Coronavirus victims are buried in crowded Tijuana cemetery
Cemetery workers lower the casket of Juan Velasco, who died of COVID-19 symptoms, as his family, to the right, watches the burial at Tijuana’s Municipal Cemetery No. 13.
TIJUANA — Dressed in white protective suits, workers in Tijuana last week buried dozens of bodies — causalities of the coronavirus — as bulldozers cleared land for more graves.
Municipal Cemetery No. 13 stretches across a rocky hillside in the Valle Redondo, about four miles south of the border in far eastern Tijuana. Most of the dead were poor or working class, their graves marked by simple white crosses.
“The majority of the [COVID-19] bodies come wrapped in plastic bags and the coffins too are contained in plastic,” said one of the gravediggers.
After each burial, he and the other workers take turns spraying themselves down with disinfectant.
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Because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, the city government limits how many family members are allowed to attend a funeral and requires them to stand 10 feet back from the grave.
There are 12 other municipal cemeteries in Tijuana, all of which are full, according to Jesús Salvador García, Tijuana’s director of cemeteries.
“I can’t tell you the total number buried in the whole city because there are also private cemeteries and the option of cremation, which is the decision of the family,” he said.
At least 35 victims of COVID-19 have been buried at Municipal Cemetery No. 13.
From left, Bernadina Cruz Perez, Fredy Villa Suerte Hernandez, Dominguez Hernandez and Cleotilde Hernandez mourn the death of 49-year-old Laura Moreno Sanchez, who died of COVID-19. “I don’t know if it is my wife or not,” said Fredy. “I did not see the body.” He said authorities did not let him open the casket.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
At Tijuana’s Municipal Cemetery No. 13, Dominguez Hernandez consoles Fredy Villa Suerte Hernandez, right, as they mourn from a distance the death of Fredy’s 49-year-old wife, Laura Moreno Sanchez, who died from COVID-19.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A relative arrives with flowers for the burial of Juan Velasco, who died of COVID-19 symptoms.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
At the San Ramon Funeral Home, workers follow a new protocol for disinfecting corpses as they transfer a person who died from COVID-19 symptoms into a casket.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A medical worker at Tijuana General Hospital checks paperwork before handing off a corpse for transfer to the morgue. Tijuana General Hospital is the largest hospital in the Mexican state of Baja California and has been designated for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Cemetery workers dig additional graves at Tijuana’s Municipal Cemetery No. 13. The city’s other 12 municipal cemeteries are full, said Jesús Salvador García, Tijuana’s director of cemeteries.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Diego Armando Juarez, a funeral advisor, helps move a casket.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Diego Armando Juarez, a funeral advisor, transports the body of a person who died from COVID-19 symptoms from Tijuana General Hospital to a funeral home.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Workers at the San Ramon Funeral Home prepare a casket for transport to the cemetery.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A funeral home worker prepares to unload a casket for cemetery workers to transfer into a grave as family members of the deceased stand nearby.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Family members cover their faces as dust kicks up during a funeral.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
At Tijuana’s Municipal Cemetery No. 13, Nora Lassete marks the burial cross after the funeral of Juan Velasco, who died of COVID-19 symptoms.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Family members watch as gravediggers in protective suits move from burial to burial at Tijuana’s Municipal Cemetery No. 13.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A woman prepares to toss a rose into a grave at Tijuana’s Municipal Cemetery No. 13.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Family members watch from a distance as workers in protective suits bury a relative at Tijuana’s Municipal Cemetery No. 13.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Workers bury Juan Velasco, who died of COVID-19 symptoms, at Tijuana’s Municipal Cemetery No. 13.
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Wendy Fry has covered Tijuana, greater Baja California and border issues at The San Diego Union-Tribune. She worked at the newspaper from 2009 to 2012, and worked at NBC San Diego from 2013 to 2018 before returning to the paper. Wendy won SPJ’s Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism in 2012 for her coverage of corruption at the Sweetwater schools, and she won the Grand Golden Watchdog Award from the San Diego County Taxpayers Association in 2017.
Marcus Yam is a foreign correspondent and photographer for the Los Angeles Times. Since joining in 2014, he has covered a wide range of topics including humanitarian issues, social justice, terrorism, foreign conflicts, natural disasters, politics and celebrity portraiture. He won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography in 2022 for images documenting the U.S. departure from Afghanistan that capture the human cost of the historic change in the country. Yam is a two-time recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award, notably in 2019, for his unflinching body of work showing the everyday plight of Gazans during deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip. He has been part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning breaking news teams.
