Nine young Colombian women trafficked by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel disappear in Mexico

Nine young Colombian women have been missing since last January 5, after attending a party in Cárdenas, a municipality in the capital of Tabasco (Mexico). Without any complaints at the moment, some companions of the disappeared have raised the alarm, as reported in the news program by journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva, where there has been talk of a network of trafficking in women that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG ) has been introduced in Mexico. According to the report, the women were required to pay 120,000 pesos (around $7,000) for an alleged debt owed to the criminal group, which is why they were forced to attend various celebrations as escorts. In one of them, a confrontation between two cartels was the backdrop in which the Colombian women were trapped.

A companion of the young women was able to establish telephone contact with one of the detainees, by virtue of which it is suspected that they are alive, although the woman stated in the call that they had been badly beaten. So far, only five of the nine kidnapped have been identified: Nicol García, Mariana Garcés, Talía Velásquez, Valentina Pachón and Wendy Murcia. According to what was reported in the Mexican news, the women were sent to the party by Saulo David Sánchez Zetina, the Jaguar, identified as the leader of the CJNG human trafficking network. Precisely, the delivery of Sánchez Zetina to the group that is holding them is the condition they impose to release them, according to the Mexican media.

The Colombian Consulate in Mexico, headed by Andrés Hernández, spoke this Saturday on its the authorities, just as we have notified the authorities of the surrounding states belonging to my constituency in case they are transferred,” he published.

“Mommy, I love you very much, I'm fine, pray a lot for me and for those girls, there are several of us. I barely have my cell phone and that's how I communicate with you. Forgive me, mom, for everything, for everything, for everything,” one of the women is heard saying in the recording of the call. Then, the same young woman mentions life insurance from a Colombian bank to which she suggests her mother can go. Except for the consul, the Colombian authorities have not commented, nor have they been able to locate the relatives of those who have already been identified.

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