Mexico: 2 kidnapped Americans found dead, 2 alive

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — A road trip to Mexico for cosmetic surgery has left two Americans dead and two others found alive in a rural area near the Gulf Coast after a violent shooting and kidnapping that was recorded on video , authorities said on Tuesday.

The surviving Americans were returning home in the afternoon after being driven at top speed to the border near Brownsville, on the southern tip of Texas, in a convoy of ambulances and pickup trucks escorted by Mexican military vehicles armed.

A relative of one of the victims said on Monday the four traveled together from the Carolinas so that one of them could have a tummy tuck with a doctor in the Mexican border town of Matamoros, where Friday’s kidnapping took place. occurred. .

Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios clarified that there was no payment for the ransom from the Americans and clarified that according to investigations the kidnapping was carried out by members of the Gulf Cartel who operates in this region.

Although several avenues of investigation have been opened since the beginning, as is customary in these cases, “due to all this exchange of information, the line of confusion grows stronger, it was not a question of a direct attack,” said the prosecutor. Barrios also ruled out that officials from US agencies acted on Mexican territory in the case.

During the Americans’ rescue operation, José “N”, 24, from Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas, was arrested and was watching the victims.

The governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villarreal, explained on Tuesday afternoon that the four were found in a wooden house, in a place known as La Lagunona in the ejido El Tecolote, on the highway that connects Matamoros in Playa Baghdad. It is an area known for the numerous clandestine graves found and which were the place where criminal groups made their victims disappear.

“In the three days following the criminal act, the four people deprived of their liberty were transferred to various locations, including a clinic, in order to create confusion and avoid rescue efforts,” Villarreal added.

Regarding the deceased, the governor indicated that the bodies were to be handed over to the American authorities on the same Tuesday after the forensic work that was underway at the Matamoros morgue.

Villarreal added that injured American Eric Williams had been shot in the left leg and the injury was not life-threatening. The survivors were taken to Valley Regional Medical Center with an FBI escort, the Brownsville Herald reported. A hospital spokesperson referred all questions to the FBI.

“It’s such a relief,” said Robert Williams, Eric’s brother, reached by phone in North Carolina. “I can’t wait to see him again and to be able to talk to him.”

The Americans were reported by the FBI as kidnapped in the border town of Tamaulipas, Matamoros, on March 3 after gunmen opened fire on a vehicle amid crossfire from rival crime groups.

Video posted on social media showed gunmen loading them into the back of a van. Townspeople who witnessed the scene in their vehicles looked terrified, afraid to move in case they were shot.

The kidnapping coincided with violent incidents that took place on Friday in Matamoros.

The alert over the kidnapping of the Americans was issued by the FBI office in San Antonio on Sunday and confirmed the day before by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who said the state and federal governments were working to find them.

Regretting the fact, López Obrador affirmed on Tuesday that the American authorities have the right to demonstrate as they did, alluding to the declaration made the day before by the spokesperson for the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre, who called the event “unacceptable”.

“We work every day to guarantee peace, tranquility and we will continue,” said López Obrador when expressing his condolences.

The Mexican president criticized the “jaundice” treatment of events in the United States, where when Mexicans are murdered there, the media of this country “shut up like mummies”.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland said “the DEA and FBI are doing everything possible to dismantle and ultimately prosecute cartel leaders” who are responsible for the deaths of Americans. Separately, US authorities are working to obtain more details about the circumstances surrounding the killings, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

On the other hand, the Mexican president took advantage of the moment to criticize the assertions of some conservative American politicians in favor of imposing tougher measures to fight against Mexican cartels, considering them, for example, as terrorist organizations.

“We don’t get involved to see what gangs in the United States are doing that are distributing fentanyl or how the drug is being distributed in the United States,” López Obrador said.

Tamaulipas has seen a strong wave of violence linked to organized crime for decades, thousands of people have disappeared and it is common for rival groups to take victims after clashes to hide them.

The United States Department of State has maintained high alert for years so that Americans do not travel to the area, but it is common for residents of border towns to cross into Mexico to shop, travel to medical consultations – which are less expensive – or to visit relatives.

The two main cartels in the region are the Gulf Cartel, which has its stronghold in Matamoros, and a sliver of the old Zetas in Nuevo Laredo, 200 miles to the west. But there are also many cells from each of these groups fighting each other.

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Loller reported from Nashville. AP writers Lindsay Whitehurst, Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this story.