In recent years, Mexico's southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of Central American migrants passing through in an attempt to reach the United States. Mexican authorities routinely find migrants being packed in vehicles as they are smuggled through the country, including 600 migrants from 12 countries discovered in the back of two trucks in Veracruz in November 2021.[2]
The crash is the deadliest incident involving migrants passing through Mexico since the 2010 San Fernando massacre, when 72 migrants were shot and killed by members of the Los Zetas drug cartel in the northern state of Tamaulipas
On December 9, 2021, a freight truck left Guatemala for Veracruz, carrying over 150 migrants in its cargo container. Most of the migrants were from Guatemala, as confirmed by the Guatemalan ambassador in Mexico, Mario Búcaro.[4] However, Jordán Rodas, Guatemala’s top human rights official, stated that it is possible that about 200 migrants had been packed into the vehicle's container.[5]
The driver lost control of the vehicle on the Mexican Federal Highway 190 between Chiapa de Corzo and state capital Tuxtla Gutiérrez, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Tuxtla, at around 3:30 pm local time. According to witnesses and survivors, the truck was traveling at excessive speeds and flipped over while driving around a bend.[6] It crashed into the base of a steel pedestrian bridge and its cargo container was smashed open. Survivor Celso Pacheco, a Guatemalan migrant, stated that the truck seemed to have lost control under the weight of its human cargo.[6]
Rescue workers who first arrived on the scene remarked that they had witnessed migrants who had been in the trailer fleeing the crash, fearing being detained by immigration agents and subsequently deported.[7] A number of them were bloodied and limping, having sustained numerous injuries. Locals told media that the driver of the truck fled down the Grijalva River shortly after the accident.[8] The Guatemalan consul in Tuxtla Gutiérrez helped transfer the injured to hospitals in the region.
