Newly appointed President Claudia Sheinbaum called for the soldiers involved to be “investigated and punished.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called the killing of six migrants by Mexican troops “deplorable” and called for an investigation into the shooting.
“This is an unfortunate incident that must be investigated and punished,” Scheinbaum said at a news conference Thursday. “We cannot allow this situation to happen again.”
He added that the attorney general’s office was investigating the incident, but did not say whether any action had already been taken against the soldiers.
Her comments came after Mexican soldiers opened fire on a truck that was driving “at high speed” near the town of Huistla, near the border with Guatemala, on the evening of October 1.
The Ministry of Defense later said soldiers heard an “explosion” coming from the truck, prompting them to respond.
The ministry said there were 33 migrants in the truck at the time of the shooting. The six people killed were citizens of Egypt, Peru, and El Salvador.
It was the worst killing of migrants and asylum seekers by Mexican authorities since police in the northern state of Tamaulipas killed 17 migrants in 2021, and the outcry sparked by the attack continued this week. This presents an early challenge for Sheinbaum, who has just been sworn in. .
Sheinbaum did not say how many migrants from each country were killed, and Mexico’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately provide details. However, Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that one Peruvian national had been killed and called for an “urgent investigation” into the killing.
The region between Mexico and Guatemala is a common route for smuggled migrants, some crammed into crowded cargo trucks and headed north toward the U.S. border.
The area has also been the scene of drug cartel turf wars, and the Ministry of Defense said the truck was “similar to those used by regional criminal organizations”.
Irineo Mujica, a migrant rights activist who worked in the area, said he suspected migrants or smugglers opened fire first, prompting a response from Mexican soldiers.
“There’s no way these people would fire at the military,” Mujica said. “Most of the time they get by by paying bribes.”
However, this incident is not the first time Mexican law enforcement has claimed to have heard explosions or gunshots before using deadly force.
In 2021, National Guard troops opened fire on a pickup truck carrying migrants and asylum seekers, killing one person and injuring four others. Authorities initially claimed that some of the people in the truck were armed and fired shots, but an independent investigation later determined that was not the case.
In 2021, Tamaulipas state police killed 17 immigrants and two Mexicans. Those officers also claimed to have been hit by gunfire from the migrants’ vehicles.
The Roman Catholic Church’s Council of Bishops of Mexico called the killing a “disproportionate use of deadly force.”
“This tragedy is not an isolated incident,” the council said in a statement. “Rather, it is the result of the militarization of immigration policy and the expansion of the military presence on the country’s southern border.”
During his six years in office, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose term ended on September 30, expanded the military’s powers, placed the National Guard under his command and brought the military into civilian infrastructure projects. Ta.
His successor, Mr. Sheinbaum, also a member of Morena’s party, is expected to continue his policies.
She made no mention of the killings when she visited a military base in Mexico City on Thursday, where army and navy commanders pledged allegiance to her in front of combat vehicles and hundreds of soldiers.
“There is no siege in our country. There are no human rights violations,” Sheinbaum said during his visit, focusing instead on raising wages for soldiers.
