He had to wait almost three decades to see his nine children who went out in search of the ‘American dream’.
When he arrived in Los Angeles, Cleofás Vergara could not hide the emotion he felt when he saw his children. Some who had not seen for 25 or 30 years, when they decided to emigrate to the United States.
“I wanted to scream, I wanted to repair, I wanted to cry. At last I cried! ”Said the 73-year-old Mexican, who on this occasion again shed tears just remembering. The day we interviewed him, the father was already installed in the home of one of his children, Reinaldo Vergara.
“I wanted to cover everyone (when I saw them), have the longest arms to hug everyone,” added Juana Urbano, 70, wife of Vergara.
The couple is part of a group of 18 elderly parents who met with their children on February 27 after receiving a tourist visa. Parents will be here until March 9 when they must return to their native Guerrero, Mexico.
The couple said that, although they can't read or write, they don't know how to use an elevator and never got on a plane, but none of that was an obstacle to achieving their mission of meeting in Los Angeles with nine of their 14 children and Meet your 30 grandchildren.
"I didn't feel anything on the plane alone, the emotion that I already wanted to see my children and grandchildren that I didn't know," Vergara said.
These meetings occur mainly because children cannot travel to their countries of origin, usually due to legal status, and community groups advocate on their behalf and try to obtain a parent's visa for them to come to the United States.
Visas for love
Victoria Charco, 41, and her husband Reinaldo Vergara, 45, heard for the first time last year about a reunion program for parents and children called "Cotton Head," while attending an event of a group of warriors of Orange County. The Arcelia Club in the USA offered the opportunity to immigrants from Guerrero, Mexico, to try to obtain a visa for their parents, if they were elderly and had spent several years without seeing them.
While Victoria felt hopeful to see her parents again, whom she didn't see for 17 years, Reinaldo was skeptical, even though he was 25 years old from not seeing his family.
Victoria began the process to apply for her parents' visa and Reinaldo could not believe it.
"I said," Look, it's not true, "because I've heard on the radio how people are robbed of money," Reinaldo said. "My dad and my father-in-law had already come when they were young and they were afraid they would not be approved (the visa)."
But Victoria refused to give up and after a week to close the deadline convinced her husband to try to apply for a visa for his parents.
"(Reinaldo) told me,‘ well go ahead, go for the application, fill it out and send it, "Victoria said.
A few months later the couple received the good news that both parents had received their visa to travel to the United States.
“The surprise they give me! A slap in a white glove, 'said Reinaldo who couldn't hide the emotion with his parents next door.
He acknowledged that once they were given the date of their parents' trip, he counted the days to meet them again.
"I even told the boys that they help me with the jobs, 'for that day you are going to take care of the route and I am not going to work because my parents come and my in-laws come," said Reinaldo, who works in gardening . "For me it is much nicer to have my parents and my in-laws together."
Almost two decades without seeing their children
María Elena Salmerón, 59, and Esteban Charco, 63, are Victoria's parents.
The couple said that when their daughter proposed the idea of coming to the United States they were initially excited, but they were also doubtful.
“We knew that it is very difficult and we had already heard on television and the Internet that sometimes they do not give them (visas),” said Salmerón.
"I was sure they didn't give it to me because we have seen several times they deny it," Charco added.
But television comments were offset by videos that spread on social networks where elderly parents met with their children.
“We have seen it on (Facebook), when parents go to Texas as well and how family members receive them and that is how we wanted to come too,” said Charco.
And the dream came true when parents met with Victoria and her brother after almost two decades of not seeing each other. They also met their eight grandchildren. Fortunately for the couple, the two children live in the same building.
Bernarda Márquez, president of the Arcelia Club in the USA and founder of the Consuelo y Esperanza Foundation, said that this is a work done only by volunteers whose main objective is to reunify families.
"The only thing we ask families here is to give a donation of toys in return," said Marquez.
Raffles, food sales and other fundraisers were organized to finance the costs of the organizers.
“This is the first group we bring and we will soon start one more,” said Márquez.
Meanwhile the two elderly couples said they were very excited to have seen their future generations and although they enjoyed their relatives a lot they also missed their families.
“There we have chicks, pigs, cows and (Puddle) sows his cornfield,” said Salmerón.
"We have chicks and pigs," Urbano added.
What comforts the four of them is that fortunately they will be able to return for Christmas since they all received a valid visa for 10 years.
