Five tortured and bound bodies found in a river on the Guatemalan border

TUXTLA GUTIÉRREZ, Chis. (apro).- Five bodies bearing signs of torture and being tied up have been found in recent weeks in the waters of the Cahoacán River, located between the municipalities of Suchiate and Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala, reported prosecutor Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca.

"We've had many days of no deaths in this region, but this past month we had the discovery of five bodies in this river," the prosecutor said after announcing, along with Security Secretary Oscar Aparicio Avendaño, a broad deployment in the area by the Secretariat of Public Security and the Attorney General's Office, in coordination with the Mexican Army, the Navy, and the National Guard.

Llaven Abarca said the last body found "had a seven- to ten-day window of death, and its hands were tied with a thread used here in banana-growing areas, so it's symptomatic."

The prosecutor and the security secretary toured the waters of the Cahoacán River aboard a boat; Llaven Abarca confirmed that they will investigate these five homicides and asserted that the prosecutor's office under his charge is already making progress in the investigation.

Officials from the Attorney General's Office stated that the five bodies have been found in the last two months and have not been identified. They believe they are Guatemalan citizens. "They all come from Guatemala, but the currents are bringing them to the Mexican side."

While the prosecutor mentions a total of five bodies, he does not specify a single date for all the discoveries, but rather refers to them being found "during this month." Some local press reports mention specific dates for body discoveries in the border area.

• June 24, 2025: The discovery of a body in an advanced state of decomposition, bound at the hands, was reported in the Cahoacán River, between Suchiate and Tapachula. Authorities indicated that this case brought the total to two bodies found in recent hours.
• June 23, 2025; another rotting body was found near the Cahoacán River near the La Gloria ranch in Tapachula.
• July 11, 2025; several publications confirm the investigation by the Chiapas Attorney General's Office into the discovery of five bodies with signs of torture in the Cahoacán River this month.

On July 5, the Guatemalan government announced that, in coordination with the United States, it would strengthen security along the border with Mexico. The agreement includes the creation of a joint binational security group, which will operate in the border departments of Petén, Quiché, Huehuetenango, and San Marcos.

The goal is to combat drug trafficking, human trafficking, and gangs.