Migrants shot by drugs gang for refusing to become hitmen, survivor claims

MEXICAN authorities yesterday began identifying 72 suspected migrants believed murdered for refusing to become hitmen for a drug cartel.

Mexican officials hoped to send consular agents from Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and Honduras to the ranch where Mexican marines found the bodies of 58 men and 14 women after a clash with a suspected drug cartel near the border with the US state of Texas.

Marines said they took fire as they approached the ranch with ground and air support. They captured one “underage suspect,” but the rest of the surviving gunmen escaped.