^{translated from the Spanish by Kevin C. McHugh}

^{The 19 people who were burned on Saturday in the town of Santa Anita, municipality of Camargo, Tamaulipas, are originally from Comitancillo, Guatemala and would have paid traffickers to reach the border with the United States. According to the residents of the area where a mass killing took place, the nineteen people were burned. This account has not yet been confirmed by the authorities. Testimonies collected by EFE indicate that the 19 Guatemalans were being held in a Gulf Cartel house where hitmen from their rival group, the Northwest Cartel, a splinter of the former Zetas, murdered them and then left the bodies near the border between Tamaulipas and Nuevo León. latinus.us 01/24/2021} 

1

We were still talking about it yesterday:

They burned them all
and by a miracle
I was spared.

The rest were shot to death
or burned there,
inside the bus.

They did not call any of their families,
they did not ask for ransom.

They killed them without reason, because it is possible
by the hand of man
to create Hell.

They let me escape. I don’t know why.

They just told me to run and shot into the air
and at my feet
and then more gunfire and screams and laughter.
I clearly heard that the others were praying
pleading to God, not to the demons
that tortured us.

They had to fight for their souls 
as they lost their bodies.

I was not thinking of God but of my legs,
of how I would die anyway 
there, in the desert.

I kept running without knowing where.

The whole sky overhead was growing dark
like me inside
and I thought of Antonio,

my brother.

Ardor

^{Las 19 personas que fueron calcinadas el sábado en el poblado Santa Anita, municipio de Camargo, Tamaulipas, son originarios de Comitancillo, Guatemala y habrían pagado a traficantes para llegar a la frontera con Estados Unidos, según vecinos de la zona donde fueron encontrados, versión que hasta el momento no ha sido confirmada por las autoridades. Testimonios recabados por EFE indican que los 19 guatemaltecos estaban recluidos en una casa del Cártel del Golfo a la que llegaron sicarios de su grupo rival, el Cártel del Noroeste, una escisión de los antiguos Zetas, que los asesinaron y luego los abandonaron en la frontera entre Tamaulipas y Nuevo León. Latinus.us 24/01/2021} 

1

Todavía ayer lo veníamos hablando:

los calcinaron
y yo 
me salvé de milagro.

A los demás los mataron a balazos
o los quemaron ahí,  
dentro del autobús.

No llamaron a ningún familiar,
no pidieron rescate.

Mataron porque sí, porque es posible 
hacer infierno 
por la mano del hombre.

Me dejaron escapar quién sabe por qué.

Nomás me dijeron corre y dispararon al aire
y cerca de mis pies
y luego más balazos y los gritos y las risas
clarito escuché que los otros rezaban
que suplicaban a Dios, no a los demonios 
que nos atormentaron.

Les tocaba luchar por su alma
mientras perdían el cuerpo.

Yo no pensaba en Dios sino en mis piernas
en que de todos modos iba a morir ahí 
en el desierto

seguí corriendo sin saber a dónde

iba quedando oscuro todo el cielo
y yo por dentro igual
iba quedando oscuro, y pensaba en Antonio,
mi hermano.