Mexican police kill 4 gunmen, cross into Guatemala in dramatic border
shootout
[June 10, 2025]
By EDGAR H. CLEMENTE
TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — Mexican state police killed four gunmen near
the border with Guatemala, then pursued more suspects into that country
in three armored police vehicles, where they engaged in a shootout in
the streets of a border town. Authorities in both countries said Monday
they were investigating.
The rare case of Mexican law enforcement crossing the border into
Guatemala on Sunday in La Mesilla was captured by onlookers in videos
widely circulated online. With the border crossing a short distance in
the background, armed men in ballistic vests and carrying rifles can be
seen shouting at the open driver side door of a Chiapas state police
armored vehicle.
Suddenly, another such vehicle comes speeding through the border
crossing from behind, scattering the armed men. The initial vehicle
reverses back toward Mexico and a third armored police vehicle enters
from a side street slamming a civilian vehicle into the side of the
other armored police truck. Gunfire erupts with the police trucks and
civilian vehicles getting hit by bullets.
All the while, a Guatemalan military truck with a soldier in the turret,
sits in the middle of the melee.
It was the latest flare-up of violence along a section of the border
that has become a flashpoint as rival Mexican drug cartels and their
local affiliates battle for control of valuable smuggling routes for
migrants, guns and drugs.
Asked about the events, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday
that everything appeared to show that Mexican authorities entered
Guatemala.
“They are investigating it and it is not all right that has happened,”
she said.
Chiapas state Gov. Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar criticized what he suggested
were Guatemalan authorities protecting members of organized crime. His
security chief, Oscar Aparicio Avendaño, told The Associated Press on
Monday that police had used a drone to detect armed men crossing the
border into Mexico.
Police intercepted them, killing four, including a local gang leader.
“They try to cross (back to Guatemala) to evade justice and that’s where
we intercept them and there’s the shooting,” Ramírez said. The police
involved were part of a state police force called the Pakales, which
have also been accused of wrongdoing.
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Across the border in Guatemala, authorities were cautious in their
initial response.
Guatemala Vice President Karin Herrera said Monday that the Guatemalan
government was talking to Mexican authorities about what happened, “but
there are many things that must be confirmed.”
Guatemala Defense Minister Henry Sáenz said none of the Guatemalan
soldiers present in La Mesilla fired their weapons and that it remained
under investigation.
The stretch of the Mexico-Guatemala border has seen near continuous
violence in the past two years as the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation
cartels battle for control.
Last year, the violence spurred hundreds of Mexican residents to flee
into Guatemala for safety. At other moments, towns have seen their power
cut and cartel convoys parade through their communities.
Sunday's shootout was occurring on a narrow street lined with
businesses. Opening fire with the machine gun mounted on the Guatemalan
military truck in such confines or against Mexican police could have
also exacerbated the situation.
For Arkel Benitez, a Guatemalan security analyst and lawyer, the problem
is that what’s visible in the videos circulating is, at best, passivity
by Guatemalan police and soldiers and, at worst, collusion in the face
of something that was an obvious threat to Guatemalan citizens.
“It’s not about whether they followed protocol or not, it’s more the
doubt generated by a confluence of circumstances that gives the
appearance of the (Guatemalan) police not being there to repel a border
incursion,” he said. “In the videos it appears the police are supporting
these armed suspects.”
___
Associated Press writers Sara Melini in Guatemala City and Fabiola
Sánchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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