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Sunday, March 18, 2001
Man survives 5 days alone in the brush
Immigrant, 34, is left behind when the chest pains started
By Jason Ma
Caller-Times
After five days in the brush west of the Falfurrias checkpoint, forced to drink his own urine to survive, Jose Ernesto Lopez Hinojosa was rescued by the same immigration agents who forced his group to abandon him five days before.
U.S. Border Patrol agents found Hinojosa about three miles west of the Falfurrias checkpoint while chasing down other illegal immigrants on Friday.
The rescue ended a five-day search for the 34-year-old man from Mexico, who had been abandoned by his traveling companions on their way north after Hinojosa complained of chest pains.
Hinojosa, who is from Mexico City, was listed Saturday in stable condition at Spohn Kleberg Memorial Hospital in Kingsville. From his hospital bed, Hinojosa said he was only looking for work.
"I have no job in Mexico," he said through an interpreter. "I came over here to improve my situation and it only got worse.
"This was my first time to try to cross."
Hinojosa said his coyote, or guide, was taking a group of about 10 immigrants through the ranchland when they had to flee from Border Patrol Agents.
Hinojosa said he was dehydrated and weak, so his group left him.
"I started to run, but I couldn't run anymore," he said. "While I was trying to escape, I passed out."
Hinojosa said he spent the next five days in the brush. "I was just laying there, I couldn't get up."
Fred Borrego, agent in charge of the Falfurrias checkpoint, said Hinojosa may have had two cans of corn on his journey. Hinojosa said he had nothing to eat while he lay in the brush last week.
"It's just amazing that he survived out there that long without any water," said Fred Borrego, agent in charge at the checkpoint. "His family was there at the checkpoint waiting for him. They were crying and laughing when we found him. We thought we'd find a body out there after five days."
Hinojosa was conscious and able to talk, but severely dehydrated and had blistered feet, Borrego said "It's a miracle," he said. "We're here to apprehend these guys, but we really feel for them when we find them like this."
Hinojosa was left behind on Monday, about 10 hours before his traveling companions, two men in their 20s, were captured north of the checkpoint, Borrego said.
The two men were concerned about Hinojosa, but couldn't give very good directions to where they had left him.
"All they could tell us is that they left him by a bunch of trees," he said.
"We looked and we looked and we looked for him, but we just couldn't find him," Borrego said. "We made it a point to be out there looking for him every day."
Agents spent much of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday driving through the brushy ranch land and walking patrols on foot looking for the man they knew was suffering.
On Friday, Borrego said, the Mexican Consulate officer from McAllen, Jose Diaz Mirron, came to the checkpoint to help in the search for Hinojosa. At about 3 p.m., Mirron was out with some Border Patrol agents, when other agents heard Hinojosa's cries.
"He was yelling for help," Borrego said. "It's like being lost on a desert island and seeing someone go by on a ship. You want their help."
"He's a lucky man," Mirron said.
Temperatures in Falfurrias last week reached the 80s and there is little shade except for mesquite trees and cacti, Borrego said.
"This guy must have been one tough cookie," he said. "He hung in there."
While the Border Patrol has found people in the brush before, Borrego said this is the longest he has heard of a man surviving in the dry, isolated area.
Hinojosa's traveling companions returned to Mexico where they told his family he was missing, Borrego said. The family then contacted the Mexican Consulate in McAllen, who will take over the matter when Hinojosa gets out of the hospital.
Staff writer Jason Ma can be reached at 886-3778 or by e-mail at maj@caller.com
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