Mexican authorities say they found 19 bodies shot and burned near a city across the Rio Grande in Texas, in an area that has seen violent territorial disputes between organized crime groups in recent years. Tamaulipas State Prosecutor’s Office said late Saturday that the bodies were discovered along a dirt road outside Camargo after residents reported a vehicle on fire.
Authorities found two vehicles on fire, one containing four bodies and the other 15. Several rifles were also found.
All had been shot, but no shells were found at the scene, prompting investigators to believe they were killed elsewhere.
A Camargo official, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said the killings took place on Friday, but people were afraid to report them.
Meanwhile, in Guatemala, rumors circulated on Sunday that Guatemalan migrants are among the dead.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Guatemalan embassy in Mexico and the consulate in Monterrey are communicating with state and federal authorities “to determine whether any Guatemalan nationals are among the victims.” He said they had activated consular assistance protocols.
Camargo is a major transit point for drug trafficking and migrants. Organized crime groups covet control of border areas because they make money from everything that crosses the border.
The Camargo is close to the edge of the territory historically controlled by the Gulf cartel, and in recent years a remnant of known Zetas in the northeastern cartel has tried to take over.
In January 2020, 21 bodies, most of them burned, were found in various vehicles near the neighboring city of Ciudad Mier. Days later, the Mexican army killed 11 suspected gunmen in the area.
In January 2019, in the neighboring town of Miguel Aleman, 24 bodies were found, of which 15 were charred.
In August 2010, a group of 72 undocumented migrants were killed in San Fernando, Tamaulipas. Authorities said the massacre was committed by the Zetas cartel, one of the strongest at the time.
Mexico recorded 34,523 murders in 2020, a slight decrease from the 2019 figure of 34,608, which was a record since official accounts began.
Cartel violence has plagued Mexico since 2006, with more than 300,000 murders since then.
AFP contributed to this report.