Guatemalan town struggles to recover after border shootout

LA MESILLA, Guatemala (AP) — Nearly two months after Mexican police crossed the border into this Guatemalan town in pursuit of alleged criminals, La Mesilla hasn’t fully recovered.

Like many remote border towns, it lives from commerce — legal and illegal — but locals say things still haven’t returned to normal since Mexican state police drove armored vehicles into the downtown and engaged in a daytime shootout in June.

On Wednesday, more than 600 Guatemalan police and soldiers carried out nearly two dozen raids in the surrounding areas, but managed to seize only two guns without making an arrest, according to the Interior Ministry.

A criminal organization tied to Mexico’s powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel controls the area, making locals reluctant to talk.

A man who sells clothing in La Mesilla said that when he saw the shootout, he used the border much like the criminals do.

“I ran, left everything; it didn’t matter, I ran to the Mexican side,” he said. “We were afraid. When we saw that everything was alright, we returned, we grabbed everything and left.”

That’s similar to what led to the shootout on La Mesilla’s main drag steps from the border. Mexican police chased suspects they had engaged with in Mexico who fled into Guatemala.

“People want to forget what happened, but there’s still fear,” the young man said.

The incident was similar to another border escape a year earlier when hundreds of Mexican citizens fled into Guatemala to escape the violence sparked by the competition to control border crossings between the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels. Some of those Mexicans spent months in Guatemala as refugees.

The cartels want to control the crossing of drugs, migrants and guns.

Another vendor said sales still hadn’t returned to normal. “That Sunday (of the shootout) was the market day, there were a lot of people,” he said. “Today we feel safer because there are more police, but sales haven’t recovered.”

The organization that authorities targeted Wednesday had been led by a father-son duo, who were both killed previously in a clash with Mexican police.

Guatemala’s Interior Ministry said Wednesday’s operation was carried out in coordination with Mexico to attempt to keep the targets from escaping across the border. It was unknown where they had gone.

Lusvin López, chief of the National Civil Police antidrug unit, said Wednesday’s operation was in response the shootout in June. The United States government also provided support, according to the Interior Ministry, which didn’t provide details.