The governments of the United States, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras announced this Wednesday the creation of a working group to combat human trafficking, an initiative that has emerged after the death of 51 immigrants crammed into a truck in San Antonio (Texas).
The creation of the group was agreed upon during a meeting held by authorities from the four countries on Tuesday at the Mexican embassy in Washington, they reported in a joint statement.
At the meeting, the United States, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras agreed to "establish an Immediate Action Group to exchange information and work in a coordinated manner to dismantle human trafficking networks."
The foreign ministers of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard; from Guatemala, Mario Búcaro, and from Honduras, Eduardo Enrique Reina, with the Secretary of National Security of the United States, Alejandro Mayorkas.
In addition, the four countries promised to "work together" to "support the injured people and the families of the victims" of the San Antonio tragedy.
Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras also offered their "cooperation" to the United States "to bring those responsible to justice."
At the meeting at the Mexican embassy were the interim undersecretary for Border Policy of the United States, Blas Núñez-Neto; the Foreign Minister of Guatemala, Mario Búcaro, and the Guatemalan Ambassador to the United States, Alfonso Quiñones.
Also the Mexican ambassador in the country, Esteban Moctezuma; the head of North America of the Mexican Foreign Ministry, Roberto Velasco; the attaché of the Attorney General of Mexico, Jesús Tamayo, and the charge d'affaires of the Honduran embassy, Bu Soto.
The San Antonio discovery is not the first major piece of evidence in the last year of human trafficking in Latin America. In December of last year, 55 migrants, mostly Guatemalans, died when the truck they were packed in crashed in Chiapas, southeastern Mexico, heading for US territory.
After that accident, the governments of the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic announced the creation of an Immediate Action Group (AI) to persecute trafficking networks.
