Activists are sounding the alarm about a large group of gunmen who kidnapped more than 200 migrants as they made their way north toward the Sonora-Arizona border. Some of the migrant’s relatives wired thousands of dollars to the alleged kidnappers, but the migrants remain missing.
According to an exclusive report by El Sol de Hermosillo, a group of more than 200 migrants had been loaded into a tractor-trailer late last month. The truck headed for the border city of Sonoyta, Sonora — just south of Arizona.
As the truck approached the town of Cuahutemoc, Chihuahua, the vehicle broke down. The migrants were forced to walk to another location where human smugglers were going to pick them up to continue their journey. Unfortunately, a large number of gunmen showed up and kidnapped the migrants, breaking them into smaller groups of 10-15 and stuffing them into their trucks.
It remains unclear where the kidnappers took the migrants. Some of the relatives quoted by Mexican media claim that they brought them to the border city of Ciudad Jaurez, Chihuahua, just south of El Paso, Texas. The migrants have been missing for more than 15 days, El Sol de Hermosillo reported.
Factions of the Sinaloa Cartel control the border region of Sonora, while the Juarez Cartel controls the regions near Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Both criminal organizations have a long-standing turf war for control of lucrative drug and human smuggling routes into the United States.
Relatives told the Mexican newspaper that since the day of the kidnapping, the relatives began receiving threatening messages through WhatsApp where the alleged captors gave them instructions on wiring money to them to secure the release of their loved ones. Some of the relatives have wired as much as $10,000; however, the kidnapped migrants remain missing.
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.
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