Several dozen Haitian and Cuban migrants bound for the US border, including 14 children, were abandoned Sunday along a Guatemala roadside by people who transported them in Uber vehicles, police said.
The roughly 75 undocumented migrants, who entered Guatemala intending to travel into Mexico and make their way north to the United States, were found on a highway in the eastern municipality of Huité, according to the National Civil Police (PNC).
"These people were transported using the Uber public ride service and were abandoned," the PNC said in a statement, adding that about 20 vehicles were used in the process.
Central America is in the heart of a swelling immigration crisis that has seen tens of thousands of people, mainly Haitians, embark on a dangerous journey to reach the United States in search of better opportunities.
On Friday, the Panamanian prosecutor's office reported the discovery of the bodies of 10 people, including two children, presumably Haitian migrants who died crossing the Darien jungle from Colombia on foot.
By early this past week, a total of 30,000 migrants, mostly Haitians, had arrived since September 9 in the small Texas border town of Del Rio, where they camped in punishing heat after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico, US authorities said.
Some 12,500 Haitian migrants were released on US soil, and nearly 5,000 remain in detention after crossing the border seeking asylum.
Two thousand more have been deported by plane to Haiti, and 8,000 voluntarily returned to Mexico.