The latest: they rescue the 31 migrants kidnapped on the northern border of Mexico

The Mexican authorities announced on Wednesday afternoon that they managed to rescue the 31 migrants – among them four Colombians – who had been kidnapped since last Saturday. in the state of Tamaulipas, on the border with the United States.

Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, spokesperson for the Presidency of the Republic, reported in his X account that “thanks to the coordinated effort of the Government of Tamaulipas, the FGE (State Attorney General's Office), Sedena (Secretariat of National Defense), “the SSPYC (Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection), managed to rescue the 31 migrants who were kidnapped on December 30 in 2023.”

The Secretary of the Interior (Minister of the Interior), Luisa Alcalde, also confirmed the information through her X account and indicated that “they were rescued safely.”

According to what Jorge Cuéllar, security spokesperson for Tamaulipas, Mexico, told EL TIEMPO, The kidnapping occurred last Saturday, December 30, when the migrants were traveling along the Reynosa-Matamoros highway. heading to the border with the United States.

“On Saturday, December 30, we received a call to the emergency number 911 where the bus driver of the Senda group where the migrants were traveling communicated. He reported to us at 7:26 p.m. that day that he was intercepted by five vans with armed people in the section between Reynosa and Matamoros and 31 passengers of various nationalities were kidnapped,” he told this newspaper.

According to Cuellar, the bus left Monterrey and was destined for the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on the border with Brownsville, Texas. There were 36 people traveling on the bus: 31 foreigners and five Mexicans.

All the foreigners were kidnapped, but the five Mexicans were released by the criminals so they could continue on their way to the United States.

The Mexican Government had confirmed in the morning that among the 31 kidnapped migrants there were citizens of Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Ecuador and Mexico. The Colombian consulate in Mexico, for its part, confirmed in dialogue with EL TIEMPO that in There were at least four nationals in the group and he stated that the number could increase as the hours went by. as the authorities managed to identify the nationality of another 10 people from the detained group.

According to Cuellar, since the kidnapping of the migrants became known, the Mexican authorities organized an inter-institutional operation with the participation of the National Guard, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of National Defense and the State Guard in order to find those retained as soon as possible.

For them, they made tours on the different roads in the area. “We carried out security and surveillance tours on the highway in different sections of it, including Río Bravo and Matamoros, Las Yescas, Valle Hermoso, Empalme and the Matamoros Reynoso highway for the search and location of the people deprived of their liberty that 30 from December”.

ANGIE RUIZ HURTADO
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL