Colombian couple, teen daughter visiting Miami for COVID vaccine died in Surfside collapse

Colombian lawyer Luis Fernando Barth, his wife and teenage daughter traveled to Miami to visit family and secure vaccines to protect them from COVID-19. They never made it home to Medellín.

Barth, his wife, Catalina, and their 14-year-old daughter, Valeria, were staying at Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside when it collapsed on June 24. They had been staying at a friend’s unit at the building for about a month and were supposed to leave the day of the collapse, his brother told the Miami Herald last month.

Miami-Dade police announced that Luis Barth’s body had been recovered along with his wife’s on July 10. Five days later, the department announced it had officially identified Valeria as well.

“Rest in peace brother. Thank you for your infinite care and teachings,” his brother, Sergio Barth, posted on Instagram on Tuesday. “You were simply brilliant”

Luis Barth, 51, was an attorney who worked for a non-governmental agency in Colombia, his brother told WLRN.

“The last conversation we had, he was working for an NGO [non-governmental organization] in Colombia which involves the community. And he was telling me, ‘You know what, I could be working for a private company and earning a lot of money, but this is what I love, and I prefer to stay here with less money,’ ” Sergio told the radio station.

It was yet another tragedy for the Barth family.

Sergio Barth, 41, who runs a soccer academy in Kendall, told WLRN that another older brother of his died years ago in a car crash.

The family is one of dozens of residents from Latin America who perished in the tragedy.

This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 2:49 PM.