Puebla, Mexico, Oct 4, 2024 / 18:45 pm
Six migrants traveling through southern Mexico in a pickup truck lost their lives and 10 more have been wounded after being fired upon by Mexican soldiers.
According to information shared by Mexico’s National Defense Secretariat (Sedena, by its Spanish acronym), the incident occurred Oct. 1 on a stretch of the Villa Comaltitlán-Huixtla highway in the Mexican state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala.
Military personnel said they “heard explosions,” which led them to start firing to stop the vehicles. The army claims the vehicles — one of which they managed to stop — were transporting migrants of various nationalities, including Egyptians, Cubans, and Pakistanis. Four people lost their lives at the scene and two more died after being hospitalized.
Sedena reported that the two soldiers who started shooting “were relieved of their duties” while the corresponding investigations are carried out.
Catholic Church criticizes ‘disproportionate use of force’
Bishop José Guadalupe Torres Campos, head of the migrant ministry of the country’s Catholic bishops, denounced the “disproportionate use of lethal force by agents of the state” that led to the tragedy.
Torres, who is the bishop of Ciudad Juárez, a diocese located on the northern border between Mexico and the United States, also stated that this tragedy is a direct consequence of the constant “presence of armed forces on the southern border of the country.” The prelate called on the authorities to carry out a “serious, impartial, and effective investigation.”
The bishop added that the presence of the armed forces in the border region should be scaled back and that they should be reserved instead for “exceptional situations.”
On behalf of the bishops of Mexico, Torres expressed his solidarity with the victims and their families, and offered prayers “for the migrants who died in this Mexican Army operation, and for the prompt recovery of the wounded.”
This storywas first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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