“The whole government is working there,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Monday, confirming the kidnapping at a regular press conference.
A Mexican died during the robbery, the US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said in a statement on Monday.
According to the Mexican president, the victims are US citizens who “crossed the border to buy drugs in Mexico and there was a conflict between the groups and they were arrested.”
The Americans had arrived in Matamoros (the northern state of Tamaulipas) on Friday in a white van with North Carolina license plates, the FBI reported on Sunday.
“As soon as they crossed into Mexico, the gunmen opened fire on the passengers of the unknown vehicle. The four Americans were thrown into the car and taken away by the gunmen,” the police agency added.
Mexico works with the FBI
López Obrador explained that the FBI is working with the Mexican Secretary of Security and is “in communication” with the head of that office, Rosa Icela Rodríguez.
Salazar stated that “various US law enforcement agencies” are cooperating with the Mexican authorities “to achieve the safe return” of their citizens.
The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward for help with identifying the victims and apprehending the suspects.
Matamoros is violently linked to drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime.
The roads of Tamaulipas are considered among the most dangerous in Mexico.
In fact, for several months, the United States of America was so intently guarded that its citizens were prevented from traveling to that state on account of kidnapping and other charges.
According to that warning, organized crime activity includes shootings, murders, robberies, plagiarisms, disappearances, extortions and sexual assaults.
The consular cohorts were also forbidden to travel on the roads of the rear regions.
