Gustavo Garcia Olivares’s drowning highlights the dangers migrants face, while prompting a historic virtual funeral for a family unable to afford repatriation.
SAN ANTONIO — The death of a young man who drowned in the Rio Grande is gaining national attention.
24-year-old Gustavo Alfonso Garcia Olivares left his home country of Venezuela with a dream of working in the United States.
He died crossing dangerous waters of the Rio Grande in November 2023.
However, his funeral was just two weeks ago.
KENS 5 learned how the Venezuelan family made history in the way they said their final goodbyes.
“In 2023, he said to me, ‘Pa, I’m going to the United States’,” said Victor Garcia, the father of Gustavo Garcia Olivares. “The youth, they want a future.”
Victor video called with KENS 5 along with his wife and Gustavo’s mother, Liliana.
It was a decision Victor Garcia understood because he, at one point, made the same one when he moved to Colombia. He left to work in another country to help provide for his family in Venezuela.
“He told me, ‘Apa, I’m going to work in the United States for at least three years, and I’ll come back with some money so we can put something together here to help us,” said Victor. “I’m an automotive painter. He offered me peace of mind.”
Gustavo made it to Mexico City in time for his 24th birthday, November 1, 2023.
“He suffered very much along the way. It makes me hurt, because in reality, he was very exhausted. He was sick when he arrived in Mexico,” Victor explained. “He’s a very positive person. Whatever was going on over there, he wasn’t going to say anything to us.”
The last video of Gustavo shows him sitting in the corner of a moving train car. That was the last time Victor and Liliana saw their son.
The last time they heard from him was when his group arrived at the river a short time later.
“He told me, ‘Pa, don’t worry, we’re going to pay a fare.’ It turns out it wasn’t like that,” Victor said. “It turns out they made a human chain and crossed that river.”
Gustavo went to school in Venezuela and learned to be a barber at a young age. His dream was to do what he loved at the barbershop, but in America.
A year without knowing
“We’ve been around since the first bodies were found in Abbott’s buoy barrier back in 2023.”
Amerika Garcia Grewal is cofounder of Border Vigil, a human rights organization of the Eagle Pass Border Coalition that hosts monthly services for those who parish along the U.S. side of the border.
“By far, most of the people who died in Maverick County are people who drowned,” said Garcia Grewal. “We also have folks that die of exposure out in El Campo.”
Along with recognizing the deaths of migrants, Border Vigil also honors members of law enforcement.
“The moral injury that our law enforcement are experiencing from having to enforce these immoral laws is leading to a high rate of suicide among our National Guard, Border Patrol, and law enforcement officers.”
The International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project recorded 6,438 migrants who died or went missing on the U.S.-Mexico border since 2014. Gustavo is among 48 from November 2023.
In March 2024, Operation ID, a program from Texas State University, went to Maverick County and exhumed the bodies of unidentified migrants buried there.
Through fingerprints, Gustavo was identified more than a year after he died.
“The backlog of bodies in Maverick County and along the Texas-Mexico border is so great that people are waiting. I heard that there was an identification in Brooks County and the body had been in storage since 2017,” said Garcia Grewal.
“The first tragedy was the drowning. The second tragedy was that year of uncertainty, and then the third was that they weren’t able to bring Gustavo back to Venezuela,” said Garcia Grewal.
To send Gustavo home would cost his family $9,000 — money they didn’t have.
A first-of-its-kind funeral
Border Vigil, along with a funeral home in Eagle Pass, county employees and members of First United Methodist Church ensured Gustavo’s final moments were dignified.
Volunteers dug the plot of land, a master woodworker from the church made a coffin, and the local cemetery placed a small placard next to a white cross that sits near two dozen more.
“[Liliana] really hoped that someone could go to his burial and say a few words,” said Garcia Grewel. “So he can’t be forgotten, so he won’t be buried alone.”
The group was also able to fulfill a few more of the family’s requests, such as adding a couple of songs and bible verses.
The funeral took place in Eagle Pass March 6, 2025.
Gustavo’s family watched in real-time via livestream over WhatsApp while a member of Border Vigil helped explain to the family what was happening and answered any questions.
Organizers say the livestream funeral service was the first of its kind.
“Hearing them cry as we put the casket into the ground really emphasized just how much loss is being experienced,” said Garcia Grewal.
Separated by borders, Victor and Liliana were able to witness their son’s funeral service. Their grief was made even more poignant by the distance.
“It’s a hurt that will never go away,” said Victor. “Its sad, but its beautiful that my son has a story to tell. Thanks to Jesus Christ, our Lord, and thanks to those who were there, I believe he’s the only immigrant who has had this benefit of burial.”
Once a year, Border Vigil places hundreds of crosses in Shelby Park in Eagle Pass. Each cross represents a life lost on the U.S. side of the southern border.
“You see the scale in this field of crosses, but then you see the depth of the pain that just one family is experiencing it,” said Garcia Grewal. “It just drives our resolve to say we can do better, ya basta. We can be a more humane and compassionate society.”
