A Mexican drug cartel claiming responsibility has handed over five assassins who kidnapped the four Americans and killed two, and left a note of apology.
They are seen tied up and dumped in the street by narco bosses who condemned the violence and said the gang turned over to authorities its own members who were responsible.
Photos making rounds show five men on the pavement with their hands tied – four of them shirtless – in front of a pickup truck, which has a handwritten letter of apology on the windshield, 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.’
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.
Another friend, who remained in Brownsville, called police after being unable to reach the group that crossed the border Friday morning.
A Mexican woman, Areli Pablo Servando, 33, was also killed, apparently by a stray bullet.
The Americans’ killings brought National Guard troops and an Army special forces outfit running patrols that ‘heat up the plaza’ in narco terminology, Mexican security analyst David Saucedo said.
‘It is very difficult right now for them to continue working in terms of street-level drug sales and transferring drugs to the United States; they are the first ones interested in closing this chapter as soon as possible,’ Saucedo said.
State officials did not immediately publicly confirm having new suspects in custody.
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 official also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the case.
