Mexico has questioned local police over the disappearance and killing of three US siblings in the troubled north-eastern state of Tamaulipas, the state attorney general said on Saturday.
Erica, 26, Alex, 22, and Jose Angel Alvarado, 21, went missing on 13 October from the cartel-riddled border city of Matamoros.
Their decaying bodies were found on 29 October along with that of José Guadalupe Castañeda, a Mexican citizen, the Tamaulipas state attorney general’s office said in a statement.
“We can confirm the deaths of US citizens Erica, Alex, and Jose Angel Alvarado near Matamoros, Mexico,” a statement from the US embassy in Mexico City said on Saturday.
“We have been in contact with Mexican officials both in Washington and in Mexico to find out further details of the case and will take appropriate action once more is known on the circumstances.”
The incident is the latest example of drug-related violence in Mexico, where corrupt police are often working at the behest of local drug lords.
A recent scandal involving the disappearance of 43 students in the south-western state of Guerrero has roiled the country and undermined President Enrique Peña Nieto’s claims that the country is getting safer under his watch.
Federal prosecutors have accused the mayor of the Guerrero town of Iguala of enlisting corrupt local police to hand over the students, who went missing more than a month ago, to a powerful local drug gang.
Speaking on the case of the Alvarado family, the Tamaulipas state attorney general, Ismael Quintanilla, said in a statement that witnesses had said members of Grupo Hércules, a local elite police unit, were involved in the siblings’ kidnapping.
Nine of them had been called in to clear up their role in the Americans’ disappearance, Quintanilla added, along with the head of the Matamoros police.
The US embassy in Mexico City said it had seen reports suggesting Grupo Hércules members had been seen with the Alvarados before their disappearance.
“We can confirm that the United States has not trained Grupo Hércules,” the US statement said.
About 100,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2007.
Mexico questions police after bodies of three missing Americans found | World news | The Guardian
Erica, 26, Alex, 22, and Jose Angel Alvarado, 21, went missing on 13 October from the cartel-riddled border city of Matamoros.
Their decaying bodies were found on 29 October along with that of José Guadalupe Castañeda, a Mexican citizen, the Tamaulipas state attorney general’s office said in a statement.
“We can confirm the deaths of US citizens Erica, Alex, and Jose Angel Alvarado near Matamoros, Mexico,” a statement from the US embassy in Mexico City said on Saturday.
“We have been in contact with Mexican officials both in Washington and in Mexico to find out further details of the case and will take appropriate action once more is known on the circumstances.”
The incident is the latest example of drug-related violence in Mexico, where corrupt police are often working at the behest of local drug lords.
A recent scandal involving the disappearance of 43 students in the south-western state of Guerrero has roiled the country and undermined President Enrique Peña Nieto’s claims that the country is getting safer under his watch.
Federal prosecutors have accused the mayor of the Guerrero town of Iguala of enlisting corrupt local police to hand over the students, who went missing more than a month ago, to a powerful local drug gang.
Speaking on the case of the Alvarado family, the Tamaulipas state attorney general, Ismael Quintanilla, said in a statement that witnesses had said members of Grupo Hércules, a local elite police unit, were involved in the siblings’ kidnapping.
Nine of them had been called in to clear up their role in the Americans’ disappearance, Quintanilla added, along with the head of the Matamoros police.
The US embassy in Mexico City said it had seen reports suggesting Grupo Hércules members had been seen with the Alvarados before their disappearance.
“We can confirm that the United States has not trained Grupo Hércules,” the US statement said.
About 100,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2007.
Mexico questions police after bodies of three missing Americans found | World news | The Guardian
