Mexico has arrested 12 police officers allegedly involved in a recent massacre of Central American migrants. According to Infobae, a center to center-left Argentine news outlet with excellent regional reporting, the burned bodies of 19 migrants turned up in Tamaulipas state near the U.S. border. The article states that this area is well known for intense fighting between Mexico’s Zetas and Gulf cartels. Further, Infobae notes that in the past, Mexican police have collaborated often with criminal groups, such as a massacre of 43 students in the southwestern city of Iguala in 2014. Animal Político, a popular investigative outlet in Mexico, speculates that this incident could prove further collaboration between police and Mexican cartels. It reports that Mexican authorities, including the Interior Minister, vowed to crack down on official impunity. This particular case will be a major test of Mexico’s ability to root out impunity in its police and armed forces.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised when he came to power in December 2018 to end the murders and kidnappings committed by authorities, but the links between the security forces and organized crime have proven difficult to eliminate.
Source: “Arrestaron a 12 policías implicados en la masacre de Tamaulipas que dejó 19 cadáveres calcinados (They arrested 12 policemen involved in the Tamaulipas massacre that left 19 burned corpses),” Infobae (Argentine center to center-left news outlet with excellent regional reporting), 3 February 2021. https://www.infobae.com/america/mexico/2021/02/03/arrestaron-a-12-policias-implicados-en-la-masacre-detamaulipas-que-dejo-19-cadaveres-calcinados/
If the participation of law enforcement officials is confirmed, the case would evoke the kidnapping and apparent massacre in 2014 of 43 students in the southwestern city of Iguala by corrupt police officers who collaborated with a drug gang…President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised when he came to power in December 2018 to end the murders and kidnappings committed by authorities, but the links between the security forces and organized crime have proven difficult to eliminate.
Source: “Fiscalía de Tamaulipas reconoce participación de policías estatales en masacre de Camargo: hay 12 detenidos (Tamaulipas Prosecutor’s Office recognizes the participation of state police in the Camargo massacre: there are 12 detainees),” Animal Político (a well read investigative outlet in Mexico), 2 February 2021. https://www.animalpolitico.com/2021/02/fiscalia-tamaulipas-policias-estatales-masacrecamargo-detenidos/
The prosecutor indicated that they believe that the agents altered the crime scene, since there were no casings and ammunition that matched the shots that the attacked pickup truck received. In addition, contradictions were detected between the police report and the interviews with the agents…The massacre occurred weeks after the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, assured the country that the human rights of migrants are no longer violated in Mexico. The Secretary of the Interior, Olga Sánchez Cordero…predicted that in this case there would be no impunity.
- Original source: OEW Watch | March 2021 – Foreign Military Studies Office
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