Related: Drug cartels using to pinpoint Border Agents’ locations
Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning
Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin
Two Americans were found dead and two others alive after they were kidnapped in Matamoros, Mexico, in what officials have described as a drug cartel attack captured on video
The group - identified by family as Latavia “Tay” McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams - were attacked on 3 March shortly after entering Matamoros, an area dominated by the Gulf cartel.
Video showed the group being thrown into a truck by armed men in broad daylight after a shootout. Authorities confirmed on Tuesday that the group had been found.
Ms McGee and Mr Williams were rescued alive and have since been returned to the US. Mr Woodard and Mr Brown were killed.
Ms McGee’s mother previously revealed the group had travelled to Mexico so her daughter could undergo a tummy tuck procedure.
US officials have vowed to secure justice for the victims, as White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and US Attorney General Merrick Garland pointed blame at drug cartels. At least one suspect has been arrested, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said.
GOP calls for military intervention following deadly kidnapping
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Fox News that he would introduce legislation to “set the stage” for using military force in Mexico to combat the drug cartel.
Mr Graham made the remarks on Jesse Watters’s show on Monday evening, saying he would “introduce legislation to make certain Mexican drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations under US law and set the stage to use military force if necessary.”
The Independent’s Eric Garcia has the story:
Video allegedly shows kidnapping
A video widely shared on social media, allegedly filmed in the city on Friday, shows people being dragged and dumped into the rear of a white flatbed truck parked in the middle of a busy street by armed men wearing bulletproof jackets.
The video has not been officially verified and the FBI has made no public comment on it.
Matamoros is notorious as a centre for gang violence and illegal migrant smuggling.
Tamaulipas state police said on its social media channel that people had been killed and injured in two shootouts in Matamoros on Friday in which neither the military nor police had been involved but did not offer any further detail on the shootings or say whether the kidnappings were connected.
“There have been two armed incidents between unidentified civilians,” it said. “The exact number of the fallen is being corroborated.”
Photographs of the abandoned car, with visible bullet holes, have since been released.
Mexican authorities working on repatriation of slain American tourists’ bodies
The bodies of two Americans killed in Matamoros, Mexico, will be repatriated after local authorities conduct forensic evaluations, a source close to the investigation told CNN.
Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villareal said on a televised call with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that two individuals, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, were killed.
Two other American citizens, one unharmed and one wounded, are back on US soil.
Photos show rescue of two American tourists from drug cartel stash house as dead friends identified
Photos by the Associated Press showed the moment the two surviving American citizens were rescued by Mexican authorities.
They were found at a stash house in a rural area east of Matamoros called Ejido Longoreño on the way to the local beach known as Playa Baghdad, a source close to the investigation told the AP.
Read more:
Zindell Brown had been wary about travelling to Mexico
Zindell Brown, one of the two Americans killed in the kidnapping, was concerned about the risks involved in travelling to Mexico, his sister told the Associated Press.
“Zindell kept saying, ‘We shouldn’t go down,’” Zalandria Brown told the news organisation.
And she added: “This is like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from. To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable.”
White House reacts to fatal kidnappings of American citizens in Mexico
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday that any attacks on American citizens under any circumstances were unacceptable.
Ms Jean-Pierre said more information will be released after family members of the two fatal victims and two kidnapping survivors are updated by US officials on any developments made in the case. She also noted that the Biden administration remains committed to “disrupting transnational criminal organizations including Mexican drug cartels and human smugglers.”
“We remain committed to applying the full weight of our efforts and resources to counter them,” Ms Jean-Pierre said.
“Right now. our immediate concerns are for the safe return of our citizens, the health and well-being of those who survived this attack, and the support which must be rendered to the families of those who need it.”
Mexican officials reveal picture of person arrested in operation to recover four Americans
A picture of Jose Guadalupe “N” the person detained in the rescue operation is displayed during a press conference to give details after two American citizens were found dead in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, at Auditorium of Secretaria de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana on March 07, 2023 in Mexico City, Mexico.
Americans advised against travelling to area where kidnapping took place
The US Consulate in Matamoros issued a warning to its employees on Friday in response to the latest outbreak of violence.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI San Antonio Division at 210-225-6741 or to submit tips anonymously online here.
Officials show images of where Americans found in Mexico
Images of the place where four American citizens were rescued are displayed on a screen during a press conference to give details after two American citizens were found dead in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, at Auditorium of Secretaria de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana on March 07, 2023 in Mexico City, Mexico.
Suspect arrested in death of Mexico ‘tummy tuck’ tourists
Governor of Tamaulipas Américo Villarreal said during a press conference that the group was moved from different locations, including a clinic, during the three days that their kidnapping lasted in an attempt to throw off investigators.
Mr Villareal said that the “Clan del Golfo” is the cartel known to operate and control the area. Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica also said that Mexican officials believe members of the Gulf drug cartel are behind the attack.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMid2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL25ld3Mvd29ybGQvYW1lcmljYXMvY3JpbWUvbWF0YW1vcm9zLW1leGljby1hbWVyaWNhbnMta2lkbmFwcGluZy1sYXRlc3QtbmV3cy1iMjI5NjI0Ni5odG1s0gF7aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY28udWsvbmV3cy93b3JsZC9hbWVyaWNhcy9jcmltZS9tYXRhbW9yb3MtbWV4aWNvLWFtZXJpY2Fucy1raWRuYXBwaW5nLWxhdGVzdC1uZXdzLWIyMjk2MjQ2Lmh0bWw_YW1w?oc=5
2023-03-08 07:00:00Z
1825335391
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar