Police Rescue 87 CentAm Migrants from Mexican jungle EFE
go to original April 24, 2012

The migrants were found Monday in Los Tuxtlas, a jungle area some 520 kilometers (323 miles) southeast of Mexico City. (EFE)

VERACRUZ, Mexico - Police rescued 87 Central American migrants who were wandering through a jungle area in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, where they had been abandoned by people traffickers, officials said.

The migrants - 85 Guatemalans and two Salvadorans - were found Monday in Los Tuxtlas, a jungle area some 520 kilometers (323 miles) southeast of Mexico City.

Two migrants were spotted walking on the Santiago Tuxtla-Angel R. Cabada federal highway in southern Veracruz, police and city officials said.

The migrants told police that the driver of a tractor-trailer taking them to the U.S. border had abandoned them in Samaria, a community in Santiago Tuxtla.

Information provided by the two migrants allowed police to find the rest of the group, officials said.

The area where the migrants were abandoned is one of the only two remaining stands of virgin jungle in North America, covering a total of 115,000 hectares (283,950 acres).

The migrants were provided with food and water by the government of Veracruz, which later turned them over to immigration officials.

National Migration Institute, or INM, personnel transferred the Central Americans to the Acayucan immigration station in southern Veracruz.

The INM will determine the Central Americans' status and probably deport them, officials said.

A total of 46,716 Central Americans were deported from Mexico between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, 2011, the INM said in a report released earlier this year.

The majority of the migrants - 41,215 - were men and nearly half, some 23,560, were from Guatemala, the INM said.

An estimated 300,000 Central Americans undertake the hazardous journey across Mexico each year on their way to the United States.

The trek is a dangerous one, with criminals and corrupt Mexican officials preying on the migrants.

Gangs kidnap, exploit and murder migrants, who are often targeted in extortion schemes, Mexican officials say.

Central American migrants follow a long route that first takes them into Chiapas state, which is on the border with Guatemala, walking part of the way or riding aboard freight trains, buses and cargo trucks.

The flow of migrants has increased markedly in the northern and northeastern parts of Mexico since U.S. officials increased security along the border in the northwestern part of the country.

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