700 Kidnapped Migrants Rescued in 3 Months in Tamaulipas, Mexico Kyra Gurney - InSight Crime
go to original September 1, 2014

Mexican authorities say they have rescued 700 kidnapped migrants in Mexico's Tamaulipas state since May, underscoring the dangers facing migrants traveling through the embattled northeastern state as fragmented criminal groups increasingly turn to kidnapping this vulnerable group as a source of revenue.

According to Fernando Castañon, the federal security coordinator in Mexico's coastal region, the 700 kidnapped migrants were rescued from nine safe houses between the implementation of a new security strategy in May and the end of August, reported Terra.

Four of the safe houses were located in the city of Tampico, where, according to Castañon, authorities had previously failed to look for this type of criminal activity because the city is not located near the US border, Hoy Tamaulipas said.

Castañon added that the objective of human smugglers "is no longer to transport [migrants] to the other side of the border, but to extort them," reported Terra.

Meanwhile, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has revealed that only 7 percent of preliminary human trafficking investigations in the country lead to convictions, reported Milenio.

Read the rest at InSight Crime

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!