It’s not every day that a powerful Mexican drug cartel not only apologizes for doing wrong but turns in five of its own members responsible. However, that’s exactly what happened in the border city of Matamoros last week. The Mexican Gulf Cartel issued a mia culpa and handed over the suspects accused of kidnapping four American citizens on Friday, March 3 in broad daylight. Two of the victims ended up dead.
Authorities believed the kidnappers took each of their victims to different locations to “creative confusion and avoid rescue efforts.” However, all were discovered together on March 7 in a wooden shack outside Matamoros.
Now, Scorpions Group, a faction of the Gulf Cartel, have said they’re sorry about the misunderstanding. The cartel claims the five men involved in the kidnapping “acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline” and violated the cartel’s rule to “protect the lives of the innocent.”
There was also an apology given to the victims and their families as well as the Mexican woman who was killed by gunfire during the kidnapping. Victims Latavia ‘Tay’ McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams were all taken for treatment once they were found. However, Brown and Woodard didn’t survive the ordeal.
Mexican law enforcement believes that the Americans were likely mistaken for members of a rival cartel. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in a statement (via TODAY): “We are very sorry that this happened in our country and we send our condolences to the families of the victims, friends, and the United States government, and we will continue doing our work to guarantee peace and tranquillity.”
