Matamoros, Mexico, is a stronghold for numerous felony organizations, significantly the Gulf Cartel. U.S. and Mexican officers say 4 U.S. residents have been kidnapped at gunpoint within the metropolis on Friday.

Alfredo Estrella/AFP by way of Getty Images

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Alfredo Estrella/AFP by way of Getty Images

Matamoros, Mexico, is a stronghold for numerous felony organizations, significantly the Gulf Cartel. U.S. and Mexican officers say 4 U.S. residents have been kidnapped at gunpoint within the metropolis on Friday.

Alfredo Estrella/AFP by way of Getty Images

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar met with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City on Monday because the situation and whereabouts of 4 Americans who have been kidnapped at gunpoint stay unknown.

The unidentified U.S. residents have been ambushed Friday by gunmen who fired on the group shortly after they crossed from Brownsville, Texas, into Matamoros, Tamaulipas, according to the FBI. The Americans have been driving a white minivan with North Carolina license plates.

The kidnappers moved all 4 into one other car earlier than fleeing the scene.

Salazar famous that an harmless Mexican citizen was killed in the course of the assault.

“We have no greater priority than the safety of our citizens – this is the US government’s most fundamental role,” the ambassador mentioned in a statement.

Salazar mentioned numerous regulation enforcement businesses are working with Mexican authorities “at all levels of government to achieve the safe return of our compatriots.”

The FBI is providing a $50,000 reward for the return of the Americans and the arrests of these concerned.

Mexico’s president gives a principle on the kidnapping

López Obrador on Monday told reporters throughout his each day press briefing that the kidnapped group had crossed the border to purchase medicines in Mexico.

He didn’t say how he or different officers got here the conclusion, however he informed reporters that he has been involved with the governor of Tamaulipas.

“There was a confrontation between groups, and they were detained,” López Obrador mentioned. “The whole government is working on it.”

He added: “I think it will get resolved, that’s what I hope.”

An unnamed U.S. official reportedly told CNN that the U.S. residents had “traveled to the border city of Matamoros for medical procedures,” citing receipts discovered within the deserted car.

FBI officers informed NPR they’d not touch upon López Obrador’s remarks nor on reviews of the receipts.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. will “push [the Mexican government] to bring those responsible to justice.”

“Clearly, we want to be really careful here. There are privacy concerns, and so I don’t want to share too much information on how we’re moving forward,” Jean-Pierre informed reporters.

Neither the White House nor the FBI have disclosed additional details about the circumstances of the assault past the FBI’s and the ambassador’s earlier statements.

Drug cartels unofficially rule over Matamoros

For years, Matamoros has been a stronghold for numerous feuding criminal organizations, significantly the Gulf Cartel, which has used town as a key pipeline for moving cocaine, meth and fentanyl throughout the border into Texas — and from there throughout the U.S.

Since 2010, when drug wars first began to interrupt out between the factions, town has been under unofficial control of the Gulf Cartel.

The state of Tamaulipas is taken into account one of the crucial violent locations in Mexico. As just lately as October the U.S. State Department issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory, citing crime and kidnapping.