Mexican officials investigating footages shared on social media showing bodies in a dumper truck have found 19 corpses in La Concordia, in the southern state of Chiapas.
The victims were all male, clad in black, and wearing tactical vests similar to those worn by Mexico’s strong criminal organisations.
The majority of the dead were recovered inside the truck’s rear, with three more discovered on a nearby dirt track. Everyone had bullet wounds.
Crime gangs have infiltrated the region, which is crisscrossed by transit routes used by migrants making their way north to the United States.
Criminal groups extort money from migrants and utilise the routes to transfer firearms, ammunition, and drugs from adjacent Guatemala into Mexico.
Officials discovered Guatemalan identity papers on four of the deceased. Members of the Chiapas prosecutor’s office were alerted to a video posted on social media on June 28.
In it, individuals acting as Sinaloa cartel members reveal the victims in the truck, alleging they are from a rival group operating on the Guatemala-Mexico border.
The next day, neighbours discovered the dead near the village of La Concordia and reported their whereabouts to the police.
The Chiapas prosecutor’s office stated that the deceased were likely part of an organisation known as the “Chiapas and Guatemala cartel.”.
The terrible discovery comes amid a spate of gang-related violence in La Concordia and surrounding areas. Last month, gunmen shot and killed a woman campaigning for mayor of La Concordia, along with five other individuals.
Locals have recalled having to hide in their homes for days as gun battles raged on the streets as different gangs competed for territory.
Hundreds have left their houses. The Mexican government says it has sent members of the National Guard and the army to the area.
However, people have previously stated that they feel abandoned and that the cartels will return as soon as the federal forces depart.
