Mexican soldiers open fire on a truck carrying migrants, killing six

MEXICO CITY | Six international migrants were killed after Mexican soldiers opened fire on a truck carrying a group near the border with Guatemala, Mexico’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

The department said in a statement that soldiers claimed they heard shots as the trucks and two other vehicles approached their position late Tuesday in the southern state of Chiapas, near the town of Huixtla.

Two soldiers opened fire on the truck, which was carrying migrants from Egypt, Nepal, Cuba, India, Pakistan and at least one other country. Soldiers then approached the truck and found four of the migrants dead and twelve injured.

Two of the injured later died of their injuries. There was no immediate information on the condition of the other ten.

Local prosecutors confirmed that all victims died of gunshot wounds. The Defense Ministry has not said whether the migrants were killed as a result of army fire or whether weapons were found in the truck.

There were seventeen other migrants in the truck, who were unharmed. The vehicle was carrying a total of 33 migrants. The area is a common route for smuggling migrants, who are often packed into overcrowded trucks.

The department said the two soldiers who opened fire were relieved of duty pending the investigation. In Mexico, any incident involving civilians is subject to civil prosecution, but soldiers can also face a military court-martial for these crimes.

It is not the first time Mexican troops have opened fire on vehicles carrying migrants in the area, which is also the focus of battles between warring drug cartels.

In the same area, the quasi-military National Guard opened fire on a pickup truck carrying migrants in 2021, killing one and wounding four.

Irineo Mujica, a migrant rights activist who has regularly accompanied caravans of migrants in that area of ​​Chiapas, said he doubted whether the migrants or their smugglers opened fire.

“It is really impossible that these people would have shot at the military,” Mujica said. “They usually get through by paying bribes.”

The UN agency for refugees in Mexico, known as ACNUR, wrote that it “expresses its concern about the events in Chiapas” and noted that “people who migrate are exposed to great risks during their journey, and it is therefore indispensable that they provide legal means of access, travel and integration to prevent tragedies like this.”

If the deaths were the result of army fire, as seems likely, it could prove a major embarrassment for President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on Tuesday.

Sheinbaum has followed the example of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in giving the armed forces extraordinary powers in law enforcement, state-owned enterprises, airports, trains and construction projects.

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