Kidnapping of four Americans in Mexico: a “misunderstanding” of the kidnappers

UPDATE DAY

MEXICO CITY | The kidnapping of four Americans in northeastern Mexico, two of whom were found dead on Tuesday, is the result of a “misunderstanding” on the part of the kidnappers, Mexican authorities said on Tuesday. 

“The theory that this is a misunderstanding and not a deliberate assault is growing stronger,” said Irving Barrios, state attorney for Tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico, during a press conference.

Although other hypotheses on the causes of the abduction are not excluded, the track of misunderstanding is considered “the most solid” and “certainly the fairest.”

Mexican authorities have also confirmed the repatriation of the two US citizens found alive, a man and a woman identified by US media as Latavia Washington McGee and Eric James Williams. They were handed over to US authorities at one of the border bridges between Matamoros and the nearby town of Brownsville.

Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal said at the same press conference that the woman was unhurt and that the man had been shot in the leg.

The bodies of the two deceased persons should be repatriated “in the next few hours”, once the autopsy reports are concluded, a- he added.