Guatemala jungle brings new dangers on trek to U.S.

By Daniel LeClair

EL NARANJO, Guatemala (Reuters) - Tighter border security and a broken-down rail line on Mexico's southern frontier are prompting thousands of U.S.-bound illegal immigrants to head north through thick jungles controlled by violent drug gangs.

Packed into trucks, hundreds of migrants move from northern Guatemala every day, braving heat exhaustion, kidnapping gangs and corrupt, violent cops in the hope of eventually finding work in the United States.

The perilous crossing around the tiny Guatemalan town of El Naranjo has been favoured since 2005's Hurricane Stan knocked out a stretch of railroad where migrants used to jump onto freight trains and ride them through Mexico toward the United States.

Now, they travel a longer route through Guatemala's Peten jungle, where heavily armed drug smugglers seek to steal the little money they have.

"It is much more violent now. There are more weapons, there is more drug trafficking and the risks to migrants are increasing," said priest Ademar Barilli, who runs a shelter from migrants in the Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman.

Drug gangs, which have long trafficked cocaine through the same jungle area, are muscling into the human smuggling business. They charge fees for passage or run kidnapping rings to extort money from migrants' families.

"We were robbed ... I don't know where the rest of the people I was travelling with are. I've missed the train three times. I'm going back to Honduras, I'm going home," said Hector, a 28-year-old Honduran stranded in Tenosique, Mexico.

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