This Monday, Samira Gutiérrez, who resides in the Puente Real sector of San Cristóbal, Táchira State in western Venezuela, where on October 30th, at least 22 Táchira residents left for the United States. She reported that these migrants are not missing, as as had been reported in recent days, but rather that “they are kidnapped” by a group of criminals that operates on the Mexican border.
Luz Dary Depablos / Correspondent lapatilla.com
Shwing obvious despair, Gutiérrez assured that three of her loved ones are in the hands of a criminal organization that keeps them in captivity and that is requesting 3,500 dollars to release each migrant. That means this family from Tachira would have to pay 10,500 dollars so that their relatives be released, since to date no Mexican authority has responded to the complaints filed since last week in which the situation of their loved ones has been reported.
Likewise, it was learned that some of the members of this group of people have already been released, apparently because they agreed to pay the fee requested by the kidnappers.
Samira Gutiérrez assures that her sister, her nephew, and her brother-in-law decided to risk migrating using the land route fleeing the complex humanitarian crisis in the country and in search of better living conditions.
Furthermore, she makes clear that her family does not have the means to pay the money requested by the captors and they fear for the lives of these fellow citizens of Táchira who are held captive in the hands of strangers.
On the other hand, the whereabouts of the other 35 Venezuelans who disappeared in San Andrés (Colombia) on October 21st are still unknown.