Guatemala, Mexico families mourn missing teenage sons after migrant tragedy

Magdalena Tepaz mother of 14-year-old Juan Wilmer Tulul Tepaz, who died along with other migrants in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., mourns while holding a picture of her son in a community house at the small village of Tzucubal, in Nahuala, Guatemala June 29, 2022. REUTERS/Sandra Sebastian

NAHUALA, Guatemala/ATEXQUILAPAN, Mexico (Reuters) - Some of the youngest migrants thought to have died in a suffocating trailer in Texas this week set off from poor towns in Guatemala and Mexico, following in the footsteps of relatives seeking a better life in the United States.

On Thursday, residents in Nahuala, Guatemala mourned Wilmer Tulul, 14, and Melvin Guachiac, 13. The two cousins left home with dreams of learning English and reuniting with family, only to die in the deadliest U.S. human smuggling tragedy on record.