“Migrant Kidnappings by Mexican Drug Cartels on the Rise: Government Reports 2,000 Abductions in Past Year”

More than 2,000 people have been kidnapped by drug cartels in Mexico in the past year. So says the Mexican government. Drug cartels kidnap migrants en route to the US from South American countries via Mexico.

The abductions of migrants continue this year as well. The gangs first demand money as a toll for their passage, and then kidnap entire groups of migrants for ransom.

Just this week, ten Colombians were kidnapped in the border town of San Luis Río Colorado. Last week, thirty migrants from Ecuador were kidnapped by cartel members. Relatives in the US say to the AP news agency that $ 2,500 per family member was sometimes demanded for the abductees.

Mexico has been plagued by violence from rival drug cartels for decades. At the beginning of this year, the son of drug lord Joaquín Guzmán, El Chapo, was arrested. But neither that arrest nor the harsh military approach of the Mexican government has led to any improvement.