2 kidnapped Americans discovered lifeless in Mexico; 2 others alive
Two of 4 U.S. residents kidnapped at gunpoint final week within the northern border metropolis of Matamoros have been discovered lifeless and two others are alive, with one wounded, Mexican authorities mentioned Tuesday.
“Of the four, two of them are dead, one person injured and the other alive,” Gov. Américo Villareal of northern Tamaulipas state mentioned by cellphone in the course of the common each day information convention of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The lawyer basic of Tamaulipas later confirmed that each one 4 lacking U.S. residents, together with the 2 lifeless, had been discovered. He didn’t say the place or how they’d been found. Officials have mentioned a Mexican lady died within the crossfire Friday.
“The work of investigation and intelligence continues for the capture of those responsible,” Irving Barrios Mojica, the state’s high legislation enforcement official, mentioned on Twitter.
One suspect was later detained, Mexican officers mentioned.
The two surviving U.S. residents, together with the injured individual, had been taken to Brownsville in a convoy of ambulances and SUVs. The our bodies of the others stay in Mexico, in keeping with legislation enforcement sources.
The 4 had been kidnapped Friday in a case that has drawn the eye of President Biden and sparked an FBI investigation.
Officials mentioned the 4 drove Friday from Brownsville, Texas, throughout the border into Matamoros, which sits simply throughout the Rio Grande. At least one of many 4 was reportedly looking for medical remedy in Matamoros.
Once the group was in Mexico, the FBI mentioned, “unidentified gunmen” fired upon their automobile. All 4 had been taken away by armed assailants, the FBI mentioned.
In his morning information convention, López Obrador voiced hope that the incident wouldn’t bitter U.S.-Mexico relations.
“We are working daily to guarantee peace, security,” the president mentioned. “We are very sorry that this happened in our country and we send our condolences to the families of the victims.”
The 4 U.S. residents arrived in Mexico on a day when an outbreak of violence had prompted the U.S. State Department to warn individuals to not journey to the border state of Tamaulipas.
Many U.S. residents search prescribed drugs and medical procedures in Mexican border cities, the place medicine and remedies are usually cheaper than within the United States. And Matamoros is a well-liked vacation spot not just for U.S. residents looking for remedy or treatment, but in addition for vacationers, buyers and vacationers headed into the Mexican inside.
However, Mexican border cities are additionally dwelling to violent crime cartels that management drug trafficking, human smuggling and different rackets.
Tamaulipas state is among the many most violent and lawless areas of Mexico. The state recurrently is among the many top-ranking areas for homicides, kidnappings and “disappearances,” although the overwhelming majority of victims are Mexicans.
Special correspondents Cecilia Sánchez in Mexico City and Juan José Ramírez in Matamoros contributed to this report, together with the Associated Press.