“Armed Commando” Attacks Truck w CA Migrants

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: La Jornada

Xalapa, Veracruz:  On Saturday morning, armed people attacked a group of migrants who were traveling through the southern area of ​​Veracruz . The assault left one woman dead, and at least three wounded, including a three year old.

The first police reports identified the deceased as María Herlinda Ruiz Tapería. While among the injured are: Keren Paola Barco Benavides, 31; Yoel Méndez Barco, 3 years old, and Hamilton Gedanias Soicoi, 26 years old. 

The migrants are originally from Guatemala, they were traveling aboard a cattle truck, which had left San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, and which was intended to take them to the north of the country.

It was during their transit through the south of the state that they suffered an attack by hooded people with heavy weapons, ie long guns.

The hooded people carried “large weapons” and traveled “extra-officially” on a vehicle which read “police,” according to locals who reported on the incident. At the moment, there are no official reports which can confirm the type of weapons used to harm the migrants or the identity of the perpetrators.

The National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH) expressed its "strongest condemnation" for the aggression, early this Saturday, in the community of Ojo de Agua, Municipality of Juan Rodríguez Clara, in Veracruz, against a group of migrants from Guatemala, which caused the death of a migrant woman and injuries to three more people, including a three-year-old child.

The organism indicated that it is the first occasion in which there is knowledge of a homicide against a person in the context of mobility since the migrant caravan began, for which he demanded the prompt clarification of the facts "by means of an exhaustive, professional and effective investigation. , that leads to find those responsible for them to be presented before the authorities that provide justice and receive the sanction that corresponds to the law ".

After expressing its condolences to the relatives of the victims, the commission reported that it will observe the possible violation of human rights by authorities who "did not grant the precautionary measures that the CNDH has repeatedly requested since the beginning of the migrant exodus, some of the which were addressed to state and municipal public servants of Veracruz. The authorities committed to grant due security to migratory flows by accepting such measures. "

The commission arranged for adjunct visitors to provide the accompaniment required by the victims and their families, as well as to provide them with emotional support and provide them with the necessary support so that the injured persons receive the medical attention they need along with the relatives of the deceased person. They will also facilitate the process so that the body is returned to its place of origin.

According to journalistic versions, the group of migrants left San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, and headed towards the Municipality of Tierra Blanca, Veracruz, when at the height of the Ojo de Agua community, belonging to the municipality of Juan Rodríguez Clara, the truck in which they were traveling was intercepted by a group of hooded people carrying long weapons, who shot them.