Mexican authorities revealed on Tuesday that they believe the kidnapping of the four Americans in the northern state of Tamaulipas, of which two died, it was the result of a "confusion" of the criminals, and clarified that there is no US agents in the country.
"The line that it was a mix-up, not a direct aggression is getting stronger, that is the line that we have right now as the most viable and it is surely the most correct"said the Attorney General of Justice of Tamaulipas, Irving Barrios, at a press conference with the security cabinet of the Government of Mexico.
However, the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Mexico, Rosa Icela RodrÃguez, assured that they do not rule out any line of investigation after the discovery of the Americans on Tuesday and the return of the two alive to the United States.
In line with the confusion hypothesis, a US official told CNN that the kidnappers mistook the victims for Haitian drug traffickers.
Although the governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villareal, denied that there are agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Mexico, he did admit that they work with them to exchange information.
In this way, Barrios added, they were able to determine that the victims’ visit to Mexico was for medical reasons, since one of them was going to undergo cosmetic surgery.
In addition, the prosecutor reported that the only person detained at the moment is José Guadalupe "No."a 23-year-old young man who carried out surveillance work at the place where the victims were found, a wooden hut located in the town of La Lagunona.
The authorities have not been able to determine the number of people who participated in the crime and have not confirmed whether they belong to the Gulf Cartel, the criminal group that operates in the area.
"We do not have elements that allow us to say that the person arrested (is from the Gulf Cartel)"Barrios said.
Just as the two survivors were handed over to the US authorities this morning, the Tamaulipas authorities indicated that the two corpses will be repatriated in the next few hours, once the corresponding forensic tests are carried out.
Finally, they recalled that a Mexican woman, who was a few meters from the kidnapping scene, died from a stray bullet.
The FBI reported on Sunday the disappearance of the four Americans, kidnapped last Friday after crossing the border in the border city of Matamoros, in Tamaulipas, one of the Mexican states hardest hit by violence.