Three Nicaraguan citizens residing in Spain kidnapped in Mexico freed after alerting the Civil Guard

MADRID, 19 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Three Nicaraguan citizens residing in Spain have been released in Mexico after efforts initiated by the Civil Guard, which was alerted by the mother of one of them that she was being extorted despite the fact that she had paid 19,000 euros to the captors.

The victims, an adult couple and a minor, all from Nicaragua, left Spain for their country last September, with the aim of crossing the United States border from Ciudad Juárez (Mexico).

To cross into the US, the couple had hired the services of an organization of "coyotes", specialized in crossing immigrants irregularly, according to the Civil Guard. During the 53 days they were kidnapped they were recorded while they were beaten, demanding money from their relatives under the threat that they would be dismembered.

In the middle of last October, after a long journey through several Central American countries, these people arrived in Ciudad Juárez, where they were attacked with firearms by a mafia cartel of "coyotes", specifically the well-known "New Juárez Cartel".

These three people were detained and transferred against their will to different locations, at least three, where they remained confined in inhumane conditions for 53 days, living with more than a hundred hostages from different Ibero-American countries.

During their captivity, the victims were subjected to continuous attacks, being forced to contact their families by telephone and videoconference, demanding money for their release, all under strong threats of murder by the captors.

Faced with this situation, at the end of November the mother of one of the kidnapped, a Spanish citizen residing in the province of Madrid, informed the Civil Guard of the kidnapping of her 25-year-old son, and that of his sentimental partner, 34, along with her youngest son.

The calls and videoconferences continued throughout the day and night, with continuous threats by the captors to torture, dismember and even kill the victims if the required payments were not made, even sending videos in which they captives were assaulted with stun guns.

Following the mother's complaint, specialized agents from the Central Operative Unit (UCO) and the Madrid Command of the Civil Guard activated collaboration with the Specialized Unit to Combat Kidnapping (UECS) of the State Attorney General's Office of Justice Chihuahua. The release took place last December, verifying that the three citizens were in "reasonably good health."

The family of those kidnapped did not make any new payment since they brought the facts to the attention of the Civil Guard, which in a statement recalled the risks to which immigrants who try to cross the southern border of the United States are exposed clandestinely.