Dead bodies of 19 migrants found burnt near US Border

Prosecutors in northern Mexico verified Saturday that at least two of the 19 people discovered shot to death and burned near the US border were Guatemalan migrants. Two other deceased amongst the four recognized so notably were Mexicans, they told. The forensic results authenticated families' concerns in a rural Indigenous farming population in Guatemala who have announced they lost contact with 13 migrants last week as they explored nearing the United States.

The remains were discovered on January 22 hoarded in a burned-out truck on a dirt road in the northern border state of Tamaulipas. The truck had 113 bullet impressions.

A burned-out SUV found nearby had beforehand been seen in the adjacent state of Nuevo Leon, at a spot where 66 migrants were apprehended by police and immigration agencies.

The Tamaulipas state prosecutors' office did not publish the identities of the four victims distinguished so far.

Of the 19 bodies considered by experts, 16 were found to be males, one was affirmed as female, and two others were so badly hurt their gender had not yet been discovered.

The killings rekindled reminiscences of the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants near the city of San Fernando in the very gang-ridden state. A repeat of the 2010 killing has long been one of the Mexican government's most dangerous horrors.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had stated in 2019, "We do not want a repeat of terrible, unfortunate acts like San Fernando."

Relatives of migrants from Guatemala's territory of San Marcos are so convinced that 13 of the 19 charred bodies were their loved ones that some of the families already established traditional altars to the dead, with flowers and photographs.

Some of the families in Guatemala said of getting calls from the migrant dealer who took the group of 10 males and three females north, telling them their family members were dead. Kin stated they lost connection with the ground around January 21.

It is unclear why the 19 people were killed. There have been situations in which drug cartels charge migrant dealers for passing their territory and capture or kill migrants whose smugglers have not paid.