(AmericanProsperity.com) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on Monday that four Americans were kidnapped by Mexican gunmen, after opening fire against their vehicle in the Mexican border city of Matamoros. The agency also explained that a Mexican citizen was killed during the Sunday incident, pointing out that the four US citizens were driving across the American border and entered Matamoros, where they were fired by unidentified armed assailants who then placed them in a vehicle and took them from the scene.
The FBI San Antonio Division office issued a statement where it detailed that the four US citizens entered Matamoros on Friday from Brownsville, Texas. It also explained that they were making the trip in a white minivan that had North Carolina license plates. The agency didn’t reveal the name of the victims.
According to CNN, a US official with knowledge of the investigation said that the four US citizens were not the intended target, as the Mexican gunmen were part of a Mexican cartel that likely mistook them for Haitian drug smugglers. The official also explained that the four victims went to the border city of Matamoros for medical procedures, which was confirmed by the FBI after some of its agents found receipts in their white minivan.
About this incident, Mexican left-wing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador provided a similar explanation, stating that the information he received from Mexican authorities indicates that the US citizens entered Mexico to buy medicines and were kidnapped by criminals after a confrontation. He also guaranteed that his government will work on this incident.
This case highlights the dangers of “medical tourism” from American citizens in Mexico, considering that the US State Department has been recently recommending not to visit some of its cities, including Matamoros. This one has been rife with cartel violence over the last few years, and the state of Tamaulipas -which capital city is Matamoros- has been labeled as a no-go zone because of its organized crime activity, which includes murder and kidnapping.
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