–13 AP. “Salvadorans Fought Over Urine.” The Brownsville Herald, TX, 7-7-1980, p. 1.

–13 Casa Grande Dispatch, AZ. “14 border crossers die in desert.” 5-24-2001, p. 1.

–13 Cliniclegal.org. Chaos on…U.S.-Mexico Border…Report on Migrant…Deaths… p. 13.

Narrative Information

Casa Grande Dispatch: “In July 1980, 13 Salvadorans died in the desert Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument 50 mile’s east of the current deaths.” (Casa Grande Dispatch, AZ. “14 border crossers die in desert.” 5-24-2001, p. 1.)

Cliniclegal.org: “On July 5 and 6, 1980…13 Salvadorans died in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the site of many recent deaths.” (Cliniclegal.org. Chaos on the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Report on Migrant Crossing Deaths, Immigrant Families and Subsistence-Level Laborers, p. 13.)

Newspapers at the time

July 6: “Ajo, Ariz. (AP) — Two immigrants from El Salvador were found dead Saturday [July 5] and more than 20 were feared lost without water in the searing Arizona desert after being stranded by alien smugglers, authorities said. Seven aliens were discovered suffering from dehydration, and were taken to a hospital in this southwest Arizona town. The search began when one of the aliens was spotted along Arizona Highway 85 by U.S. Border Patrol. ‘We know that we have women and children still out there,’ said Franklin Wallace, superintendent of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. ‘There are conflicting stories about how many, but we think there’s still 25 to 28 out there’.” (Associated Press. “News Briefs,” Alamogordo Daily News, NM, 7-6-1980, p. 1.)

July 7: “Ajo, Ariz. (AP/Les Schlangen) — Searchers scoured searing desert sands again today but said they had little hope of adding to the 13 surviving Salvadorans who say they drank aftershave lotion and fought over drops of urine to stay alive after they were robbed and abandoned by smugglers. ‘It’s too late. We don’t expect to find any more,’ said Franklin Wallace, superintendent of the 516-square-mile Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument where 13 other Salvadorans were found dead from dehydration. The ‘low profile’ search effort, considerably more limited than that of Sunday [July 6] which produced most of the bodies and most of the survivors, was being concentrated in the area in which those bodies and survivors were found — a five-mile stretch of desert 10 or 12 miles north of the border. ‘We know where to look,’ Wallace said. ‘They didn’t just spread out all over the area.’ Most of the searchers were on foot, he said. Perhaps a dozen of the aliens…may have trekked back to Mexico, he said.

“The survivors were among some 35 to 40 middle-class Salvadorans who, officials said, paid up to $1,200 each to be smuggled into the United States and were abandoned in the park at least four days ago. Wallace said the survivors were so incoherent and told such conflicting stories that no one was sure just how many there had been originally….

“A search by horseback and helicopter began Friday after a motorist reported seeing a man lying by the roadside. Two bodies and 10 survivors were found Saturday, and 11 more dead and three survivors were found Sunday. ‘After being tormented by the extreme desert heat,’ they had stripped off much of their clothing and were found covered with cactus thorns, said Dr. Joseph Rustick, who treated the survivors. ‘There were thorns in their feet, thorns in their back, legs, thighs, buttocks and face — everywhere that you can imagine.’ He said they drank aftershave, deodorant and their own urine. ‘Some of them managed to drink the moisture from cactus, and they were the smart ones.

“Near a cluster of bodies found Sunday were mirrors and traces of a fire the Salvadorans had set to alert aircraft to their plight….

“The group included some husbands and wives, some strangers, a 6-year-old, a 2½-year-old and a young mother who said the smugglers took her 13-month-old child, according to The Arizona Republic….

“He [Border Patrol agent] said he believed the abandonment was ‘deliberate because all they had to do was say, ‘See those mountains? Go three miles in that direction and you’ll be on the highway.’….” (AP. “Salvadorans Fought Over Urine.” Brownsville Herald, TX, 7-7-1980, p. 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “News Briefs,” Alamogordo Daily News, NM, 7-6-1980, p. 1. Accessed 6-24-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/alamogordo-daily-news-jul-06-1980-p-1/?tag

Associated Press (Les Schlangen). “Salvadorans Fought Over Urine.” The Brownsville Herald, TX, 7-7-1980, p. 1. Accessed 6-24-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/brownsville-herald-jul-07-1980-p-1/?tag

Casa Grande Dispatch, AZ. “14 border crossers die in desert.” 5-24-2001, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/casa-grande-dispatch/2001-05-24/page-1/

Cliniclegal.org. Chaos on the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Report on Migrant Crossing Deaths, Immigrant Families and Subsistence-Level Laborers. Accessed 2-6-2012 at: http://cliniclegal.org/sites/default/files/atrisk5_0.pdf

1980, July 5-6, smugglers abandon immigrants, dehydration, Organ Pipe Cactus Nat. Mon., AZ-13