Four U.S. citizens have been kidnapped after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the northern Mexico border city of Matamoros, the FBI said. Here’s what to know about the case.
How did the attack happen?
The four Americans had entered Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday and were traveling in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates. The van came under fire shortly after it entered Mexico, the FBI said.
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said the Americans were kidnapped at gunpoint and that an “innocent” Mexican citizen died in the attack. Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday that the Americans had crossed the border to buy medicine and ended up caught in the crossfire between two armed groups.
What’s the latest on violence in Matamoros?
Matamoros is home to warring factions of the Gulf drug cartel and shootouts there on Friday were so bad that the U.S. Consulate issued an alert about the danger and local authorities warned people to shelter in place. It was not immediately clear how the abductions could have been connected to that violence Friday.
Is it safe to travel to that region?
The U.S. State Department has issued recent multiple travel advisories for Mexico, to help visitors plan their visit. In the case of Tamaulipas, where Matamoros is located, the State Department recommends not to travel to that state due to crime and kidnapping.
“Organized crime activity -- including shootings, murders, armed robberies, carjackings, kidnappings, forced disappearances, extortion, and sexual assaults -- is common along the northern border and in Ciudad Victoria,” said the State Department in its travel alert. “Criminal groups attack public and private passenger buses and private cars traveling through Tamaulipas, often kidnapping passengers and demanding ransom payments.”
How common are kidnappings of Americans in Mexico?
Brendon Tucker, an aid worker with Global Response Medicine, said kidnappings of U.S. citizens within Mexico are unusual. The nonprofit, which uses U.S. and Mexican medical crews, has worked in Matamoros and Reynosa for several years. The group recently left Matamoros, because of funding scarcity.
“I would be surprised if those kidnapped were from a church or an aid group,” Tucker said. It’s more likely that the group included a U.S. citizen of Mexican descent who travels to see family in that region. “I would have a heightened sense of awareness in Matamoros right now…The overall security situation is deteriorating.”
“Cartels would shy away from targeting Americans and, in this instance, you either have one or two things going on: A case of mistaken identity, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, or one of the four people could have been linked to someone from a rival cartel and they were being targeted,” said Arturo Fontes, a former FBI investigator and president of Fontes International Solutions, a security consultant firm.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
