Guatemalan families: Victims of massacre mostly migrants

GUATEMALA CITY — Relatives of migrants from Guatemala said Monday they believe that 13 of the 19 charred corpses found in a northern Mexico border state could be their loved ones and the country’s Foreign Ministry said it was collecting DNA samples from a dozen relatives to see if there was a match with any of the bodies.

If true, the killings would revive memories of the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants in the same gang-ridden state of Tamaulipas.

Ramiro Coronado said he had a relative among a group of 13 migrants who left the province of San Marcos and were traveling together before family members lost contact with them on Thursday.

On Saturday, authorities in Tamaulipas found 19 shot and burned bodies near a town across the Rio Grande from Texas.

Mexican authorities said they are not sure the bodies are those of migrants.

Camargo, the area where the bodies were found, has long been the scene of turf battles between rival drug gangs, and authorities said three rifles were found in the pickup truck where the bodies were piled.

Coronado said his nephew, Adan Coronado, 31, had left for the United States along with other migrants in the San Marcos group about two weeks ago.