Mexico Migrant Train ‘La Bestia’ Derailing Linked To Stolen Railroad Spikes

A day after "La Bestia", a cargo train known as a popular but notoriously perilous free ride for Central American migrants seeking passage into Mexico and the United States derailed, killing six Hondurans who were riding on top, authorities in Tabasco state are pointing to theft as the reason for the accident. Audomaro Martínez Zapata, public security minister in the Mexican state of Tabasco, where the accident occurred, told the BBC on Monday that the infrastructure of the railroad line had been "sacked" by thieves who stole spikes and steel plates. Mexico's Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the incident in conjunction with the Secretariat of Communication and Transportation.

Workers from the railway firm Ferrocarril del Istmo told El Universal that the accident was caused by two things: the theft of the steel plates which affix the ties to the rails as well as the softening of the earth by recent heavy rainfall. In an interview with Milenio, Martínez Zapata confirmed that the rainfall had played a part but pointed to the theft as the true culprit. "The earth softened up, certainly, but the accident happened because some of the brake shoes on the rail were missing," he said, adding that eight of the train's 12 cars had gone off the rails.

According to Milenio, robberies of steel railway parts have been reported in Tabasco in recent months. Stolen parts are said to fetch a high price on the black market throughout Mexico, where the last derailing occurred on March 22 on a southeastern stretch of railway running from Mérida to Coatzacoalcos. A physical inspection of that stretch found it riddled with areas where tracks had been dismantled by thieves. "La Bestia" runs from the border with Guatemala along the Gulf coast and into the center of Mexico. In this case, it was hauling eight cars' worth of scrap metal.

Thousands of migrants from Central American countries like Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador ride La Bestia ("The Beast") into Mexico every year, typically en route into the United States. But in addition to the risk that the train might derail or that the riders could fall from atop the cars, migrants are also a frequent target for drug cartels which rob, rape and sometimes force riders to work for them - typically as drug mules. The migrants atop La Bestia on Sunday, numbering at least 250, were from Honduras. According to the Associated Press, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo set up a call center for families to learn information about their loved ones in response to the accident, and a list of Hondurans ranging from 19 to 54 years old who have been hospitalized was released by Mexico's Interior Department.

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