Gulf Cartel Continues Migrant Kidnappings in Mexican Border States

The Gulf Cartel continues to operate with complete impunity as they kidnap migrants trying to reach the U.S. border. The kidnappings continued even after Mexico’s President was forced to admit that his government didn’t rescue a group of 32 migrants that cartel gunmen had kidnapped, but in fact, it was the cartel that released them.

Last week, Tamaulipas authorities, with help from Mexican Army soldiers, raided a house in the border city of Reynosa, where they rescued 61 migrants. The migrants were from Guatemala, Ecuador, and El Salvador and were reportedly being kept against their will in a stash house. However, authorities and military forces did not arrest any of the kidnappers who held the migrants against their will.

The rescue of the migrants in Reynosa is tied to the ongoing investigation into a prior kidnapping that became a national scandal in Mexico.

As Breitbart Texas reported, on December 30, a group of Gulf Cartel gunmen in at least five SUVs stopped a passenger bus and kidnapped 32 migrants who were inside. The gunmen were able to leave before law enforcement arrived and moved the migrants to a stash house. They held the migrants hostage for days until they released them. The case became a national scandal after Mexican authorities tried to take credit for the rescue, with federal officials claiming it was the result of a coordinated effort. Days later, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was forced to state that the cartel had simply released the migrants on their own accord.

After their release, authorities moved the 32 migrants to the border city of Matamoros, where they stayed in some shelters awaiting their appointments with U.S. authorities to make asylum claims.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.