Photo: Juan Ortega/AFP/Getty Images
By: The opinion Posted Mar 28, 2023, 14:21 pm EDT
In search of the so-called American dream, every year millions of migrants cross through Mexico trying to reach the border, however, many are deported or stay on the road and unfortunately have a tragic end.
It was recently revealed the death of at least 39 migrants who were in a shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahuawhich suffered a fire that originated from a protest that they provoked when they found out that they would be deported, for which they placed mats at the door and set them on fire, without imagining what would happen.
However, this is not the only tragedy in Mexico in which dozens of migrants lose their lives, since on other occasions they have been killed in vehicular accidents or at the hands of organized crime.
Fatal rollover in Chiapas
Another of the most recent events occurred on December 9, 2021, when a trailer carrying some 160 migrants collided with a pedestrian bridge on a highway in the state of Chiapas, leaving 56 deceased, 40 of them from Guatemala.
According to the authorities, the trailer was speeding on the Chiapa de Corzo-Tuxtla Gutiérrez highway section; it lost control as it went around a sharp curve and flipped over, impacting the bridge while carrying hundreds of people crammed into the unit box.
Burned migrants in Tamaulipas
On January 22, 2021, three vans were located inside which were the charred bodies of 19 people16 of them Guatemalan, in a rural area of the state of Tamaulipas, very close to the border with the United States.
A few days later, on February 2 of that same year, 12 police officers possibly linked to the case were arrested, who were accused of the crimes of qualified homicide, abuse of authority, abuse of administrative functions and false reports given to the authority. .
They all confessed to participating in the murder, but they blame a criminal group for the attempt to make the bodies disappear. According to the official account, heThe policemen chased and shot at the 19 people who were trying to reach the United States.
Subsequently, they set fire to the two trucks in which they were traveling, and they also collected most of the casings they fired from the place, trying to erase evidence of their participation in these events. A day later, the human smuggler in charge of taking the group to the United States called the families in Guatemala to report what had happened.
The San Fernando massacre
Perhaps one of the most remembered tragedies is the one that occurred on August 22, 2010, when a group of 72 migrants, the majority from Central America, were killed by members of the Los Zetas cartel in the municipality of San Fernando, Tamaulipas.
The group of migrants left Veracruz on August 21 and was made up of Ecuadorians, Brazilians and an Indian. The migrants were heading to the United States and decided to stop in a town in Tamaulipas to spend the night and rest.
However, hours later, three vehicles with several armed men intercepted the unit where the victims were traveling.
According to authorities, the criminals asked the migrants to speak with their relatives in the United States to ask for ransom, later they were offered to work for Los Zetas, but they refused, so they decided to execute them.
Keep reading:
– The UN calls for a thorough investigation into the death of migrants in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
– They reveal the nationality of immigrants who died in a fire in Mexico; there are 28 Guatemalans.