Police confirm that four Ecuadorian citizens are held by the Zetas in Mexico

Ecuadornews:

Two weeks after 17 Ecuadorian and Central American emigrants were attacked on the border between Mexico and the United States, the Ecuadorian Police confirmed to this newspaper that four Lojanos are kidnapped by the Zetas criminal group.

This Mexican narco-criminal organization is dedicated to extortion, drug trafficking, kidnapping, homicide, illegal trafficking of people, washing, etc. In Quito, the investigators reported that the first communications of the criminals with the relatives were reported on the night of Sunday, April 28, 2019.

They received calls from unknown numbers and the emissaries asked for money in exchange for releasing the relatives. Before hanging up, they threatened to harm relatives if they betrayed them before the civil or police authorities.

That information reached the investigative services of the Police and its personnel began to cross all the information. So far it is not known how much money they demand.

Those affected have not presented a formal complaint. The Foreign Ministry asked to do so and assured that the Embassy of Ecuador in Mexico makes efforts in Chancery, Public Prosecutor, Police and state and local authorities of that nation, to locate Ecuadorians.

So far, all that is known are minimal details that counted a Guatemalan citizen who had also been plagiarized. She was released last week, after a family member paid the ransom. The woman exchanged brief text messages with the migrant organization and with the relatives of the disappeared.

He told them how in the middle of the persecution the people fled and threw themselves into the Rio Grande, to avoid being trapped by the armed ones. She said that the tributary was raised by the rains and that she and other emigrants tried to run towards the mountain, but that they were captured.

According to the director of the 1800migrante organization, William Murillo, the liberated foreigner did not provide more information about how the other hostages were. Now, it no longer answers the messages.

To that version was added the testimony of an Ecuadorian who managed to cross the river and reached US soil. Once in that country he was apprehended by the US Border Patrol. In the interrogation he assured that the armed ones belonged to the Zetas, because thus they would have been identified from the beginning.

Murillo said that “it is common” for armed groups operating in Mexico to ask the families of plagiarized migrants for large sums of money for the rescue. “The mafias ask for resources and their amount depends, for example, on the time they have in their possession.”

In the group of emigrants who threw themselves into the river, there are two deceased Ecuadorians. His relatives ask the authorities to expedite the procedures for the repatriation of the bodies. The Foreign Ministry indicated that the Consulate of Ecuador in Monterrey is in charge of negotiating with the Mexican authorities the identification process of the corpses.

The idea is to check the fingerprints and see if they really are the Ecuadorians Luis Quezada and Héctor González. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both nations are working to “clarify the circumstances of the two deaths.”

The entity confirmed that it has also received the request of the relatives to look for two people who are missing: Miryam Paguay and Sara Sagñay. Last week it was learned that David Villavicencio was also in that group. 1800 migrants assured that among the lost are people from “different zones” of the country. Some are from Chimborazo.

The authorities began to spread the news in all the communities. The intention is that people who do not have information about their relatives report them. (I)

Source: https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/policia-plagio-ecuatorianos-zetas-mexico.html