Mexican cartel issues apology letter for kidnapping, killing Americans
Cartel bosses hand over their members responsible for the attack
Five Gulf Cartel assassins who kidnapped four Americans and killed two have been tied up and dumped in the street by narco bosses.
The suspects were pictured as they were arrested in the center of the border city of Matamoros on Wednesday night, March 8.
A note from their Mexican drug cartel bosses, written in Spanish, was left with the henchmen. In the note, the bosses apologised for the killings and claimed they were happy to hand over those responsible.
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press through a Tamaulipas state law enforcement source, the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel apologized to the residents of Matamoros where the Americans were kidnapped, the Mexican woman who died in the cartel shootout, and the four Americans and their families.
“We have decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline,” the letter reads, adding that those individuals had gone against the cartel’s rules, which include “respecting the life and well-being of the innocent.”
A photograph of five bound men face down on the pavement accompanied the letter.
A separate state security official said that five men had been found tied up inside one of the vehicles that authorities had been searching for, along with the letter.
The cousin of one of the victims said his family feels “great” knowing that Eric Williams, who was shot in the left leg, is alive but does not accept any apologies from the cartel blamed for kidnapping the Americans.
“It ain’t gonna change nothing about the suffering that we went through,” Jerry Wallace told The Associated Press on Thursday, March 9. Wallace, 62, called for the American and Mexican governments to better address cartel violence.
Last Friday, March 3, the four Americans crossed into Matamoros from Texas so that one of them could have cosmetic surgery. Around midday, they were fired on in downtown Matamoros and then loaded into a pickup truck. A Mexican woman, Areli Pablo Servando, 33, was also killed, apparently by a stray bullet.
Another friend, who remained in Brownsville, called police after being unable to reach the group that crossed the border Friday morning.
