Mexican cartel ‘claims responsibility for kidnapping of Americans’
The Gulf Cartel took credit and apologized for the kidnapping of four Americans and killing of two in the Mexican border city of Matamoros on Thursday.
A letter claiming to be from a faction of the notorious drug smuggling organization was discovered by Mexican authorities on Thursday, along with the tied up bodies of five alleged gang members the group says was responsible for the attack.
Anonymous sources confirmed to the Associated Press that the letter was real, but Mexican officials did not immediately confirm if the cartel members were in police custody.
The letter was written by members of the ‘Scorpion Group,’ one faction of the Gulf Cartel, or Cartel del Golfo (CDG), which operates in the southeastern state of Tamaulipas.
The Scorpion Group is one of several factions within the cartel that frequently fight each other for power and influence.
‘We have decided to hand over those responsible for the events, who at the time acted under their own determination,’ the note reads. According to the letter, the gang members ‘acted under their own determination and indiscipline and against the rules in which the CDG has always operated, respecting the life and integrity of the innocent.’
They also apologized to the city of Matamoros and the family of Arely Servando, the Mexican citizen who was also caught in the crossfire during the attack.
The incident began on Friday, March 3 when four Americans were kidnapped by armed men shortly after crossing the border into Mexico from Brownsville, Texas.
The victims were accompanying a friend on a road trip from South Carolina to get discount cosmetic surgery at a Mexican clinic.
The Americans were eventually found inside a house in Ejido Longoreño, a small town just east of Matamoros.
Two of the victims, Latavia McGee and Eric Williams were found alive. They were transported to a hospital in Texas on Wednesday.
The other two victims, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, were found dead in the same building.
One Mexican suspect has already been arrested for the kidnapping – a man stationed to guard the American prisoners.
Both Mexican and American authorities currently believe the incident was related to ongoing cartel violence in Matamoros.
‘The DEA and the FBI are doing everything possible to dismantle and disrupt and ultimately prosecute the leaders of the cartels and the entire networks that they depend on,’ Attorney General Merrick Garland stated.
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