Guatemalan town struggles to recover after border shootout

LA MESILLA, Guatemala (AP) — Nearly two months after Mexican police crossed the border into this Guatemalan town in pursuit of alleged criminals, La Mesilla hasn’t fully recovered.

Like many remote border towns, it lives from commerce — legal and illegal — but locals say things still haven’t returned to normal since Mexican state police drove armored vehicles into the downtown and engaged in a daytime shootout in June.

On Wednesday, more than 600 Guatemalan police and soldiers carried out nearly two dozen raids in the surrounding areas, but managed to seize only two guns without making an arrest, according to the Interior Ministry.

A criminal organization tied to Mexico’s powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel controls the area, making locals reluctant to talk.

A man who sells clothing in La Mesilla said that when he saw the shootout, he used the border much like the criminals do.

“I ran, left everything; it didn’t matter, I ran to the Mexican side,” he said. “We were afraid. When we saw that everything was alright, we returned, we grabbed everything and left.”

That’s similar to what led to the shootout on La Mesilla’s main drag steps from the border. Mexican police chased suspects they had engaged with in Mexico who fled into Guatemala.

“People want to forget what happened, but there’s still fear,” the young man said.

The incident was similar to another border escape a year earlier when hundreds of Mexican citizens fled into Guatemala to escape the violence sparked by the competition to control border crossings between the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels. Some of those Mexicans spent months in Guatemala as refugees.

The cartels want to control the crossing of drugs, migrants and guns.

Another vendor said sales still hadn’t returned to normal. “That Sunday (of the shootout) was the market day, there were a lot of people,” he said. “Today we feel safer because there are more police, but sales haven’t recovered.”

The organization that authorities targeted Wednesday had been led by a father-son duo, who were both killed previously in a clash with Mexican police.

Guatemala’s Interior Ministry said Wednesday’s operation was carried out in coordination with Mexico to attempt to keep the targets from escaping across the border. It was unknown where they had gone.

Lusvin López, chief of the National Civil Police antidrug unit, said Wednesday’s operation was in response the shootout in June. The United States government also provided support, according to the Interior Ministry, which didn’t provide details.

Students on their school's balcony watch a police convoy conducting an operation against alleged drug traffickers in La Mesilla, Guatemala, near the border with Mexico, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

An army armored vehicle sits parked at the border crossing between Guatemala and Mexico as authorities take part in an operation against alleged drug traffickers in La Mesilla, Guatemala, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Soldiers gather after their operation against alleged drug traffickers in La Mesilla, Guatemala, near the border with Mexico, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Police take part in an operation against alleged drug traffickers in La Mesilla, Guatemala, near the border with Mexico, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Soldiers patrol during an operation against alleged drug traffickers in La Mesilla, Guatemala, on the border with Mexico, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote Thursday on social media, “Motor Tanker Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

A social media post from U.S. Southern Command on the capture said that Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to make the capture while Noem’s post noted that, like in previous raids, a U.S. Coast Guard tactical team conducted the boarding and seizure.

Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.

The Veronica is the sixth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products, and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

Noem, in her social media post, said that the raid was carried out with “close coordination with our colleagues” in the military as well as the State and Justice departments.

“Our heroic Coast Guard men and women once again ensured a flawlessly executed operation, in accordance with international law,” Noem added.

As with prior posts, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see it as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Last week, Trump met with executives from oil companies to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)