Survivors of the attack say the assailants wanted each migrant to pay a 100 dollar extortion fee for the right to stow away on the cargo train known as “The Beast”. Many who couldn’t pay were thrown from the moving train. Others jumped off to escape. One local report indicated 50 migrants were injured and 17 required hospitalization.

The attack occurred in southern Veracruz, where migrant rights advocates have for years been ringing alarms about organized crime’s takeover of the most trafficked migration routes.

The press office of Veracruz released a statement Wednesday night calling the organized attack a spat between migrants resulting in only minor concussions. Migrant defenders say the statement fits a pattern of official minimization or denial of widespread abuses.

There are a number of things that highway travelers can do to minimize their risk exposure in northern Mexico. The easiest is to carefully choose the time of day when they travel.

Blasita López: “We’ve seen their trend change in the sense that they only travel during the day. So they will not travel the Mexican roadways at night.”

Blasita López directs the tourism bureau in Laredo, Texas. She says that while drug war violence on the Mexican side of the border has hurt recreational tourism, it’s created a surge in hotel occupancy rates when it comes to seasonal travelers on their way into Mexico. Thousands of visitors coming from the U.S. interior use Laredo as an overnight stopping point before heading into Mexico.

Blasita López: “We’ve had overflow areas that we prepare as a city. We know that we’re going to get droves and droves of people. When I say thousands, I don’t exaggerate. We have overflow areas where, when the hotel is full, we know that we need to send them to an area where they can park and sleep overnight in their vehicles. So we have overflow parking areas where they can park and be able to do that. Even if it’s just a few hours of sleep that they get behind their own wheel, we are prepared and we do temporary bathroom stations and things like that.”

On the other side of the border is Nuevo Laredo…and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Some highway sections there have been compared to the Bermuda Triangle in which people have gone missing without a trace. But very little official information about road conditions circulates within Tamaulipas.  Infiltration of government institutions by organized crime is an open secret and the traditional media is often intimidated into silence. So, drivers have learned to rely on the work-arounds that some residents of Tamaulipas have built to disseminate information and keep safe.

(Man gives report via Zello)

Social media, especially Twitter, has played a huge role in getting the word out about security risks…and more recently a program known as Zello, which turns wireless devices into walkie-talkies, has come into use. The radio method is a more effective way for reporting on the road because it doesn’t involve texting while driving.

A Twitter user who goes by the handle @theelteto monitors both networks and distributes relevant alerts from Zello on Twitter. He’s one of the best sources of up-to-date information on the Tamaulipas roadways.

(Teto speaks, reporter interprets)

Teto says travelers coming from Texas should avoid crossing at Miguel Alemán or other small town bridges along what used to be a popular tourist corridor known as the “Frontera Chica”. That area is now patroled by organized crime. Instead, Teto recommends crossing only at the Tamaulipas border’s three busiest urban spots – Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and Matamoros – where bridges are guarded by the military 24 hours a day.

Teto (in Spanish): “The big recommendations are to fill up on gas in a border city or in the U.S. in order to head out with a full tank and not stop, not even to use the restroom. Just leave the state completely in the time between 6am and 5pm because by 6 it’s already getting dark. And in the area around San Fernando, it’s best to drive in front of a bus or an 18 wheeler because they are connected to GPS and information systems and are being monitored.”

These recommendations were unknown to Alberto Rebollo when the travelled through Tamaulipas with his father in December of 2010. They left the border city of Matamoros in the early afternoon and made a stop to eat and go the restroom. When a truck full of menacing criminals showed up, Rebollo and his father ran into a convenience store. What followed was a strange scene with the workers inside.

Alberto Rebollo (in Spanish): “I asked them to call the police and they told me they couldn’t, that there was no phone. So I said, ‘Ok, at least tell me where I am. What’s this place called?’ and they said ‘We don’t know’. At that point I started to get really scared because I thought if these young guys who work and live here can’t even tell me what the place is called, the danger is real, and they’re under threat. Then I looked over to where the food vendors had been just minutes before and saw they had just vanished. They picked up and left in a flash when they saw a problem. I don’t even know how to explain it. Just minutes before there had been people around and suddenly the store was empty, the guys working there were freaked out, the food vendors were gone. It was just me and my father.”

Rebollo called Mexico’s equivalent of 911 on his father’s cell phone and described to the operator where they were. When state police arrived, Rebollo says he had to pay them to provide escort to the nearest city.

That experience helps to explain why many Tamaulipas residents surveyed by this reporter recommend carrying food, water, and – in the case of small children – even a potty for bathroom purposes – all to avoid making any stops along the way. While Mexican authorities have vowed to beef up security along the major highways over the holiday season, it’s probably best to follow that advice – and to monitor conditions via the crowd-sourced, citizen run civil protection network in Tamaulipas.

(This report was produced for the Dec. 21, 2012 edition of “The World”. Original version.)

As part of its investigation, Milenio sent out more than 470 public information requests to government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. It found the unidentified, unclaimed bodies of more than 24 thousand people have been buried in formal mass graves in Mexico over the last six years.

While that’s a staggering figure, it’s far below the real number of John and Jane Does buried nationwide. Six of Mexico’s 31 states did not provide data in response to Milenio’s requests.

Mexico has thousands of cases of missing and disappeared persons and victims’ relatives have become increasingly vocal about what they say is the government’s lack of political will to deal with the issue.

(Audio: Bautista clip in Spanish – reporter interprets)

Angel Bautista, whose brother went missing in 2008, says it is the relatives who often take on the burden of the search by printing and posting flyers, visiting morgues, and by travelling to states where clandestine mass graves have been discovered in order to give DNA samples.

Mexico does not have a central database of missing persons cases, despite a recommendation from United Nations investigators.
While many of the unidentified, unclaimed bodies buried in legal mass graves may belong to missing Mexican nationals, others may have been Central American migrants.

An Argentine forensics team is currently working to identify more than 300 remains – presumably of Central American migrants – buried in a cemetery in the southern border city of Tapachula, Chiapas.

(Transcript of report for CBC Radio’s “World Report” Oct. 31, 2012 broadcast)

For years, the outspoken priest has operated a shelter in Oaxaca, Mexico for mostly Central American migrants on their way north. He’s witnessed an increase in the dangers associated with the trek as organized crime has taken over immigrant smuggling routes and has spoken candidly about corrupt officials who have allowed criminals to develop a presence in the area.

(audio: Alejandro Solalinde speaks in press conference, reporter interprets)

In a Mexico City press conference, Father Solalinde told reporters that the decision to leave the country temporarily came as a result of orders from his superiors in the church as well as from a series of recent death threats. He characterized the situation in Oaxaca as a state of impunity in which criminals and corrupt officials are working together to leave migrants as unprotected as possible.

Father Solalinde’s shelter is located along a key route used by migrants who move via Mexico’s freight train network. He has documented and publicized cases of mass kidnappings of migrants and has worked closely with Central American organizations formed by relatives of persons who have gone missing while crossing Mexican territory.

Father Solalinde says he will use his time abroad to speak publicly about the dangers faced by migrants in Mexico.

[Transcript of headline produced for May 17, 2012 morning broadcast of CBC News "World Report"]

Acayucan is located at a strategic fork in southern Mexico’s highway system. One road connects the Pacific Coast in Oaxaca, the other to the Gulf Coast port of Coatzacoalcos, and another heads north to the border state of Tamaulipas. The town also lies between two important cargo train routes used by mostly Central American migrants on their way to the US.

Father Alejandro Solalinde, a Catholic priest who runs a migrant shelter in Oaxaca, publicly warned about the presence of mass graves in the region more than a year ago. Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission has documented thousands of unsolved cases of migrant kidnappings in southern Vercruz since 2009.

The ten bodies found in Acayucan are reportedly in an advanced state of decomposition and – at least for now – remain unidentified.

The US Consulate in Matamoros has issued a warning to US citizens to use caution when travelling in Veracruz and recommends only traveling during the day. The same bulletin reiterated long-standing advice that U.S. citizens “defer non-essential travel to the state of Tamaulipas”.

Highways in the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and San Luis Potosi have become notoriously dangerous, with criminals taking advantage of the cover of night to hold up passenger buses and private vehicles.

The main highways in northern Veracruz are connected to the port city of Tampico, just across the state line in Tamaulipas. The most dangerous roads in Tamaulipas lead to the border bridges with South Texas.

The bodies of ten murder victims were dumped in the Veracruz town of Tampico Alto this morning. Like the multi-homicide targeting the buses, the specific motive for the violence is unclear, but the perpetrators are assumed to be associated with organized crime operating in the region.

As has been the case with Tamaulipas, much of the violence in Veracruz is occurring under a mantle of fear-induced silence. The press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders this week named Veracruz one of the ten deadliest regions in the world for journalists.

Also this week, 900 police officers in the port city of Veracruz and its nearby suburb of Boca del Rio were dismissed and replaced by soldiers in what authorities describe as an anti-corruption measure.

Papers with names of the murdered and disappeared on a wall in Oaxaca City

Much of the news of Mexico’s Drug War focuses on the shootouts, massacres and abductions which have killed tens of thousands of people in the north. Violence in the south takes on a different form and generally receives less attention.

The southern states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Chiapas share certain characteristics. They are Mexico’s poorest states, are rich in natural resources, have large indigenous populations and long traditions of social movements.

In parts of southern Mexico, the legacy of the decades-long Dirty War against political dissidents has dovetailed with the climate of violence and impunity of the ongoing Drug War.

MICAELA CABAÑAS: “Desde hace mas de 40 años que tenemos en esta lucha…(fade under, reporter interprets)

Such is the case of Micaela Cabañas, who joined the caravan in her home state of Guerrero. Her father, the iconic guerrilla leader and rural teacher, Lucio Cabañas, died during an army siege in the mid ’70s. Her mother and aunt, Isabel and Reyna Anaya, were assassinated just over two months ago while leaving a church. Just hours after the crime, Micaela Cabañas received a death threat from the cell phone that had been stolen from her murdered mother.

MICAELA CABAÑAS (voiceover): “We have to continue the struggle. We have to continue planting seeds – seeds that send down firm roots steeped in education and culture – to continue on this path towards the light.”

A historic grievance in this corner of Mexico has been indigenous control over ancestral territory. Conflicts over land can take many forms; from outright paramilitary displacement campaigns sponsored by powerful regional land bosses…to rifts within a community over religion or politics. Exploitation of inter-communal divisions are sometimes fueled by outside forces.

One of the deadliest recent rural conflicts in Oaxaca occurred last year in the town of San Juan Copala. Armed men forced supporters of

Caravan event in the main plaza of Oaxaca City

a local self-governance model to flee the town after a 10 month long siege. The displaced say their aggressors received resources from what was then the state’s ruling party to keep the town under siege and crush the indigenous autonomy project.

Macario Garcia Merino spoke to the caravan during one of its stops in Oaxaca.

MACARIO GARCIA MERINO (voiceover):“It’s not just the situation in San Juan Copala and it’s not specific to the state of Oaxaca. We’ve come to realize that this situation, this war of extermination, is throughout the entire country. This is why we need all need to band together and walk together to find justice.”

San Juan Copala, like other areas experiencing forced displacements, is believed to contain significant mineral wealth.

(SPEECH/AMBI – Monte Alban ceremony)

The issue of conflict and indigenous control over their mineral-rich lands was acknowledged specifically during a ceremony for caravan participants at the Monte Alban archaeological site.

Amada Puentes, whose son has been missing since he was taken from the streets of Monterrey by policemen more than 2 years ago, said the ceremony for peace had a profound impact.

Banner with written messages next to caravan bus

AMADA PUENTES: “Cuando iniciamos la caravana, yo todavía traía en mi corazón deseos de venganza, ya no tanto de justicia, de venganza. En esta ceremonia creanme que me cambió la manera de pensar “(fade under, reporter interprets)

Puentes says even at the start of the caravan her heart yearned for revenge; not so much for justice any more, but revenge. But she says the ceremony at Monte Alban changed her way of thinking.

PUENTES (voiceover):“I now feel calmer than at the start of this journey. And I know now that it was worth it because I felt connected and I could see that I’m not alone. Even with all the people at the start of this trip, I felt isolated. After such an amazing moment [in the ceremony], my way of thinking and feeling changed. Even though I continue to cry on the inside, I now feel strong. I feel accompanied. And I feel hopeful that I’ll find my son soon.”

From Oaxaca, the caravan continued on to Chiapas, where a delegation met with the indigenous pacifist community Las Abejas and the leadership of a Zapatista base community.

The caravan also focused attention on the relatively under-covered dangers faced by undocumented migrants and their advocates in southern Mexico.

Sunday night, the bus loads of drug war victims, human rights activists, observers and journalists received a welcome by thousands ofpeople in Xalapa, the state capital of Veracruz – a city which has recently begun to experience the shoot outs and spike in missing persons cases that have plagued the north.

(Julian LeBaron tape – fade under, reporter interprets)

In Xalapa’s main plaza, Julian LeBaron, a home builder who has lost a brother and a brother in law to the violence in his home state of Chihuahua, told the crowds of people who have lost loved ones that the house that is best protected isn’t the one with the most police guarding it, but rather the one with the most organized residents.

(Julian LeBaron continues, reporter interprets)

LeBaron said that while he is a victim of crime, members of the the movement need to stop viewing themselves as victims and become the agents of the change they want to see.

 (This report was produced for the September 19, 2011 broadcast of Free Speech Radio News. The audio is downloadable here.)

Earlier this summer, Sicilia led a caravan through northern Mexico to bring attention to the on-the-ground situation in the states hardest hit by “narco-killings”. The southbound caravan will visit Mexico’s poorest states, which are home to large indigenous populations and significant expanses of natural wealth.

The drug war in southern Mexico takes on a different form from the large-scale shoot outs and massacres that have made civilian life difficult in the northern states. The shared border with Guatemala has become a hot spot for the shipment of drugs stored in Central America. Years ago, organized criminals muscled into the smuggling, trafficking and kidnapping of migrants who cross Mexico without visas on their way to the border with the United States.

The caravan is likely to focus public attention on the more hidden aspects of violence and impunity in the southern states; the displacement of indigenous communities, land grabs in resource-rich areas, rural para-militarism and politically-motivated attacks targeted at indigenous autonomy and social movements.

The caravan passed through Morelos today and will visit Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Veracruz and Puebla over the coming days before returning to Mexico City on September 19th.

The "Brothers on the Road" shelter in Ciudad Ixtepec, Oaxaca

[Transcript and audio of a report produced for The World]

ANCHOR: Many undocumented migrants from Central America travel through Mexico on their way to the United States. It’s a perilous journey. The migrants face lots of dangers, from exposure to the elements to murder. And now Mexico’s drug cartels have gotten involved. They control the smuggling routes for profit and they often kidnap the migrants and force them into work. About the only protection migrants can count on is that offered by shelters. The shelters offer services such as free meals and a safe place to sleep, but these shelters themselves have become targets. Shannon Young reports.

REPORTER: A recent incident in the southern Mexican city of Tenosique illustrates just how brazen criminals have become in targeting migrant shelters. A staffer at the “La 72″ shelter received an anonymous tip that the shelter would be the target of a mass kidnapping. And indeed, in the early hours of July 6th, men pulled up to the shelter in three vehicles and tried to force their way in. Migrants fled over the back wall.

The incident occured shortly after the shelter’s coordinator, Friar Tomas González and other religious figures, had met with the top United Nations human rights official – precisely to speak about the dangers facing migrants and those who defend them.

(Friar González speaks, reporter interprets)

Friar González says in addition to providing food and water, the shelters also document human rights violations suffered by migrants. That

invites intimidation or retribution from those who abuse the migrants, which González says includes both immigration authorities and organized criminals.

“La 72″ in Tenosique isn’t the only shelter that’s been targeted. Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission recently documented threats or security breeches at five other facilities. Among them is the “Casa Belén” shelter in the northern city of Saltillo, which was granted a protection order last year from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Casa Belén coordinator, Father Pedro Pantoja says the government has stood idly by as the attacks have intensified.

PEDRO PANTOJA (voiceover): “Organized criminals have come inside our migrant shelter. Despite the protection order, there were no police patrol cars outside. We see that not only as incompetence, but disdain. The authorities couldn’t care less about the disaster, the cruelty to which these people are subjected. They are completely invisible as victims. Even more invisible are those who victimize. And in all of this, there’s not only silence, but also zero action and a total lack of respect for the lives of these people.”

Two European volunteers had to abandon the Saltillo shelter last month after an act of intimidation by men who identified themselves as members of the Zetas cartel. A shelter in the border city of Nuevo Laredo closed its doors in late June citing threats and a lack of security guarantees.

The rails where migrants wait to catch a freight train

(Roll Solalinde tape – reporter interprets)

Father Alejandro Solalinde – who runs a shelter in Ciudad Ixtepec, Oaxaca – says profit is the motive behind many of the attacks against the shelters. He says the drug cartels would love to see the shelters disappear because they hinder the criminals’ ability to make money by controlling the migrant routes. The most notorious hallmark of this cartel expansion is the mass kidnapping of migrants.

Mexico’s Human Rights Commission says more than 20 thousand migrants are kidnapped each year in Mexico, generating upwards of 50 million dollars in ransom revenues. Father Solalinde has himself received multiple threats, but seems unfazed in his work.

(roll Solalinde tape, reporter interprets)

He says despite the dangers, his life is in God’s hands. He adds that’s he’s well aware that he can be killed at any moment, but that the work will go on with or without him because it’s part of God’s plan – a plan he’s willing to carry out whatever the consequence.

In a country where dozens of human rights activists have been killed over the last five years, it takes a special kind of conviction to continue the dangerous work of protecting migrants, one of the most vulnerable – and transitory – groups in Mexico.

Migrants riding a cargo train in Mexico (credit: Hermanos en el Camino shelter)

Armed men kidnapped what witness say were at least 60 migrants who were travelling on top if a cargo train through southern Mexico. The incident occurred Friday just before the train rolled into the station at Medias Aguas, Veracruz.

Migrants who escaped the kidnapping attempt told staff at the Brothers on the Road migrant shelter that the conductor stopped the train in an area where armed men were waiting with three Suburban style vehicles. The armed men ordered the migrants to get off of the train and get into the vehicles. Many ran into the surrounding countryside and hid. They eventually made their way back to the shelter in Oaxaca to report the incident.

A statement issued Sunday by the Brothers on the Road shelter said it was the first case of a mass kidnapping they’ve registered in months. The shelter also documented a mass kidnapping in December near the town of Chahuites, Oaxaca. Alejandro Solalinde, the priest who founded the shelter organized a caravan in January to call attention to the dangers migrants face on their trek through Mexico.

Organized crime groups who control the flow of drug through Mexico started kidnapping migrants for ransom a few years ago. Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission estimates at least 20 thousand migrants are kidnapped within Mexico each year.