Almost 10 hours after kidnapping at gunpoint the mayor of a small Mexican city near the Texas border, a team of gunmen released and sent him on his way. While the incident took place right outside of city hall, the newly freed mayor claimed it was a case of mistaken identity.
On Thursday evening, a team of gunmen riding in a Ford F-150 pulled up to the plaza outside of the Ciudad Mier city hall and kidnapped Roberto “Betito” Gonzalez, the local mayor, Breitbart Texas reported. The gunmen forced Gonzalez into a white Mitsubishi pickup and left with the two vehicles. The kidnapping took place just as Gonzalez was going to hold a public event to celebrate his re-election.
Authorities set off a large search and rescue operation where the State of Tamaulipas asked for help from neighboring Nuevo Leon, as well as the Mexican Army and Federal Police.
Just before 5 a.m., Gonzalez drove the white pickup he was kidnapped in and pulled up to a roadblock in the town of General Treviño, Nuevo Leon, law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas. Gonzalez identified himself and asked for a police escort back to Tamaulipas so he could be guarded by the Mexican military.
Statements made by Gonzalez indicate that he was kidnapped by mistake. Law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that Gonzalez is not believed to be tied to criminal activity, does not have a criminal background, and was not the target of investigations prior.
Ciudad Mier is southeast of Falcon Lake and is considered to be an important drug and human smuggling route used by both the Gulf Cartel and the faction of Los Zetas, called Cartel Del Noreste (CDN). In 2010, hundreds of residents fled the city after Los Zetas threatened to invade the town and kill everyone there as part of a fierce territorial war with the Gulf Cartel.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Tony Aranda and “A.C. Del Angel” from the Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.
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