TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — Mexican state police killed four gunmen near the border with Guatemala, then drove more suspects into the country with three armored police vehicles, where they engaged in a shootout on the streets of the border town. Authorities from both countries said they were investigating on Monday.
A rare case of Mexican law enforcement crossing the border into Guatemala on Sunday in Lamesila was captured by onlookers in a widely circulated video online. When the border passes short distances in the background, you can carry a ballistic vest armed man and a rifle.
Suddenly, another such vehicle scatters armed men and speeds up from behind across the border. The first vehicle returns to Mexico and enters from a side road where a third armored police vehicle slams a civilian vehicle into the side of another armored police truck. The shooting explodes when a police truck or civilian vehicle strikes a bullet.
Meanwhile, a Guatemalan military truck with soldiers in its turret sits in the middle of a melee.
It was the latest blaze of violence along parts of the border as a battle between rival Mexican drug cartels and local affiliates for the management of valuable smuggling routes for immigration, guns and drugs.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that when asked about the event it appears to indicate all that Mexican authorities entered Guatemala on Monday.
“They’re investigating it and it’s not alright what happened,” she said.
Chiapas State Gov. Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar criticized his proposal to be the Guatemalan authorities protecting members of organized crime. His security chief, Oscar Aparicio Avendaño, told The Associated Press on Monday that police used drones to detect an armed man crossing the border into Mexico.
Police intercepted them and killed four people, including the leader of a local gang.
“They try to cross (back to Guatemala) to avoid justice, and that’s why we intercept them and there’s a shooting,” Ramirez said. The police involved are part of the state police known as Pacares, which is also accused of fraud.
Crossing the Guatemala border, authorities were cautious about their initial response.
Guatemala Vice President Karin Herrera said on Monday that the Guatemala government was talking to Mexican authorities about what happened, but “but there’s a lot to be confirmed.”
Guatemala Defense Minister Henry Saenz said none of the Guatemalan soldiers in Lamesila had fired weapons and were under investigation.
The spread of the border between Mexico and Gatemala has seen continued violence in the last two years as new generations of cartels in Sinaloa and Jalisco fight for control.
Last year, violence drove hundreds of Mexican residents and fled to Guatemala for safety. At other moments, the town has seen their power cuts and cartel convoys parade through the community.
Sunday’s shootout occurred in a narrow street lined with businesses. Opening a fire with a machine gun attached to a Guatemala military truck within such range or against Mexican police could have aggravated the situation.
For Guatemalan security analyst and lawyer, Arquel Benitez, the problem is that what you see in the circulating video is passivity by Guatemalan police and soldiers at best, and in the worst case, they face something obvious threat to Guatemalan citizens.
“It’s not whether they followed protocols or not, it’s a suspicion that will be created by the confluence of circumstances in which (Guatemala) police are not there to fight off border invasions,” he said. “The video shows the police seemingly support these armed suspects.”
___ Associated Press author Sara Melini of Guatemala and Fabiola Sánchez of Mexico City contributed to this report.
___ Follow the Associated Press on Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
