Man killed along I-15 had come from Venezuela in search of ‘a better life’

Editor’s note: This story has been edited to reflect the proper authorship. We regret the error. 

PROVO, Utah — Alberto Marcano had come from Venezuela to the United States, like many immigrants, seeking opportunity.

“He wanted a better life,” said his brother Jhonny Marcano.

Tragically, he was killed last week while changing a flat tire along I-15 in the American Fork area, and now his family members are left mourning, remembering the good times. Alberto Marcano, 43, was working, saving money and hoping to complete the paperwork necessary to bring his wife and three of his four kids from Venezuela to Utah.

“He was a great guy … always helping people, always optimistic,” said Jhonny Marcano. He came to the United States from Venezuela in 2002 and lives in Pleasant View. The crash, which occurred before sunrise at around 6:30 a.m., remains under investigation, but Marcano thinks it could have been avoided.

Alberto Marcano had been a petroleum engineer for Petróleos de Venezuela, known as PDVSA, the state-owned oil giant in oil-rich Venezuela. But it was tough making ends meet in the unstable country, characterized by the U.S. State Department for its “extensive corruption, economic mismanagement and violation of international norms” under President Nicolás Maduro.

Thus, sponsored by his brother, a naturalized U.S. citizen, Mercano came to Utah on April 19, 2023, under the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s humanitarian parole initiative geared to those from Venezuela, Cuba and certain other countries.

Read the full story from KSL.com here. 

Related reading: Utah Highway Patrol warns about changing a flat tire on freeways