Mexico Forms a Multinational Group to Combat Human Trafficking

Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced an international action group to combat human trafficking networks. The announcement comes as part of the investigation on the recent tragedy in Chiapas where 55 migrants died after a truck had crashed on the highway.

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Having the support of Guatemala, Ecuador, the U.S., Honduras, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic governments, this group is open to all countries in the region. 

Ebrard said that each country would assume the investigation in its territory. A mechanism would also be established to exchange information in a fluid and direct manner. 

He reiterated that it is unacceptable that human trafficking networks continue to be responsible for the terrible loss of human lives.

Guatemala's Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo supported a tightening on penalties for human trafficking. He invited North American countries to hold a high-level meeting to harmonize migration policies.

On Thursday, a truck accident on the Chiapa de Corzo-Tuxtla Gutierrez highway took the lives of 55 migrants and left more than a hundred injured.

"It has not been possible to address the causes of the migratory phenomenon...These misfortunes and pain have to serve to raise awareness and address the underlying problems," Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) said.