Minors found in Mexico truck returned to Guatemala

37 girls and 67 boys and teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 found in a truck in Mexico who had left Guatemala intending to migrate to the United States were returned to Guatemala on Wednesday.

Most of the children were from Alta Verapaz and Quiché, two departments in the west of the country with high rates of poverty, malnutrition and migration. Mexico's immigration authorities located the driverless truck Sunday on the Cosamaloapan-La Tinaja highway in the southeastern state of Veracruz, where more than 300 migrants, mostly Guatemalans but also from Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador, were found in the double-decker vehicle with fans fixed to the underside and grills on the roof.

When authorities found the migrants, they "were wearing colored bracelets as a means of identification," according to Mexican officials. Migrants, especially from Central America, are often transported in trucks to cross Mexico illegally to reach the United States.