CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — Mexican authorities are searching for four U.S. citizens reported by the FBI as kidnapped in the border town of Matamoros — the easternmost corner of the border between the two countries — after gunmen opened fire on the vehicle. they were traveling.
The four Americans had arrived in Matamoros from Brownsville, Texas on Friday, a day when violent clashes erupted in the Mexican city with an undetermined death toll that prompted authorities to ask citizens to stay home.
The city, in the violent state of Tamaulipas, is the scene of a turf war between factions of the Gulf Cartel, an organization that has its stronghold in this region.
The alert was issued by the FBI’s San Antonio office on Sunday, and on Monday Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez said different levels of the state and federal government were working to find the people who, as he said. explained, crossed into Mexico to buy medicine and found themselves in the middle of a clash between armed groups.
According to initial information provided by the FBI, the Americans were traveling in a white van with North Carolina license plates and shortly after crossing into Mexico, unidentified gunmen shot them.
“The gunmen loaded the four U.S. citizens into another vehicle and fled with them,” the office said in a statement that also offered a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the arrest of the victims. responsible. .
US Ambassador Ken Salazar said Monday that his fellow citizens were abducted “at gunpoint…in an incident that tragically killed an innocent Mexican citizen.”
Tamaulipas public security secretary said on Friday there had been “two armed incidents between unidentified civilians, deploring deaths and injuries” – without specifying the figures – and asked the population to take refuge in their homes . The United States Consulate joined in this warning.
On Monday afternoon, State’s Attorney Irving Barrios confirmed at a press conference the death of a Mexican woman and said one of the vehicles involved in Friday’s violent day had license plates from North Carolina.
Barrios did not specify how the events occurred or say if anyone had demanded a ransom for these people, but he pointed out that an investigation and intelligence group was formed to search for the Americans and that the cameras instead and evidence is already being analyzed ballistics and fingerprints on vehicles.
He did not rule out that there could be more victims.
Videos showing the situation in the city were posted on social media on Friday, and in one of them, gunmen were seen dragging bodies to a van in broad daylight and surrounded by vehicles.
Photos seen by AP from that time show a white minivan with the driver’s side window rolled out and all doors open on the side of the street slammed into a red vehicle.
The prosecutor confirmed that one of those vehicles was the one with an American license plate.
A woman who witnessed the scene from inside her car said she saw a white vehicle crash into another at a red light. Then gunshots started to be heard, a truck drove up to the square along the sidewalk and armed men got out.
“Within seconds they were in front of us,” he told The Associated Press in a phone conversation in which he requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. “I was shocked, nobody was whistling, nobody was moving, we all had to think ‘if we move they will see us or they can shoot'”.
According to the witness, the armed men put a woman who was walking in a pick-up truck, “they carry another one between two and he shakes his head and two others are dragged on the sidewalk, we do not know if they are alive or dead.”
The video uploaded matches this description.
The witness added that the body of a woman with gunshot wounds was left about ten meters away, as she observed when she approached her to ask for help when the gunmen were gone. A few minutes later, ambulances and authorities arrived.
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 State Department has maintained high alert for years so Americans don’t travel to the area, but it’s common for residents of border towns to cross into Mexico to run errands, get medical appointments – which are less expensive – or 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.
On the last weekend of February, five young men were killed by the army in Nuevo Laredo, in an event that has not yet been clarified as to what human rights organizations consider excessive use of strength. The federal prosecutor’s office is investigating the incident.
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AP reporter María Verza contributed to this story from Mexico City.