The US government is secretly working with the Mexican government to end the drug cartels’ control after 4 Americans were kidnapped and 2 killed last week.
The violence against US citizens in a border town fueled calls to Congress for the U.S. government to designate Mexican drug cartels as “terrorist” organizations.
The murders of 2 Americans is putting pressure on President Biden and Congress to give the US military more funding and assets to fight the cartels.
Classifying the cartels as “terrorists” would allow the US military to eliminate the cartels which control Mexico.
The Mexican government is eager for the US to end the cartels.
“We’re asking them to use everything in their power to go after these drug cartels,” Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra told Border Report on Tuesday.
The brazen daytime kidnapping of 4 Americans unfolded in Matamoros, Mexico on March 3.
Latavia “Tay” McGee, 33, her cousin Shaeed Woodard, 33 (pictured), and friends Zindell Brown, 28, and Eric Williams were kidnapped by the Gulf drug cartel. The three men were shot and all 4 were thrown into the back of a pickup truck.
Officials say the cartel mistook the four close friends for members of a Haitian drug gang. Receipts inside their minivan show they were headed to a clinic in Matamoros, where McGee was scheduled to undergo a tummy tuck procedure.
On Tuesday, Mexican authorities announced that two of the Americans were dead. They were later identified as Brown and Woodard.
The captors moved the Americans to multiple locations over four days.
A small army of agents located McGee and Williams early Tuesday morning in a shack about 30 minutes from Matamoros. McGee was unharmed, but Williams was shot in the left leg. Both victims were hungry and dehydrated. McGee was barefoot and covered in dirt.
They were transported back to the US where they received treatment at a Brownsville, Texas hospital on Tuesday.
Michelle Williams told CNN she spoke with her husband, Eric, shortly after he was rescued.
“I didn’t hear from him after Friday,” she said. “Friday morning he texted me and I texted him back immediately. He didn’t respond so I’m going to assume that’s when he was ambushed.”
On Sunday, she said FBI agents showed up at her door and told her that Eric was kidnapped in Mexico. She was unaware that he was in Mexico. Michelle told WBTW News she thought she was being scammed.
McGee’s family members say they didn’t know she was abducted until the Mexican clinic called to say she missed her appointment.
One abductor is in custody. Jose Guadalupe N., 24, was guarding the captors in the shack when agents arrived. Police are still hunting the other cartel members.
