Mexico City, March 7. Mexican authorities found the four Americans abducted last Friday in the Mexican town of Matamoros, in the northern state of Tamaulipas, two of them dead and another injured, state governor Américo Villarreal said on Tuesday.
“35 minutes ago it was confirmed by the prosecutor’s office (that) out of the four, there are two dead, one injured and one alive,” Villareal explained in a live call during Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s daily morning lecture.
Put on loudspeaker, the governor explained that an hour earlier he had been informed that there were indications of having seen the four American citizens.
Likewise, he said authorities and family members are currently at the scene and health personnel are also on their way “to provide any medical support that may be required.”
The Secretary of Public Security and Citizen Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, informed the conference that there was already a detainee in connection with the case.
Tamaulipas prosecutor Irving Barrios confirmed the information provided by Villarreal via Twitter. “Investigative and intelligence work continues to capture those responsible,” he wrote on this social network.
López Obrador, for his part, expressed his condolences to the family and loved ones of the American citizens.
“We are truly sorry for this to happen to our country and we send our condolences to the families of the victims, friends, the people of the United States, the government of the United States and we will continue to do our job,” said President.
He also assured that the Mexican authorities will continue to work to guarantee security in the country, especially in the north.
“We will continue to do our job. (…) Those responsible will be found, they will be punished, as was done when women and children were murdered in Bavispe by the LeBaron, Miller and Langford families. everyone involved,” said the president, who assured that there was no impunity in Mexico.
The FBI on Sunday reported the disappearance of the four Americans, abducted last Friday after crossing the border in the border town of Matamoros, in Tamaulipas, one of the Mexican states hardest hit by the violence.
The four Americans, who were traveling in a North Carolina-registered car, were attacked shortly after crossing into Mexico and were then forcibly loaded into a van by gunmen, the San Antonio FBI reported.
Investigators believe the Americans were mistakenly targeted by a Mexican cartel who likely mistook them for Haitian drug traffickers, a US official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.
The network also claimed to have obtained photos showing the car the Americans may have been driving collided with another vehicle, before the travelers were held at gunpoint.
A video was also released showing armed men forcing several people, including a woman, into the back of the truck. EFE
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