Puerto Vallarta (PVDN) – On May 2nd, a family of 10 Colombians were abducted near San Luis Río Colorado, a city in Mexico’s Sonora state. The group had previously been in Puerto Vallarta. Three days later, on May 5th, they were reported found and safely rescued by the authorities.
The Sonora State Security Bureau stated that after numerous operations, they discovered the Colombian migrants—seven men and three women—near a gas station on Luis Donaldo Colosio Boulevard. This location is two kilometers from the exit booth of San Luis Río Colorado, en route to Mexicali, Baja California.
The successful “rescue” of the migrants was praised by both Mexican authorities and the Colombian Consulate. However, in a subsequent interview with Caracol Radio, a Colombian radio station, one of the abductees, William N., divulged a story that starkly contrasted with the official narrative.
William explained that they had traveled from Mexico City to Puerto Vallarta, then on to San Luis Río Colorado. He alleged that throughout their journey, they were subjected to extortions by local authorities. He claimed they were stopped, searched, and robbed twice after passing a military checkpoint.
An hour after their arrival in San Luis Río Colorado, their bus was intercepted by two vehicles bearing men who identified themselves as members of the “Sonora group” or “Sonora cartel.” Likely referring to the Sinaloa Cartel, which has two cells operating in the Mexicali-San Luis Río Colorado corridor. The cartel members forcibly transferred the family to a truck and took them deep into the desert. Here, they were divested of their remaining money and held captive.
“We thought they were going to take our lives,” William confessed. They were abandoned in a desolate house near a highway, the same route they had been kidnapped from.
Two days later, the captives were relocated to another house in San Luis Río Colorado, joining numerous other captives of various nationalities. William implied that the local Migration and Army authorities had been complicit, as they allowed the bus to pass through checkpoints unimpeded.
Upon their arrival at the second house, the captors initiated negotiations for their release, demanding approximately $15,000 per person from their relatives back home. Once the ransom was paid, they were left at a gas station, where they were discovered by the authorities under peculiar circumstances that raised William’s suspicion.
Once liberated, William and his family were taken to Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico, where they initiated the process to surrender themselves to the U.S. At the time of the interview, they were in New York, uncertain of their future due to the rescindment of Title 42, which heightened the likelihood of their deportation back to Colombia.
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