investigation is different,” Andrade Ramírez replied.

As if to underscore that point, dozens of mourners, surfers and demonstrators gathered in a main plaza in Ensenada, the nearest city, to voice their anger and sadness at the deaths.

“Ensenada is a mass grave,” read one placard carried by protesters. “Australia, we are with you,” one man scrawled on one of the half-dozen surf boards at the demonstration.

A woman held up a sign that read “They only wanted to surf — we demand safe beaches.”

Gabriela Acosta, a surfer, attended the protest “to show love, solidarity and respect for the three lives that were lost.” Acosta said that surfers in Baja are aware of the dangers.

“We are women and we would sometimes like to surf alone,” Acosta said. “But we never do that, because of the situation. We always have to go accompanied.”

“I think that what happened to them is just an example of the lack of safety in this state,” she said.

Surfers later performed a “paddle-out” ceremony where they formed a circle on their boards in the ocean.

Baja California prosecutors had said they were questioning three people in the killings, two of them because they were caught with methamphetamines. Prosecutors said the two were being held pending drug charges but continue to be suspects in the killings.

A third man was arrested on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping, but that was before the bodies were found. It was unclear if he might face more charges.

The third suspect was believed to have directly participated in the killings. In keeping with Mexican law, prosecutors identified him by his first name, Jesús Gerardo, alias “el Kekas,” a slang word that means “quesadillas,” or cheese tortillas. Andrade Ramírez said he had a criminal record, and that more people may have been involved.

Last week, the mother of the missing Australians, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page, appealing for help in finding her sons. Robinson said Callum and Jake had not been heard from since April 27. They had booked accommodation in the city of Rosarito, not far from Ensenada.

Robinson said Callum was diabetic. She also mentioned that the American who was with them was named Jack Carter Rhoad, but the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately confirm that. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports of a U.S. citizen missing in Baja, but gave no further details.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez — from the Baja peninsula. Authorities said they were victims of highway bandits. Three suspects were arrested in that case.

Locals march to protest the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

A demonstrator holds photos of the foreign surfers who disappeared during a protest in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

A demonstrator holding a bodyboard written in Spanish " They just wanted to surf and they were executed" protests the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

A demonstrator holding a bodyboard written in Spanish " No more violence" protests the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

Locals march to protest the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

A demonstrator holding a bodyboard written in Spanish " I don't want to die" protests the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

In this image made from video, Mexican security forces frisk men at a checkpoint in Ensenada, Mexico, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Mexican authorities said Thursday they have found tents and questioned a few people in the case of two Australians and an American who went missing over the weekend in the Pacific coast state of Baja California. (AP Photo)

Mexican authorities say thieves killed 2 Australians and an American to steal their truck

Mexican authorities say thieves killed 2 Australians and an American to steal their truck

In this image made from video, Mexico's police officers stand guard at the Ensenada station in Ensenada, Mexico, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Mexican authorities said Thursday they have found tents and questioned a few people in the case of two Australians and an American who went missing over the weekend in the Pacific coast state of Baja California. (AP Photo)