Mass grave may contain bodies of Mexican migrants who vanished near Texas border

Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times
Updated ·3 min read
12

Mexican authorities have found 11 bodies in a mass grave in Chihuahua believed to possibly contain the remains of a group of migrants who disappeared near the Texas border two years ago.

The migrants may have been killed by drug cartel members fighting for control of human smuggling routes along the Texas border, according to a newspaper report.

The bodies were found by state police on Wednesday, Aug. 23, buried about four feet in the ground near the small community of El Mimbre in the Coyame del Sotol region of eastern Chihuahua, state officials said.

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The Chihuahua Attorney General's Office said DNA tests would be done to determine if the bodies were those of a group of men who disappeared while heading to the Mexican border town of Ojinaga, located across the Rio Grande from Presidio in the Big Bend region of Texas.

A search dog and agents with the Chihuahua State Investigations Agency in December 2022 look for signs of a group in the migrants who disappeared in the desert in the Coyame del Sotol region in September 2021. A mass grave with at least 11 bodies was discovered last week.
A search dog and agents with the Chihuahua State Investigations Agency in December 2022 look for signs of a group in the migrants who disappeared in the desert in the Coyame del Sotol region in September 2021. A mass grave with at least 11 bodies was discovered last week.

Mexican migrants were heading to Odessa, Texas

A group of 13 migrants departed from Chihuahua City and Aldama heading toward Ojinaga on Sept. 25, 2021, the state attorney general's office said.

The migrants had paid smugglers to get them across the U.S. border and transport them to Odessa, Texas.

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The migrants were all men and Mexican citizens. Six came from Chihuahua City, one each from Aldama, Queretaro and Mexico City, authorities had said. It is unclear where the others were originally from.

A boy traveling with the group told investigators that the migrants were detained before reaching Ojinaga, but that he managed to escape, or was released, and had returned to his family, officials said.

A missing-persons poster shows 11 migrants who disappeared in the region of Coyame del Sotol, in eastern Chihuahua near the Ojinaga-Presidio border, in September 2021. A reward of 200,000 pesos was offered for information leading to the location of each of the missing men.
A missing-persons poster shows 11 migrants who disappeared in the region of Coyame del Sotol, in eastern Chihuahua near the Ojinaga-Presidio border, in September 2021. A reward of 200,000 pesos was offered for information leading to the location of each of the missing men.

Volunteers and state police equipped with search dogs and drones conducted several searches of the ranches, dirt roads and ravines looking for the missing men in the vast, desolate desert. The searches continued for years until the mass grave was found.

One person has been arrested as part of the investigation, Julian N., alias "El Roque," who was taken into custody on Feb. 28 on a charge of "deprivation of liberty" in connection with the abductions, state officials said.

Report: Migrants killed, buried by rival drug cartels

A report by El Heraldo de Juárez, citing internal documents from the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office, alleges the migrants were possibly killed by the Sinaloa drug cartel and then buried in a clandestine grave by the rival Juárez cartel in an effort to hide the massacre and keep the heat off the region.

The migrants may have been killed because a "pollero," or human smuggler, was trying to avoid paying the "derecho de piso," a toll or tax, for transporting contraband through a territory, El Heraldo reported.

Sinaloa cartel members allegedly intercepted and killed the migrants, who were wearing camouflage, mistaking them for rival members of La Linea, also known as the Juárez cartel, the newspaper reported.

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Juárez cartel members discovered the massacre and decided to bury the bodies in a hidden grave to keep the murders a secret and keep law enforcement pressure away from that part of the Chihuahua-Texas border, El Heraldo reported.

Agents with the Chihuahua State Investigations Agency search the vast desert in the Coyame del Sotol region for a group of missing migrants in December 2022. A mass grave with at least 11 bodies was discovered last week near El Mimbre, Chihuahua.
Agents with the Chihuahua State Investigations Agency search the vast desert in the Coyame del Sotol region for a group of missing migrants in December 2022. A mass grave with at least 11 bodies was discovered last week near El Mimbre, Chihuahua.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Mass grave may hold migrants killed by drug cartel near Texas border