Last week, four Americans were kidnapped after crossing the border at Brownsville, Texas into Matamoros, Mexico. Two were killed. The grisly incident is an example of a much broader issue facing the country of Mexico.
Four Americans were on a road trip for cheap cosmetic surgery in Mexico. When they crossed into Matamoros, gunfire erupted. Reports say they were mistaken for rival Haitian drug cartel members. Men in tactical vests with assault rifles surrounded their car, loaded them into a pick-up truck, and sped away. They were moved multiple times to avoid detection. They were even taken to a medical clinic. A few days later, they were found in a wooden shack fifteen miles east of the city—two had been killed, and another shot in the leg. The survivors were taken back to Brownsville, while the slain were kept in Mexico for medical processing.
Matamoros is a stronghold of the Gulf Cartel, which uses the city to funnel drugs into the US. While most of the violence is between cartels, civilians get caught in the crossfire. Thousands of Mexicans have disappeared in the state of Tamaulipas alone over the last fifteen years. This time Americans were caught-up. In principle, a modern nation-state should be able to clear-out chiefdom-level drug cartels; however, some nation-states have not progressed to the point where they can do that. Juvenescence such as corruption within justice departments, immature legal codes with gaps that can be exploited, a lack institutions to deal with problems, fixing the problem not being a priority for those in power, and government officials in league with criminal organizations all hinder control over such factions.
The Mexican president vowed those responsible would be brought to justice, but then he highlighted how more Mexicans are killed in the US than the other way around. Such a claim may be factually correct, but it ignores the broader deficiencies in development that allow a state of violence to exist in the first place. Reducing that level of violence requires further development of societal infrastructure, not simply finding a couple of killers.
Source:
Alfredo Pena, Fabiola Sanchez, and Travs Loller, “Survivors of Deadly Mexico Abduction Returned to Us,” Associated Press, 7 March 2023; see also https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/07/mexico-kidnapped-americans-killed/b6123b6e-bcfa-11ed-9350-7c5fccd598ad_story.html
Daniel Becerril, “Two of Four Americans Kidnapped by Gunmen in Mexico Found Dead,” Reuters, 7 March 2023; see also https://www.reuters.com/world/us/two-americans-kidnapped-mexico-are-alive-two-dead-2023-03-07/
“Mexico Warns Biden About Crossing Red Line over Americans Killed,” Politico, 7 March 2023.
Photo: AP
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