Mexico to review report of kidnapped Cubans at northern border

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Mexico’s government

said on Thursday that it would look into a report that Cuban migrants had been kidnapped by an organized crime group just south of the U.S. border , adding to existing probes into disappearances of migrants in the area.

Four Cubans

trying to enter the United States from the border city of Reynosa in Tamaulipas state last weekend were abducted by a group that is now demanding ransom, EL UNIVERSAL reported on Thursday , citing interviews with family members of the migrants.

The Cubans had allegedly arrived in Mexico via Tapachula, in the country’s southern border, where they paid for their safe-conduct to cross over. From Tapachula, they took the first flight to Mexico City and then to Reynosa. As soon as they got off the plane, they took a taxi cab. However, instead of taking them to the border, the driver handed them over to a criminal group.

The migrants’ families indicated that the victims had been transferred to a safe house with nine more people, two of which were women.

The state government told Reuters no complaints had been filed related to the alleged kidnapping. The victims’ families claimed that they had not filed a report because they did not trust Tamaulipas authorities, since they are allegedly associated with organized crime.

Nelson Rubio, a Cuban-Venezuelan journalist living in Miami

, stated that the kidnapping of Cuban migrants near the U.S. border was a very serious problem. “There are many families who are in the same situation.”

Rubio has followed this topic closely since kidnappers usually call the migrants’ family members who are living in Miami, asking for ransom money.

According to Wilfredo Allen, a Cuban-American lawyer and migration specialist, the kidnappers usually contact the migrants’ family members in the United States , though “they do not request a ransom per se. Instead, they ask for fees in exchange of the victims’ liberty. They usually charge between USD$1,000 and $3,000 each ,” he commented.

“Several Cuban organizations are working with the families, providing support. Police authorities are not involved,”

added Rubio.

According to information provided by said groups, the kidnapping of Cuban migrants in Mexico is nothing new, it has been going on for at least a decade and a half and drug cartels are behind the entire network.

Mexico’s Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said at the president’s regular news conference that the report would be taken into account as other investigations proceed.

Officials are also examining the disappearance of 22 passengers, thought to be migrants, who were kidnapped by armed men from a bus in Tamaulipas last week. Durazo said officials are working with other countries to review the bus passenger list and check for reports of missing people.

For years, Tamaulipas has suffered high levels of murders and disappearances amid clashes between violent criminal gangs.

In August 2010 , 72 undocumented migrants from Central and South America were murdered by the Zetas gang at a ranch in Tamaulipas . A year later, nearly 200 corpses , many of them Mexicans, were found in mass graves in the area.

Mexico is also grappling with corruption within its migration authorities and is investigating reports that border agents extorted migrants, Interior Minister Olga Sánchez Cordero said.

“Without a doubt, the National Migration Institute was one of the institutions most permeated by corruption,” she said. “We’re replacing practically the entire staff.”