Twelve police officers arrested in Mexico on suspicion of murder

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In the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, a dozen police officers face suspicions of murder, abuse of power and false testimony.

The attorney general of Tamaulipas, Irving Barrios, announced this on Tuesday (local time) at a press conference.

19 bodies were discovered on January 22nd in a burned-out pickup truck along with other burned cars in the village of Santa Anita in northeast Mexico.

According to media reports, the people were shot dead.

Among them were, according to Barrios, migrants from Guatemala.

According to the reports, almost all of the victims were Guatemalans who - like tens of thousands of Central Americans every month - fled poverty and violence in their homeland and were looking for a better life in the United States.

One of the four dead so far identified was a Mexican migrant smuggler, according to Barrios.

The possible involvement of other police officers and criminal groups smuggling Central American migrants into the United States and fighting for control of the region is still being investigated, Barrios said.

82,000 people disappeared under unexplained circumstances

The extent of daily violence in Mexico has been immense since the so-called drug war broke out in late 2006.

Currently, almost 100 murders per day are registered in the country with almost 130 million inhabitants - in Germany there were a total of 245 in 2019. In addition, more than 82,000 people disappeared under unexplained circumstances.

The bloodshed is largely the result of cartels and gangs that are involved in drug smuggling into neighboring USA, but also make money through kidnapping and extortion.

They often have connections with security forces.

Only about three percent of the crimes reported in Mexico are solved according to figures from the think tank IEP.

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ala / dpa