Mexican cartel kidnapping: Americans reportedly seen on Facebook live video shortly after crossing border Geopolitics News

A Facebook live stream captured the moments after four kidnapped Americans crossed the border into Mexico, according to a report.

Four Americans, Latavia “Tay” McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Eric Williams and Zindell Brown, were kidnapped by members of a Mexican cartel as they crossed the border from Brownsville, Texas, to Matamoros, Tamaulipas last week while they were trying to get a tummy tuck surgery.

The FBI said in a statement it could not identify the survivors, but Williams and McGee have been identified as survivors by their families.

According to CNN, one of the men inside the van the four Americans were in recorded live video on Facebook as it drove through a run-down section of Matamoros.

MEXICAN CARTEL ‘APOLOGIZES’ IN LETTER FOR KIDNAPPING, MURDER OF AMERICANS, HOLDS MEMBERS ‘RESPONSIBLE’

“You’ve never been to Mexico,” one of the men said. “You don’t know how it is in Mexico.”

The man then said “hola” in the video, causing people inside the car to laugh.

Tamaulipas Governor Americo Villarreal said authorities found the four people inside a wooden shack guarded by a man who was later arrested.

The cartel moved the kidnapped Americans to different locations and at one point took them to a medical clinic “to confuse and avoid efforts to rescue them,” according to WBTW.

Servicemen walk at the scene where authorities found the bodies of two of the four Americans abducted by gunmen, in Matamoros, Mexico, March 7, 2023. (Reuters/Daniel Becerril)

An apology letter purportedly from the cartel behind the kidnappings and murders of the Americans says it dealt with its members who were “involved and responsible” in the incident, adding that they have been turned over to authorities.

“We have decided to remove those who were directly involved in and responsible for the events, who at all times acted according to their own decision and lack of discipline,” the letter said.

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Note allegedly left by the Gulf Cartel for Mexican authorities apologizing for the actions of certain members they believe were responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Americans last week. (Twitter)

A photo of five men lying face down on the sidewalk accompanied the letter, which also apologized to the residents of Matamoros.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a Tuesday press conference that the two survivors were repatriated to the United States “with the help of our Mexican partners, with the help of our officials in Mexico”.

The State Department is working to get the bodies of the deceased back to the United States, but Mexican authorities say they will be returned after forensic work is complete.

Barbara Burgess, mother of survivor Latavia “Tay” McGee, said her daughter cried on the phone as they spoke.

“I asked her how she was doing,” Burgess said. “She was fine. She was crying because her brother had been killed, and she saw him die. She saw two die. They died in front of her.”

TOU

Five members of the Gulf Cartel who the group says were responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Americans south of the border last week. (Twitter)

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that “these types of attacks are unacceptable,” adding that the Biden administration is “ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance.”

The Associated Press and Peter Aitken of TOU contributed to this report.