HomeNewsAnalysisMistreatment of Migrant in Mexico Caught on Video
ANALYSIS

Mistreatment of Migrant in Mexico Caught on Video

HUMAN SMUGGLING / 30 MAR 2011 BY GEOFFREY RAMSEY EN

In an indicator of the difficulties often faced by Central American migrants, three Mexican customs officers were suspended after a video surfaced in which one of them appeared to chase a Honduran migrant into the Usumacinta River with a machete.

According to El Universal, the incident occurred during a raid on the small town of Boca del Cerro, Tabasco, on March 20. In an attempt to flee, a Honduran woman jumped into the river. After pursuing her to the water’s edge with a machete, the video shows a National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migracion - INM) officer standing by while she struggles to keep afloat in the fast-moving current. Seeing this, a group of local villagers intervened, chasing off the agent and rescuing the woman by boat.

Locally, these events sparked a political controversy. After villagers from the area complained to state officials, the three police officers involved in the raid were suspended and are currently under investigation for misconduct. Tomas Gonzalez Castillo, director of an area migrant shelter, told reporters that such abuse is common in Tabasco, and called for a "permanent cessation of operations that endanger the lives of migrants."

Along with Chiapas, the state is a popular crossing point for undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Once in the country, they are often targeted by organized criminal groups for kidnapping and extortion, and are seen as relatively easy prey due to their reluctance to report crime to authorities.

The incident comes at the heels of a report on migrant kidnappings published last February by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (Comision Nacional de Derechos Humanos - CNDH) which called on public safety official in the southern border area to specifically implement “concrete and effective measures to arrest those responsible for committing crimes against migrants.”

Last year, the CNDH documented 214 cases of migrant kidnappings, with a total of 1,333 victims. After Veracruz, Tabasco was identified as the state with the second-highest number of kidnappings.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

FEATURED / 27 OCT 2022

In Sinaloa, Mexico, the uptick in forced disappearances is linked to one dynamic more than any other: synthetic drugs.

HOMICIDES / 29 AUG 2022

Police in Guanajuato, Mexico, are accused of being in the pocket of the Jalisco Cartel. But do they have a…

MARIJUANA / 13 DEC 2022

The legalization of marijuana at the state level in the US has forced organized crime groups in Mexico to adapt…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…