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PULSE NEWS MEXICO

One day after the White House declared the kidnapping of four U.S. citizens over the weekend in the northern Mexican town of  Matamoros, Tamaulipas, “unacceptable,” Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal, on Tuesday, March 7, announced that they have found the missing Americans, two of whom were dead.

One of the two surviving victims was wounded, Villarreal said in a phone call to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) that was broadcast live during the president’s daily morning press conference Tuesday.

Mexican Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez said that there was one detained suspect in the case, and that Mexican authorities are working closely with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to find all the culprits.

The two surviving victims were returned to the United States early Tuesday morning.

Matamoros is considered ground zero for the Gulf Cartel, one of the oldest organized crime groups in Mexico, and is known for its warring factions.

In recent months, the fighting has increased, leaving numerous civilians dead and many more caught in the middle, with very little intervention from either state or federal authorities.