The number of victims of kidnapping in Mexico decreased by 10.5% per month in February, when 110 cases were registered compared to 123 in January 2021, the NGO Alto al Secuestro reported on Monday. Then the kidnappers sent a video of the torture to his family members in Las Vegas, according to the complaint.The kidnappers contacted a second victims family in Miami and said their relative would be beaten and killed if they didnt fork over $7,000, according to court records. Country officers are available to speak with you Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. For assistance with an abduction in progress or any emergency situation that occurs after normal business hours, on weekends, or federal holidays, please call toll free at 1-888-407-4747. Travel.State.Gov. This month we had 82 events, which means a decrease of 5.7%, but there was a greater decrease in victims, last month we had 124 victims, today we had 107 victims, which represents a decrease of 13.7,explained Wallace. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, He said on Ciro por la maana that the rise in homicides and kidnappings over the past 80 days has shown that cartels and criminals are changing their tactics. For many, this municipality is much more interesting and refined thanTijuana, which is why during the holidays a large number of young Americans come attracted by good seafood and lively nightlife. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. The 80s saw Gulf focus on cocaine and marijuana trafficking, followed by fentanyl and other synthetic drugs not to mention racketeering and human trafficking at the border, according to Mexican and US authorities. I feel safer here than I do in Los Angeles, he said, adding that after the October shootings, the Mexican government dispatched 450 National Guard soldiers to Tulum to keep the peace. Well, were still doing business in real estate, said Rottloff. But now that many of those criminal organizations have begun to splinter, there are more groups vying for a piece of the drug trade, which means that they have more costs to meet. Employee Appreciation Day gestures are nice, but heres what employees really want. (Reuters). These criminal organizations have found a special interest in the region due to the drug and people trafficking network. Although violent crime is rare (but not impossible), petty crime is common. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide . Without jinxing anything, what we want to make clear is that Merida is a very safe place to be. They dont lose any sleep over who they shoot. The NGO detailed that, from December 2018 to September 2021,5 thousand 234 victims of kidnappinghave been registered, 3 thousand 993 investigation folders for the crime of kidnapping have been opened and 4 thousand 585 alleged kidnappers have been arrested. The woman known as La Jefa the chief was Jaliscos main accountant, part of a subgroup known as Los Cuinis, Almonte said. However, these risks aren't especially more prevalent in Mexico than elsewhere so it's a case of packing your usual street smarts. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. State governor Carlos Joaquin called the recent beach commando raid a serious blow to the development and security of the state putting the state at grave risk. With turf wars increasing among rival cartels, homicides in the state rose from 145 in 2015 to 628 in 2020 a 333 percent increase in a place where 75 percent of the local economy is based on tourism, according to Mexican statistics. A large part of this can be attributed to the aggressive security policies of former Mexican President Felipe Caldern, whose Kingpin Strategy which aimed to arrest various cartel leaders disrupted what was once a relatively peaceful balance of power between the larger cartels. The NGO detailed that, from December 2018 to September 2021, 5 thousand 234 victims of kidnapping have been registered, . 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. Beginning around 2006, criminal groups began to use kidnappings and the ransom money they got from desperate families to help fund those activities, according to Vctor Manuel Snchez Valds, a research professor at the Autonomous University of Coahuila, Mexico. The2019studydetails that the bloody incidents have created a negative image of the tourist gem, which has a population of more than 70,000 people. Its a trend that experts refer to as the democratization of kidnapping. The high-profile kidnapping in 1994 of Alfredo Harp Hel, a Mexican entrepreneur whose family paid $30 million for his release, typifies this trend. This is the reason why Mazatln stopped being the Capital of Sinaloa, Rescuing tradition! According to the publication, the subjectsthreatened the neighbors: If you keep getting into my business, Im going to shoot you.. By Yucatan Times on July 19, 2019. Hoy presentamos nuestro informe mensual . Mexicos kidnapping problem was bad enough when most of the crimes were being committed by a handful of cartels. According to the National Index of Violence, Playas de Rosarito (Baja California) obtained 104 points;Manzanillo (Colima) 87;Tijuana (Baja California) 86;Salamanca (Guanajuato) 82 and Tecomn (Colima) 69 points. Legal Statement. Instead, they were nabbed en route by armed gunmen, making them just two of the thousands of Mexicans rich and poor, young and old kidnapped each year. He was able to free himself while the kidnappers were distracted with Jennifer, who attacked one of the men when he attempted to rape her unsuccessfully. Discrimination against indigenous communities, and especially. As one who has visited numerous times and lived there for a few years, I find Mexico, its people, and culture inviting, interesting and a joy to be around. In the images you could see the man with his hands tied and blindfolded. There are cases now where the rescue of a victim only costs $500, said Javier Hernandez, an official with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in Mexico. We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and He said he has never spoken to Mexican law enforcement about his ordeal. In addition, we dug a bit into the past to identify those incidents which were published in which an individual or family found itself the victim of a kidnapping. Local reports claim there have been 366 murders over the past 80 days in the Gulf state of Veracruz more than 4.5 murders each day. Still, the sisters hang on to their hope that Ramirez and Rivera are still alive. If a U.S. citizen still decides to travel to a Mexican state with a Level 4, or "do not travel to,"Travel Advisory or Level 3, "reconsider travel to," Travel Advisory, they are urged to read the State Department's information on high-risk travel. It ended on Sunday the 18th, when police officers broke into the building at 113 . There's more bad news. To get toPlayas de Rosarito, most tourists travel by car on roads with stunning views of the turquoise ocean and steep cliffs. In addition, for years it has been suspected that in Playas de Rosarito, a group ofRussian criminals could be behind a series of crimes in the entity. A report by Mexican news outlet La Reforma, from earlier this year, indicated that at least five cartels are now operating in the Riviera Maya and reports of violent crime in Tulum alone had gone . The three Santa Barbara cenotes are in the pueblo (small town) of Homun, where you'll find many of the best cenotes near Merida. The authorities are colluding with the kidnappers, she said. Despite the opening of specialized prosecutors offices, the government has not yet been able to curb the cruelty of themurders, uprisings, and extortion. In our piece, How to manager you Mexico vacation and not get shot I tell the story of a taxi ride in Puerto Vallarta where the driver of the cab makes a call to an unidentified individual and speaks of how the cab with the older white haired male and redheaded female will arrive in about 20 mins. The number of research folders started increased by 1.1%, from 85 in January to 86 in the second month of 2021. In Nuevo Laredo, a retired US marine has spent 27 years, Mexico City is number 5 most populous city in the world, 4,221 vehicles were stolen in Sinaloa in 2019, University students in California prefer to study in Mexico. Most of the detainees do not exceed 23 years. Theyre also both fit and athletic, so they could make a run for it. Each of these cases may have involved more than one victim, so the total number of homicides is likely to be higher. AN updated Mexico Danger Map prompted US government officials to warn travelers about "widespread" crime, as murders, kidnappings, carjackings and robberies continue to rise. Aileen Teague, assistant professor at The Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University,reminds people that while organized crime does exist in parts of northeastern Mexico, there are also "beautiful places that are dependent on tourism and relatively safe. The one we read about the most is Kidnap for Ransom. Other forms are Express Kidnapping where the victim is kidnapped for the sole purpose of making ATM withdrawals and Virtual Kidnappings where no kidnapping has actually occurred but family members are manipulated into thinking one has in an attempt to induce them to pay a ransom. Veracruz has been the witness of a bloody rivalry between drug cartels in recent years as well as impunity and government corruption that has led to an explosive cocktail of violence and uncertainty in the state, Al Jazeera reported last year. That is about the same as Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. According to the U.S. Department of State, 66 of these were U.S. citizens, 14 of these cases involved Legal Permanent Residents. I was not kidnapped because of my photographs as far as I know. If money was paid, the victims were sent on a bus to the U.S. border and instructed to ask for asylum, according to prosecutors. The following is a . Cancun and other Mexican vacation cities remain top destinations for U.S. travelers despite several safety warnings in 2017 and early 2018. Sometimes kidnappers hold their captives longer in order to demand more money from the victim's relatives or associates. Jalisco is among the main producers of the fentanyl and methamphetamine that is smuggled to the US. Help me! Later, the victim said that a kidnapper told the group that he had raped the wives of other victims he had previously kidnapped as a form of payment, according to court records. The entities with thehighest number of kidnappingscommitted during the month of August for every 100 inhabitants were;Tlaxcala, Quintana Roo, Hidalgo, Morelos, and Baja California. The U.S Depart of State has updated its Mexico travel advisory and has decided to keep Mexico at Level Three: Reconsider Travel. One kidnapper cut off a victims finger when family members couldnt raise funds to release him, court documents say. "It's a shame for people to only focus on the aspect of crime and violence that take place.". The civil association Stop Kidnapping revealed that the number of victims associated with kidnapping decreased in February on Mexicowith a ratio of 7.9 percent, 131 victims were reported during the month.. A Florida couple was kidnapped in Mexico City in May of 2017 while scouting wedding locations. I am a single woman and Ive never had a problem, and Tulum is packed right now.. The report presented on Monday warned thatSalamanca and Tecomncomplete the list of the top five violent cities. Earlier this year, Americans were warned to "avoid travel to Mexico" after recent security incidents in tourist destinations like Cancun and Playa Del Carmen.