Earlier in the book Remedios recommends to Marta, the child's mother, to not go north. Marta decides to stay in Santiago because of this, however, if Marta went north her baby would not have drowned in that river in the first place. Remedios knew Marta's child would drown so she could have the body of the child. It is also mentioned that Marta heard of cats smothering babies while they slept and Remedios had two cats. This proves that Remedios is an evil character out for blood.
In conclusion, A Place Where the Sea Remembers is a book about things just going wrong. There are many examples of hardship throughout the book. Peoples life's get destroyed, from losing family members to poverty, if you want a story about the destruction of life this is a perfect book for you. Things going wrong in the village of Santiago is a plague and no one can escape it, not babies nor old men everyone and everyone can be a