{"id":4084,"date":"2024-04-19T19:14:35","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T19:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=4084"},"modified":"2024-04-19T19:48:44","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T19:48:44","slug":"extortion-and-kidnap-a-deadly-journey-across-mexico-into-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=4084","title":{"rendered":"Extortion and kidnap \u2013 a deadly journey across Mexico into the US"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>7 Minute, 18 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

The influx of migrants across the southern US border has become a critical factor in the US presidential election. But what is little known is the role of drug cartels in making a dangerous journey across Mexico even more perilous.<\/p>\n

With its strip clubs, taco stands and buzzing motorbikes, San Luis Rio Colorado is typical of Mexican border communities.<\/p>\n

In a migrant shelter, a stone\u2019s throw from the towering, rust-red fence that separates the town from the US state of Arizona, Eduardo rests on a shady patio.<\/p>\n

On one wall, there\u2019s a large wooden cross. And it\u2019s here that Eduardo began to process \u2013 and recover from \u2013 his terrifying ordeal in Mexico.<\/p>\n

Eduardo, who is in his 50s, used to run a fast-food restaurant in Ecuador. But organised crime has tightened its grip in his former, mostly peaceful, South American home.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs business people we were extorted,\u201d he says. Eduardo was threatened with death if he didn\u2019t pay a \u2018tax\u2019 to the gang. \u201cWhat could we do? To save our lives we had to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eduardo never wanted to migrate, but he was frightened and decided to head to the US to ask for asylum.<\/p>\n

Eduardo at the migrant shelter in San Luis Rio Colorado<\/p>\n

His story is typical of thousands of people from many parts of the world fleeing violence and seeking a new life in the US.<\/p>\n

After a record number of arrivals at the end of 2023, Democratic President Joe Biden proposed stricter immigration measures which include shutting the border when it\u2019s overwhelmed. His opponent Republican Donald Trump says he will introduce mass deportations if elected in November.<\/p>\n

What has stayed mostly under the radar in the debate about mass migration to the US is the role of Mexico\u2019s deadly drug trafficking organisations.<\/p>\n

Eduardo began his journey by flying from the Ecuadorean capital Quito to Mexico City. Then he boarded a bus north to Sonoyta on the US border, a journey of more than 30 hours.<\/p>\n

The passengers were a mix of migrants and Mexicans. But what Eduardo didn\u2019t appreciate was that his trip would take him across terrain controlled by some of Mexico\u2019s most violent drug cartels and their associates \u2013 malevolent forces that dominate the business of migration.<\/p>\n

The first time the bus was stopped, it was early morning, around 6am. Ten armed men wearing balaclavas got on board.<\/p>\n

The bus was driven off-road towards the mountains. The men asked to see everyone\u2019s papers. Once they established who the migrants were, they asked each of them for 1500 pesos (US$90) or they would be detained.<\/p>\n

The migrants pooled their cash but were short by 200 pesos (US$12). The men let them off and 11 hours after being stopped, the bus was allowed to go on its way.<\/p>\n

San Luis Rio Colorado, the border town where Eduardo recuperated at the migrant shelter, has also gained a reputation for the kidnap of migrants.<\/p>\n

In May last year, neighbours of a modern, two-storey house on the edge of town reported unusual comings and goings. When the Mexican authorities swooped, five people were arrested and more than 100 migrants freed. Some of them had been held in the house for three weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t have food and water, and they were maltreated physically and psychologically,\u201d says Teresa Flores Munoz, a local police officer involved in the operation.<\/p>\n

She remembers a woman from India. \u201cShe was crying and holding her baby. She pushed the baby at me \u2013 she said I should take him, because they were going to kill him. It was really desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n

US border patrol pick up migrants at Yuma<\/p>\n

Twenty-three nationalities were represented among the captives, including people from Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, China, Mauritania and Senegal.<\/p>\n

According to local reports, the kidnappers demanded US$2,500 from each migrant, double from pregnant women.<\/p>\n

If the migrants do not have the money, the gangs demand it from relatives either back home or north of the border in the US.<\/p>\n

These extortionists and hostage-takers are not only professional criminals \u2013 some are also law enforcement. As Eduardo\u2019s bus continued north through the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Sonora, he says they were stopped at six police checkpoints where officers demanded money from the migrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you didn\u2019t have cash they called you over. They said, \u2018take off your trousers, take off your clothes\u2019, and you have to give them everything, like your suitcase. If you didn\u2019t have money they took your papers \u2013 that\u2019s how I lost some documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Submitted photos taken secretly on a bus raided by armed men<\/p>\n

Bus holdups targeting migrants aren\u2019t unusual. In San Luis Rio Colorado, we worked with a local Mexican journalist. After he left us, he sent us photos, taken secretly, of his bus home being stopped by a gang, their faces covered.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone on the bus knew they were sicarios [hitmen] for the drug and migrant trafficking mafia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The masked men only questioned people they suspected weren\u2019t Mexican \u2013 those in poor clothing, their faces fearful. The five or six migrants taken off the bus were each extorted of up to US$50.<\/p>\n

The door of the men\u2019s truck bore the logo of an agency of Sonora\u2019s State Prosecutor \u2013 AMIC (Agencia Ministerial de Investigaciones Criminales) \u2013 can be seen. Our journalist colleague thinks it was faked.<\/p>\n

Eduardo\u2019s most distressing experience on his journey from Mexico City north to the border happened in the state of Sonora too, around three hours from Sonoyta.<\/p>\n

Again, the bus was stopped by armed men. And because there was not enough cash to hand over, two Colombian families, including five children, were forced off the bus, loaded into a truck and driven away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have enough money to save everyone,\u201d says Eduardo, his voice breaking.<\/p>\n

He was now penniless, his $3,000 savings gone. This meant he couldn\u2019t pay a \u201ccoyote\u201d or people smuggler in Sonoyta to get him across the border illegally into the US.<\/p>\n

The bus driver told Eduardo he risked being kidnapped if he stayed there, and dropped him in San Luis Rio Colorado instead, where Eduardo made his way to the migrant shelter.<\/p>\n

Abducted migrants, or those who refuse to pay the men with guns, may face a terrible fate. Further west along the border, the city of Tijuana has been a jumping off point for people entering the US illegally for decades.<\/p>\n

And recently, bodies of migrants have been found in the hills east of the city \u2013 shot in the head, execution-style. There is speculation they were people who tried to make it onto American soil without paying a \u201ccoyote\u201d or the criminal group that controls that part of the border.<\/p>\n

What is evident is that the cartels have diversified their economic activities to include extortion, kidnap and human smuggling, says Dr Victor Clark Alfaro, a professor at San Diego State University.<\/p>\n

Border at Tijuana<\/p>\n

\u201cI call them \u2018narco-coyotes\u2019 because they not only cross people, they also cross drugs into the US,\u201d he says, adding that migrants can be forced to take narcotics with them.<\/p>\n

In Tijuana, the infamous Sinaloa cartel controls groups of human smugglers and so does the Jalisco New Generation cartel.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence is one of the key elements of organised crime,\u201d says Dr Clark. \u201cViolence used to control their own territories, and against innocents.\u201d<\/p>\n

In San Luis Rio Colorado, Eduardo rested, felt better and got a local job. But after his journey from hell across Mexico, he chose not to risk an illegal crossing into the US with a \u201ccoyote\u201d.<\/p>\n

Instead, he registered with a free, US government online app called CBP One which allows migrants to schedule an appointment at a US Port of Entry.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

If they pass security screening, they may be paroled into the US and allowed to work while they wait for an immigration hearing. This is one of the Biden administration\u2019s measures designed to dilute the power of the cartels.<\/p>\n

Two things have kept Eduardo focused on making it to the US. One is his Catholic faith. The other, some very unwelcome news from Ecuador about a friend, who \u2013 like Eduardo \u2013 was being extorted by criminals.<\/p>\n

Eduardo had wanted the two of them to travel north together. But his friend didn\u2019t want to leave family \u2013 he told Eduardo he would fix things with the gang. He couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe men went to my friend\u2019s shop. They killed him there,\u201d says Eduardo, in tears. \u201cSo, if I\u2019d stayed in Ecuador\u2026 Well, I give thanks to God\u2026 I\u2019ve suffered, but I\u2019m still alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March, Eduardo entered the US legally.<\/p>

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The influx of migrants across the southern US border has become a critical factor in the US presidential election. But what is little known is the role of drug cartels… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4090,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4084\/revisions\/4090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}