- Four US citizens were kidnapped in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on March 3.
- US Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, visited the National Palace in Mexico City on March 6 to meet with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in search of the missing Americans.
- The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the return of the kidnapped individuals, and both US and Mexican authorities are working together to resolve the situation.
Three days after the reported kidnapping of four U.S. citizens in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, was captured entering the National Palace to meet with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Around midday on March 6, the diplomatic representative was recorded arriving at the building located in Mexico City’s Historic Center.
His presence there was part of the search for his fellow citizens, who were attacked and kidnapped by an armed commando on March 3.
Just a few hours before his visit, Ken Salazar issued a statement saying that US authorities are already working with the Mexican government to find the whereabouts of the four missing Americans.
“We have no higher priority than the safety of our citizens. This is the most fundamental role of the U.S. government. Officials from various U.S. law enforcement agencies are working with Mexican authorities at all levels of government to ensure the safe return of our fellow Americans,” he said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) currently offers a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the return of the people kidnapped in Matamoros.
Although no information has been released so far on what was discussed in the meeting between the ambassador and the President of Mexico (which lasted at least an hour), during the press conference held on March 6th, the Chief of the Federal Executive stated that “the situation is being taken care of.”
“I believe it will be resolved, I hope so (…) The information we have is that they crossed the border to buy medicines in Mexico, and there was a confrontation between groups, and they were detained (…) The whole government is working on it,” he said.
In this regard, the president said that he expects that by the afternoon of this same Monday, March 6, further details of what happened and the progress of the investigations will be given. He also added that the governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villareal Anaya, is in constant coordination with the authorities of both countries, especially with the head of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), Rosa Icela Rodríguez.
What is known about the case in Matamoros
On March 3, four people of U.S. origin crossed the border into Matamoros aboard a white minivan with North Carolina license plates.
Shortly after arriving in Mexican territory, armed men attacked the group of foreigners and began shooting at the car they were traveling in. Subsequently, they forced them out of the vehicle and put them in another vehicle.
In addition to the kidnapping, a Mexican was killed. At the same time, a video was left as evidence, which recorded the moment a group of at least four armed individuals dragged the bodies of two people through the street in broad daylight.
So far, the assailants’ identity and possible relationship with one of the organized crime groups operating in the region are unknown. However, the event has already caused various reactions in Mexico and the United States.
Among the comments issued was that of 51-year-old businessman Elon Musk, who recently confirmed the installation of his Tesla gigafactory in Nuevo Leon, the neighboring state of Tamaulipas, the key scene of the kidnapping.
This is how Elon Musk reacted to the kidnapping of four US citizens in Matamoros.
Tycoon Elon Musk reacted to kidnapping US citizens in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, a state neighboring Nuevo León, where he will install his Tesla gigafactory.
Through his official Twitter account, the 51-year-old businessman expressed his reaction to the violent events that occurred last Friday, March 3, in the border city, where at least four U.S. citizens were deprived of their freedom by armed individuals, and their whereabouts are still unknown.
In light of this, the SpaceX CEO commented on a publication by FoxNews correspondent Bill Melugin, who shared a news item about what happened on the said social network due to the impact these events have had in the neighboring country.
“This is crazy!” said Elon Musk in response to the kidnapping of the Americans, without commenting further on the matter. Despite the brevity of the statement, the tycoon’s reaction is relevant due to the fact that these events took place in the north of the country, an area where he will soon install a Tesla gigafactory.
It is not known if these events will have any repercussions on the Private Initiative in the state since, with the arrival of Tesla in Mexico, experts in the field estimate that multiple investments could be made in Tamaulipas, where Musk’s company has more than twenty suppliers in Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, and Reynosa.
Likewise, businessmen from the import and export sector in said entity showed interest in being suppliers of SpaceX (founded in 2022 by Elon Musk), whose space base is in Brownsville, Texas.
“Matamoros has industrial parks with available land and has the vocation for export manufacturing. The arrival of investments such as SpaceX and the Tesla plant has generated the application of at least 11 companies in the sector,” commented the Secretary of Economic Development of Tamaulipas, Carlos García González, in mid-January.