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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Yenny Rodríguez de Saavedra, a Venezuelan woman who reached the United States on Dec. 2 after a long trip through Central American and Mexico, died Saturday in a car crash.
• She had come with her husband and other family members in search of a better life, fleeing feared political persecution in Venezuela and then Colombia.
• Her family seeks financial help to cover the woman's burial costs.

WEST JORDAN — After a long trudge through Colombia and Central America and a six-month delay in Mexico, Yenny Rodríguez de Saavedra finally arrived in the United States on Dec. 2.

She came with her husband, daughter and other family members, sponsored by son-in-law Jhonny Sira, and it was supposed to be the start of a new chapter in their lives.

"We came from Venezuela looking for another future," her husband, Wilfredo Saavedra, told Utahzolanos, an online social media outlet focused on Utah's Venezuelan community.

The woman, 54, died in a car crash in West Valley City Saturday, though, just 21 days after reaching the United States, and now her family, living in West Jordan, is reeling. Sira, married to one of Saavedra and Rodríguez de Saavedra's daughters, said they faced a long, arduous trip from South America, where they had both worked many years as teachers. To be followed by his mother-in-law's death is unfathomable.

"Now we're worried because we don't know what to do," said Sira, who's seeking political asylum here and sponsored his in-laws, wife and daughter in coming to the United States.

Lacking resources — Sira is the only one in the family with work authorization — they seek help to cover the funeral expenses of Rodríguez de Saavedra so she can have a "dignified goodbye," reads the GoFundMe account* Sira created to help raise the money. "This wasn't the Christmas we had imagined after going through so much to get to the United States," it continues.

Authorities say Rodríguez de Saavedra died after the westbound car she was traveling in ran a red light and was hit by a southbound car. The crash occurred at the intersection of 4100 South and Mountain View Corridor. "There was no evidence of alcohol or anything like that for the driver of the vehicle that ran the red light," said Roxeanne Vainuku, a public information officer for West Valley City, but the incident remains the focus of continued review.

Vainuku said Rodríguez de Saavedra and the driver of the car she was in are relatives. The driver sustained minor injuries while the operator of the other vehicle was treated at a hospital and was later released.

'Saw many horrible things'

The family's journey from Venezuela started many years ago when Sira, a foe of the socialist regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, fled to Colombia, fearing political backlash or worse at home given his opposition. "I had to flee so I wouldn't be tortured or killed," he said.

His wife and in-laws later joined him in Colombia, having faced threats of their own in Venezuela. Later, Sira came to the United States and the rest of his family, fearful in Colombia, ultimately followed. Sira says Colombia is allied with Venezuela, and his in-laws, wife and other family members still there "had to flee because they were being persecuted."

In reaching the United States, they passed through treacherous jungle terrain and more. They "saw many horrible things. They almost lost their lives. They went through Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala," Sira said.

Patricia Quiñonez, with Utahzolanos, who's helping get word out about the family's situation, said Saavedra de Rodríguez and her other family members waited for six months in Mexico for an appointment with U.S. authorities to make a claim for asylum. Once entry was approved, she said, they finally made their way into the United States and then on Dec. 3 to Utah.

Saavedra de Rodríguez "wanted to restart life through asylum," Quiñonez said.

*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

Related topics

ImmigrationMulticultural UtahUtahVoces de UtahSalt Lake CountyPolice & Courts

Tim Vandenack

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Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL.com. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.