Guatemalan authorities honor the memory of Guatemalan nationals killed in Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, prior to repatriation. | Photo: @MinexGt

Guatemala City, March 12 (RHC)-- Family and friends of the 16 Guatemalan migrants who were burned to death in Tamaulipas, Mexico, received the mortal remains of their loved ones on Friday.   The repatriation of the bodies was agreed upon by the governments of Mexico and Guatemala after finishing the identification process of the victims, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Central American country.

The Foreign Ministry indicated that the flight with the remains of the 16 Guatemalan migrants, murdered and burned in Mexico, arrived in the Guatemalan capital early Friday morning.

Upon arrival, the 16 bodies were placed in a funeral chapel before being handed over to their families in an official ceremony, and then transferred to the town of Comitancillo, in the department of San Marcos, the hometown of most of the murdered migrants.

The victims were trying to reach the United States to escape malnutrition and extreme poverty in the Central American country.

The murder of the 16 Guatemalans occurred on January 22, when residents of the municipality of Camargo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas alerted Mexican authorities to the existence of two burned vehicles with 19 bodies inside.