Burned Bodies Found at Mexico Border... Evidence of Massacre of Migrants Heading to the U.S.

A 16-year-old Guatemalan immigrant presumed to be one of the 19 deceased. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Hana Na] As the identities of the burned bodies near the US-Mexico border have been confirmed, suspicions that Mexican authorities were involved in the massacre of migrants heading to the United States are gradually coming to light.

The Tamaulipas State Prosecutor's Office in northern Mexico announced on the 5th (local time) that through genetic testing, the identities of 3 out of the 19 bodies found last month on the 22nd in Camargo, Tamaulipas, were additionally confirmed, all three being men from neighboring Guatemala.

Including the previously identified two Guatemalans and two Mexicans, the identities of seven bodies have been revealed so far. Mexican authorities have only released the first letters of the names and surnames without disclosing detailed personal information of the deceased.

Shortly after the discovery of the gunshot and burned bodies in Camargo, residents of San Marcos, Guatemala, stated that more than 13 of the 19 bodies were their family members or relatives who had recently departed for the United States.

Earlier, a Guatemalan congressman released a list of presumed deceased Guatemalan migrants, and all five individuals identified so far are included in that list.

On the 3rd, Mexican prosecutors arrested 12 state police officers involved in the case and charged them with murder, abuse of authority, and perjury. Additionally, dozens of immigration officials implicated in the massacre of migrants were dismissed.

The Tamaulipas region, where drug cartel turf wars are intense, is notorious for corrupt police and officials accepting bribes from cartels.

According to the Guatemalan daily Prensa Libre, some of the migrants who set out together for the United States called relatives in Guatemala two days before the incident, reporting that police had detained them and confiscated their mobile phones.

Among the migrants were those seeking jobs in the United States to pay for medical expenses of family members in Guatemala, and Prensa Libre reported that some of the deceased were teenagers.

Meanwhile, in Tamaulipas, Mexico, 72 Central American migrants heading to the United States were kidnapped and massacred by a cartel in 2010.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.