Mexico Drug Cartel: Sorry For Kidnapping And Murder

Mexico Drug Cartel: Sorry For Kidnapping And Murder

Mexico Drug Cartel: Sorry For Kidnapping And Murder

Is this “honor among thieves”? Or is it a “better clean up this mess before we end up in a very deep hole” CYA move?

The Mexican drug cartel that is apparently responsible for the kidnapping of four Americans and the murder of two of them is now trying a “sorry, our bad” approach and dumping off the members of said cartel that they claim are responsible.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press through a Tamaulipas state law enforcement official, the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel apologized to the residents of Matamoros where the Americans were kidnapped, the Mexican woman who died in the cartel shootout, and the four Americans and their families.”

“We have decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline,” the letter reads, adding that those individuals had gone against the cartel’s rules, which include “respecting the life and well-being of the innocent.”


Who exactly did they turn over? Allegedly, five men were found with this apology letter.

A photograph of five bound men face-down on the pavement accompanied the letter, which was shared with The Associated Press by the official on condition that they remain anonymous because they were not authorized to share the document.”

State officials did not immediately publicly confirm having new suspects in custody.”

A separate state security official said that five men had been found tied up inside one of the vehicles that authorities had been searching for, along with the letter. That official also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the case.”

There are a couple of photographs circulating around of the five men. One does show them face down, with hands tied up and over their heads. The other picture is a little more… casual?


Call me cynical, but those don’t look like guys in fear for their lives after being sold out by the cartel.

If you haven’t followed the story up until now, four Americans went to Mexico, one of them for a planned cosmetic surgery. While the timeline has not been confirmed, it seems that the surgery never took place and the group was kidnapped pretty quickly after crossing the border.

Members of a Mexican cartel kidnapped four Americans who traveled across the border from Brownsville, Texas, to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, last week. Two of the Americans and an innocent Mexican bystander died during the incident, according to U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar.”

An internal government document reviewed by Reuters indicated Mexican law enforcement is pursuing an investigation into the possibility the kidnapping occurred because the cartel members believed the Americans had encroached on their turf.”

The document includes details of the Americans, including drug-related convictions against two of the members, which the Mexican government allegedly argued makes it possible the Americans “could be directly linked to drug trafficking operations.”

The four Americans have been identified as LaTavia McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Eric Williams and Zindell Brown, all of South Carolina. The FBI has said it cannot identify the survivors, but McGee and Williams have been identified by their families as the survivors, and Mexican officials confirmed Woodard and Brown as the deceased.”

There was apparently a fifth person who went with the group, but she did not cross the border.

Cheryl Orange, who did not cross into Mexico with the others, told The Associated Press in a text message that her three friends were supposed to return within 15 minutes after dropping off their companion, Latavia McGee, for cosmetic surgery in the Mexican border city of Matamoros on Friday.”

Orange stayed behind at a motel in Brownsville, Texas, and said she grew concerned as the hours passed and she did not hear from the others.”

The five friends had driven a rented minivan from South Carolina on Thursday to the southern tip of Texas, according to a police report based on Orange’s account. Four of them left Friday morning around 8 a.m. to go to Mexico.”

Orange told police she didn’t cross the border because she didn’t have her identification. She said she could not provide additional details because she was awaiting a call from McGee, who was to be released from a hospital in Brownsville. The other wounded American, Eric Williams, was also being treated at the hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg.”

When Orange reported her friends missing, some interesting details came out.

Orange stressed to authorities that the group had been at the southern tip of Texas for the cosmetic procedure as lengthy rap sheets emerged of the four members who were hauled into a truck and kidnapped for four days by Mexican crime and drug syndicate the Gulf Cartel.”

A case report obtained by NewsNation states that Orange ‘appeared worried and nervous’ and ‘an odor of marijuana’ had been ’emitting from her person.”

The report from the Brownsville Police Department also stated that: ‘Cheryl did not appear to know the details of Latavia’s surgery, but did state that she believed the surgery to be a gluteal augmentation.”

The report continued: ‘Cheryl stated that she would not be surprised if her friends got arrested because they are known to party and use narcotics.”

Now, everything right now is an open question. First, there have been claims that the group may have been mistaken for Haitian smugglers, and the drug cartel reacted without knowing who they were. Second, we have no way of knowing at this point if the group interacted with the cartel before the abduction and murders, which could either make the entire arrest history of the group either highly relevant, or completely moot. Third, we don’t know what the cartel is doing with this “apology” letter and their gift of suspects. Are they simply trying to take the heat off themselves, after watching the growing spat between Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and United States officials?

The apparent letter from the cartel comes after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he was prepared to introduce legislation to “set the stage” for the U.S. to use force in Mexico.”

“I would put Mexico on notice,” Graham said in an appearance on Fox News earlier this week. “If you continue to give safe haven to drug dealers, then you are an enemy of the United States.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Thursday slammed U.S. lawmakers for suggesting military action against Mexican drug cartels.”

“We are not going to allow any foreign government to intervene, much less a foreign government’s armed forces,” López Obrador told reporters during a press conference.”

“We are not a protectorate of the United States, nor a colony of the United States,” he added. “Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign state.”

Yeah, Mexico is not free and independent and sovereign. It has become a narco-terrorist controlled country, with a few clean spots for tourists that Mexico is desperate to keep safe and clean in order to bring in tourist cash, and everything else is a mess. And don’t look to the Biden administration to do anything aggressive here.


Granted, Karine Jean-Pierre is horrible at her job, but her brush-off to Peter Doocy is indicative of how the administration has continually failed on both the border, and the drug trafficking that is coming across the border.

The cartel is definitely trying to defuse the situation, but how much of that is real, and how much of that is for show? As I said earlier, the guys in the photo don’t exactly look worried. What are the odds that in a few weeks, these five are back out on the streets? Apology letter or not, until we have a better idea of what drew the cartel to this group of Americans, I wouldn’t recommend going to Mexico at all at this point. If we had an administration that cared about the safety of Americans abroad (which we clearly do not unless they fit an intersectional profile), they would be closing the border to American tourists going to Mexico in order to put pressure on the Mexican government to clean things up. Just imagine what would happen if those tourist dollars weren’t being spent in Mexico any longer. Think that might be enough incentive to stop the cartels? Or is it just too late for Mexico?

Featured image via CarlosAlcazar on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license

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6 Comments
  • Cameron says:

    There is no need for any American to travel to Mexico for vacation or getting a medical procedure.

    • GWB says:

      *waggles hand*
      Mexico has had a looser medical regulation for a long time now, and a great many cancer patients (in particular) have gone there over the last few decades for treatments that in America are experimental or not yet approved. And you paid in cash, so your insurance company didn’t have a record of it. Some of those trips were out of desperation, because no doctor in America could treat the issue.

      Plastic surgery, though? You can’t find some woman in downtown Atlanta with a syringe of silicon?

      • Cameron says:

        I understand and agree with your point but now it’s probably better to go somewhere else for medical tourism.

  • GWB says:

    Good attention to this, Deanna.
    I think the rap sheets are relevant because I don’t think these folks crossed the border solely (at least) for some “gluteal augmentation”. They seriously couldn’t find some other non-licensed practitioner on the east coast somewhere? Or have all those people been scared out of the business because of their patients dying on them? Nah, I doubt that. I’m going to bet they brought some stuff across the border with them, and it set off the cartel.
    As to the cartel guys they dropped off…. I think those guys know it’s better for them to go to prison than what the cartel will do to them for screwing up. And there’s probably some name-dropping going to go on about that cartel’s rivals.

    This seems like a perfectly legit attempt by a warlord government (the cartel) to not get its nearest neighbor so pissed they bring the Marines in.

    BTW, I’ve advocated for another Pershing Expedition for years now. But I think we should keep a bunch of the land once we do, and use it as a buffer region against illegal aliens.

    • Cameron says:

      But I think we should keep a bunch of the land once we do, and use it as a buffer region against illegal aliens.

      Agreed. Either make it a free fire zone for artillery training or a way to help bored Marines and Soldiers burn off energy.

  • American Human says:

    Not only stop people from vacationing in Mexico but put a 50% tax on all wire transfers from the U.S. to Mexico. I would bet that just about all wire transfers are from illegals anyway. They most likely don’t pay any tax in the first place.

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