Increase in kidnappings and extreme violence against migrants on the southern border of Mexico

Teams working in Tenosique for the international medical humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are reporting an increase in kidnappings and an escalation of violence faced by migrants and refugees on Mexico’s southern border.

In testimonies collected in recent weeks by MSF staff providing medical and psychological care to migrants travelling through southeastern Mexico, patients speak of abductions, torture, extreme violence, cruel treatment, and sexual assault for extortion purposes, to which these people are being exposed to as soon as they cross the border from Guatemala on their way towards Tenosique.