9 More Guatemalan Migrants Confirmed To Be Among Massacre Victims in Mexico

The government of Mexico has determined that nine more Guatemalan migrants were among those 19 people killed in a massacre at the northeastern state of Tamaulipas last month, authorities said on Sunday.

Citing the prosecutor's office of the state of Tamaulipas' statement, Reuters reported that 16 victims had already been identified, including two Mexican nationals and 14 Guatemalans.

Authorities have been working to identify the bodies through the DNA collected by people who believe their relatives may be among the victims. Many of those people are Guatemalan migrants.

The bodies were found along a popular smuggling route in a remote area of Tamaulipas, which borders the United States in northeastern Mexico. Some bodies were badly charred and with gunshot wounds.

One of the newly identified people was named by the Mexican prosecutor's office as Paola D. "Z" have been believed to be Paola Damaris Zacarias. Her family earlier told Reuters that she was suspected to be among those who died, U.S. News reported.

Mexican authorities announced Tuesday that 12 state police officers have already been arrested for allegedly killing these 19 people.

Tamaulipas state Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica said these officers were in custody and face charges of homicide, making false statements, and abuse of authority.

Guatemalan Migrants

Guatemalan security forces cleared a road occupied by hundreds of U.S.-bound migrants, who crossed the country from Honduras last month.

Several members of the migrant caravan agreed to take buses back to the Honduran border after some nights staying on a rural highway in Vado Hondo, which is about 35 miles from the Honduras and El Salvador borders, according to a Fox News report.

Another group of around 800 migrants was located some 25 miles farther north. Security forces managed to block Hondurans migrant caravan's advancement, according to Guatemala's immigration authorities.

Several people were injured as the caravan attempted to push forward through the human barricade of security forces.

Andres Gomez, a Guatemalan in the caravan, said this was not a war, adding that it was a caravan with women and children.

"The soldiers have no right to beat anyone. There are women who've been beaten, it's an act of violence," Gomez said in a report.

Guatemala's foreign affairs secretary, Pedro Brolo Vila, scrutinized the Honduran government's lack of cooperation regarding the caravan.

He noted that Honduran security forces accompanied the migrants toward their borders, where they regrettably saw how they entered violently, which violates Guatemala's territorial sovereignty.

COVID-19 Infections Among Migrants

He further noted that Guatemalan authorities had also detected fake COVID-19 test results among the migrants who stopped to register their entrance to Guatemala.

Guatemala's Health Ministry reported that 21 of the migrants seeking medical attention at health centers had tested positive for the COVID-19. The department said these 12 men and nine women would not be returned to Honduras until they go through quarantine at Guatemala centers.

Some 8,000 to 9,000 Honduran migrants were known to have entered Guatemala in this year's first caravan after departing from Honduras just days before President Joe Biden's inauguration.

According to a The Guardian report, Oscar Garcia, who was part of the migrant caravan, said they are suffering from hunger as his home had been destroyed in November's hurricanes.

"It's impossible to live in Honduras. There 's no work, there's nothing," Garcia said in the report.