Federal Police in Mexico have rescued 12 migrants in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The migrants had been capatured two months before the resuce and included eight Central Americans, three Brazilians and an Iranian.
The kidnapped migrants who were taken in Chiapas on the Guatemalan border were found in a safe house in Reynosa, a city that borders the McAllen, Texas border.
Police say when found the migrants admitted to being severely beaten.
The kidnapping came after theLos Zetas drug cartel massacred 72 migrants in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, last August, leading many people to believe the kidnapped migrants had already been killed.
In early 2011 another 200 bodies were found in Tamaulipas graves, escalating concerns that the migrants had been murdered.
More than 40,000 people have been murdered in Mexico over drug-related wars since 2006 and many more people go missing thanks to dangerous roadways that are littered with corrupt politicians, drug cartel members and other dangerous individuals.
According to a recent report, nearly 20,000 Central Americans have been kidnapped by organized crime groups and forced to pay money for their “possible release” while other’s have been asked join drug cartel gangs to spare their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
