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GUATEMALA CITY/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - More than 500 people in southern Mexico have fled to neighboring Guatemala this week amid armed clashes between criminal groups fighting over drug trafficking routes and other crimes, authorities from both nations said on Thursday.
The displacements began this week, according to reports from the Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM), as men, women, children and the elderly sought refugee in the town of Cuilco, bordering the Mexican state of Chiapas.
"These are families who have been forcibly displaced into Guatemala by the violence that plagues the south of the neighboring country," the IGM said in a statement.
Criminal groups have been responsible for at least 19 violent deaths in recent days, it added.
Over the weekend, videos and images began to spread on social media showing residents running to avoid being hit by bullets in regions such as Chicomuselo, in Chiapas.
A source with knowledge of the case, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, said that criminal groups in Mexico linked to criminal organizations in Guatemala are forcibly recruiting youngsters as young as 15 years old into their ranks.
"Many fled to Guatemala, because it is closer, but hundreds more sought refuge in other communities in Chiapas," he added.
Local authorities are coordinating efforts to support affected Mexican families, Guatemala President Bernardo Arevalo said on Wednesday.
A source from Chiapas' security ministry told Reuters that the military was working to stabilize the area. Mexico's defense ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The Chiapas government said later on Thursday that another 107 vulnerable people from the Tzanembolom community were under state protection, without giving further details.
Pedro Faro, coordinator of the advocacy area of the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center in Chiapas, said that from 2023 to last June some 15,780 people have been documented as having been forcibly displaced in the state, mainly by armed violence.
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City and Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City; Editing by Sandra Maler)
