Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Five Mexicans were preparing to welcome diners to the “most spectacular restaurant in the world”—Windows on the World—located on the 106th and 107th floors of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
Just over 400 meters away, on the streets of Manhattan, Antonio Javier Álvarez, Antonio Meléndez, Leobardo López Pascual, Martín Morales Zempoaltécatl, and Juan Ortega Campos were beginning their workday when the attacks began. It was 8:46 a.m. when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower.
The five men had come to New York in search of job opportunities. Three were originally from Puebla, one from Tlaxcala, and another from Morelos. Their names were recorded among the fatalities, and they now appear on the memorial built at the site where the Twin Towers once stood.
Mexican consular records also listed 11 other nationals presumed dead. Unlike the five identified cases, their remains were never found among the debris recovered from the World Trade Center.
The Mexicans who worked at Windows on the World
Martín Morales Zempoaltécatl was 22 years old and originally from Santa Catarina Ayometla, Tlaxcala. He had arrived in New York in 1998 and, after holding various jobs, was hired in 2000 as an assistant chef at Windows on the World. His goal was to learn English and save enough money to build a house upon returning to his community.
After the attacks, family and friends distributed flyers featuring his photograph to hospitals and care centers, hoping to find him among the survivors. One of these documents was preserved by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum; it records that he worked on the 106th floor at Windows on the World. Antonio Javier Álvarez, Antonio Meléndez, and Leobardo López Pascual had also left Puebla to seek job opportunities in the United States. All three were part of the staff working at the restaurant.
Álvarez was 23 years old and worked as a grill cook. Meléndez, a native of Acatlán, was 29 and worked as a cook. López Pascual was 41.
Juan Ortega Campos was originally from Morelos and worked in delivery services within the World Trade Center. His job required him to move throughout the complex while the towers bustled with the usual office, restaurant, and service activities.
The other 11 Mexicans whose remains were never found
Following the attacks, the Mexican Consulate in New York began gathering information from relatives and members of the Mexican community regarding individuals who might have been at the World Trade Center that morning.
The search was not limited to employees of the major companies based in the towers. The complex also housed restaurants, shops, and service providers employing people in roles such as cooking, cleaning, maintenance, delivery, and other tasks.
Based on information gathered by authorities and relatives, a registry was established listing 16 Mexicans linked to the victims of the attacks. Five were officially identified. In the other 11 cases, it was not possible to recover remains that would allow for confirmation of death through standard identification procedures.
The list of those presumed dead included Arturo Alba Moreno, from Mexico City; José Manuel Contreras, from Jalisco; Germán Castillo García, from the State of Mexico; José Guevara González and José Antonio Santos Anaya, from Aguascalientes; Fernando Jiménez Molina, from Oaxaca; Alicia Acevedo Carranza, Víctor Antonio Martínez Pastrana, and Juan Romero Orozco, from Puebla; as well as Margarito Casillas and Norberto Hernández, whose places of origin were not specified in the cited records. The difference between the two groups is significant: the first five were confirmed as fatalities of the attacks, while the other 11 remained on the records as presumed dead and were never located among the World Trade Center wreckage.
Forensic efforts in New York led to the identification of thousands of victims, though not all could be positively identified. In the case of the Mexican nationals, documentation gathered after the attacks recorded both the five confirmed identifications and the 11 other individuals whose presence at the complex had been reported by their families or consular authorities, but whose remains were never found.
The Mexican flag recovered from the Twin Towers’ wreckage was reinstalled in New York 15 years after 9/11.
Fifteen years after the attacks on the Twin Towers, a Mexican flag recovered from the debris at Ground Zero once again took a place of symbolic importance in Manhattan. On September 11, 2016, it was reinstalled on the first floor of the Consulate General of Mexico in New York, accompanied by a plaque honoring the victims of 9/11.
