Guatemalan Immigrants Found Dead in Mexico

Four undocumented Guatemalans died of asphyxiation and twenty other immigrants were injured on October 5 on their way to the United States while being transported by Mexican coyotes, or immigrant traffickers, in the eastern state of Veracruz, Mexican authorities reported. The coyotes were transporting a total of sixty illegal immigrants hailing from Central America in a truck. Apparently, the Guatemalans felt suffocated and banged on the truck’s doors to bring this to the smugglers’ attention. The smugglers beat them in response. Many of the immigrants managed to escape, but those remaining were locked in the truck and subsequently abandoned by the traffickers near the town of Tres Valles. They were found two days later.

Many of the survivors were severely dehydrated after not eating or drinking for forty-eight hours and suffering from the unhealthy conditions in the overcrowded truck. Ten of them were treated at nearby hospitals. The mayor of Tierra Blanca, Saúl Lara, said that ‘‘there are kids in grave conditions,’’ as reported by the Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico.

Central American immigration to the United States has substantially increased in recent years, with most undocumented refugees escaping the political instability and violence in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Most migration routes pass through the state of Veracruz. In 2014, President Obama confirmed the rapid growth of Central American child migrants as a humanitarian crisis.

In addition to the danger posed by coyotes, the journey has become even riskier. Earlier this year, there were reports of Mexican officials torturing migrants in an attempt to slow down the influx of Central Americans traveling to the United States through their country. Allegedly pressured by political leverage and financial aid from their northern neighbor, Mexico’s National Immigration Institute was accused of running a secret quota system for deportations and ‘‘systematically using torture against detainees,’’ according to The Guardian.