MEXICO CITY – Mexican authorities have located alive the 31 migrants who were kidnapped over the weekend in the northern state of Tamaulipas, the government announced Wednesday.
The general coordinator of social communication of the Presidency, Jesús Ramírez, said in a message on his account on the social network X, formerly Twitter, that the 31 migrants were rescued and are already under the protection of the authorities.
He mentioned that the operation was carried out in a joint effort by the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office, the Army, the National Guard and the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection.
Ramírez shared on his social network account some photographs of the rescued migrants, including children, inside a bus guarded by security force agents. The foreigners are expected to arrive in the next few hours to the border city of Reynosa.
Migrants from various countries
The Mexican Foreign Minister, Alicia Bárcena, expressed in her X account that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains communication with the countries of origin of the migrants to provide comprehensive monitoring and support in each case. The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro reported the day before that among those kidnapped there are four Colombians.
The migrants were kidnapped by a group of armed men on December 30 when they were traveling on a bus from the private company SENDA on the highway that connects Reynosa and Matamoros in the state of Tamaulipas, reported the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Rosa Icela. Rodriguez.
The alleged criminals forced the 36 passengers to get off and took 31 people from Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras and Mexico, Rodríguez said.
As part of the investigations, the authorities monitored the phones of the people involved in the incident, reviewed the videos of the bus and monitored the route with the support of helicopters.
“Atypical” kidnapping
The bus left the northern city of Monterrey, capital of the state of Nuevo León, and its final destination was Matamoros but was intercepted near the town of Río Bravo.
The Secretary of Security admitted that the number of migrants kidnapped in this case is “atypical” and said that in that area kidnappings of between one to three people are regularly reported.
A similar event occurred in March 2019 when armed individuals stopped a passenger bus on the San Fernando-Reynosa federal highway and took away 22 people whose fate is unknown at this time.
Tamaulipas faces a wave of violence due to disputes between factions of the Gulf Cartel for control of the territory.
Source: With information from AP
