On Sunday, a new wave of hundreds of migrants heading toward the U.S. attempted to force their way over Mexico’s southern border. Violence erupted, leaving one of the migrants dead after what the group says was a rubber bullet fired by Mexican federal police struck him in the head. Mexican authorities, however, deny that their security forces are to blame.
The incident took place at the border near Tecun Uman, where the group of migrants “broke through border barriers,” as another group had done last week. The situation quickly devolved into violence.
Raul Medina Melendez, security chief for the tiny municipality in Oaxaca state, said the town was distributing sandwiches and water to migrants camped in the central square Saturday night when a man with a megaphone asked people to wait their turn.
Some hurled insults at the man with the megaphone, then they attacked him, Medina said. Police rescued the man as he was being beaten and took him to a hospital for treatment, though his condition was not immediately clear.
The caravan is heading for Niltepec (33 miles northwest) on Monday and still has about 1,000 miles to go before it reaches the U.S. southern border.
As the group broke through the border at Tecun Uman, another wave of some 300 Salvadorans also began moving toward the U.S. on Sunday.
