EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Four members of a motorcycle club abducted by drug cartel operatives during a ride in the mountains of western Chihuahua have been freed, Attorney General Cesar Jauregui said on Thursday.
The victims include residents of the binational community of LeBaron, Chihuahua, which was rocked by the murders of three women and six children – all of them American citizens – during a drug cartel attack in November 2019.
The bikers started their ride in Nuevo Casas Grandes and were passing through the community of Maderal del Largo in western Chihuahua on Monday when one of the motorcycles broke down. According to Jauregui, it was then that members of an organized criminal group operating in the area took them prisoner.
“They were taken to some cabanas and questioned by this group. After (the interrogation), two of them were freed, but they would not release the other two,” Jauregui said in a news conference on Facebook Live. “With the substantial presence of state police, the army, the National Guard in the area – searching and making their presence known – I think we were able to dissuade this criminal group, to have them understand it would be better for them to free these people.”
Members of the LeBaron community members put out posters identifying the victims as Chrisian Bruce LeBaron Johnson, Shem Lamar Stubbs Gwin, Miguel Angel Moreno Sanchez, and Manuel Horacio Rios Jacobo. LeBaron is an independent Mormon settlement established in the early 20th century and today includes several members holding U.S. and Mexican citizenship.
“(The authorities) told us they freed Miguel and Horacio, who were still being held. They tell us they are badly beaten but, thank God, they are alive and will be reunited with their family and friends, soon,” activist Adrian LeBaron said on social media. “This shows that when people are united and organize and decide not to keep silent, miracles can happen.”
LeBaron community members held a protest in the state capital earlier this week, demanding the safe return of their relatives.
Jauregui on Thursday said no one has been arrested for the abductions and expressed mixed feelings about the protest.
“We were always mindful of the safety of (the victims). If at any time there was any risk (for their lives), it was because of the protests. I understand people’s desperation and their lack of trust in the authorities […] I think it is their right to protest and make demands from the authorities, but that is not how things get done,” the AG said.
He said authorities were in constant communication with relatives during the two-day ordeal and provided personal protection for the two bikers first released.
State officials have repeatedly told Border Report and other international news media outlets that Chihuahua remains safe for legitimate commerce and tourism activities. However, drug violence besieges entire communities where the Sinaloa cartel and La Linea are contesting control over a wide portfolio of illegal activities ranging from illegal logging, fuel theft, extortion and expansion of a Mexican drug sales market.
Jauregui said all but one of the motorcycles have been recovered and that two vehicles have been seized in connection to the abduction. He did not identify the criminal group that abducted the bikers.
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