12 police officers ordered arrested for massacre of migrants in northeastern Mexico
The prosecutor's office in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas ordered the arrest of 12 state police officers for their probable involvement in the crime of 19 migrants who were burned to death on a country road in the municipality of Camargo, Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica announced on Tuesday.
In a conference, the prosecutor said that the investigations carried out so far show that "at least 12 members of the state police may have participated, which is why a state control judge has already issued an arrest warrant for them".
He also mentioned the probable crimes committed by the police officers: aggravated homicide, abuse of authority, misconduct of administrative duties and falsification of reports presented to an authority.
"The arrest warrants have already been served and in the next few hours the police officers will be handed over to the judicial authorities, who will be responsible for resolving their legal situation," he said.
He stressed that among the lines of investigation being pursued by the Prosecutor's Office is the dispute between organised crime for control of the region and the trafficking of migrants.
He explained that on the day of the events, 22 January, more vehicles were involved, with Guatemalan and Salvadoran migrants who were trying to reach the United States, as well as "armed individuals who provided them with protection and security".
On 22 January, an anonymous call alerted the Tamaulipas authorities about two vehicles that had been abandoned and set on fire on a country road in the municipality of Camargo, where 19 burnt bodies were found, most of them Guatemalan migrants from the communities of Comitancillos and San Marcos.
Regarding the human remains found, the Prosecutor's Office reported that, preliminarily and subject to the anthropological results, it was determined that 16 were male, one female and two are still to be determined due to the high degree of calcination.
In addition, reconstructive ballistics studies established that one of the vehicles had no firearm impacts and that another vehicle had 113 firearm shots.
The note highlighted that collaboration and coordination is maintained with the Attorney General's Office of the State of Nuevo León, and thanks to this it was possible to learn that one of the vehicles was located in the place where 66 foreigners were rescued on 6 December last by agents of the Municipal Police of the municipality of Escobedo, in that state, and the National Institute of Migration.
According to testimonies gathered by Efe, a commando of gunmen from the Northeast Cartel (CDN), the former Zetas, entered that day in the afternoon to look for a commander of the rival group, the Gulf Cartel (CDG), the criminal organisation that controls the Tamaulipas area.
After a confrontation, the CDN assassins located 19 people, presumably Guatemalans, whom they killed there and then abandoned them on the border with the neighbouring state of Nuevo León.
The CDG and the CDN have been fighting for control of Mexico's northeastern states since March 2010, a conflict that has since led to more than 15,000 missing persons and thousands of deaths.
