Every week between now and the one-year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shootings, Orlando Weekly will profile a person killed on June 12, 2016. This week: Miguel Ángel Honorato
After years of hard work, Miguel Ángel Honorato and his family were enjoying the fruits of their American dream.
His parents, Paulina and Alex Honorato, told the news program Aquí y Ahora on Univision that they traveled from Guerrero, Mexico, with their children to cross the U.S. border in search of a better life and settled in Apopka. They didn't know English or have jobs, so the family decided to sell tacos in front of theme parks to make ends meet. Their eight children helped them run their taco truck, including Miguel Ángel, who made tortillas and ran the cash register. After decades of work, the Honoratos now own several businesses, including Tortilleria La Mexicana in Orlando and FajitaMex, a catering business, all of which Miguel Ángel helped manage.
"Nothing was hard for him," his mother says. "He was always able to get everything. He wasn't afraid of anything."
His wife, Minerva Honorato, told Aquí y Ahora she met her husband when they were in high school. Together they had three children, and Miguel Ángel was a doting 30-year-old father who helped plan birthday parties.
"He was always happy and making jokes," she said. "He was a really good dad, and he was always on top of the kids. When I started working, he's the one who would take care of the them."
The last time she saw her husband he told her he was going to the store. Hours later, police officers informed her Miguel Ángel had been invited by some friends to Pulse and died during the mass shooting on June 12.
His siblings remembered him on Facebook as a hard-working person who loved soccer and having a good time.
"I can't face the fact that my blood brother is gone," his brother Enrique Ezequiel Honorato wrote. "I'm never going to forget you. May your soul rest in peace."
His other brother, Jose Honorato, writes that he was "always as one" with Miguel Ángel.
"Love you brother," he writes. "Always in my heart and mind."
