OAN Roy Francis
UPDATED 2:12 PM PT – Thursday, March 9, 2023
The Mexican drug cartel responsible for kidnapping the four Americans on Friday reportedly wrote an apology letter to law enforcement.
According to The Associated Press, the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel was responsible for writing the letter. The letter apologized to the residents of Matamoros, where the kidnapping took place, the Mexican woman who had died in the shootout, and the four Americans and their families.
Along with the apology, the letter said that the cartel had decided to turn over the ones responsible for the kidnapping to the authorities. The cartel added that the ones responsible had acted on their own and went against the cartel’s rules of “respecting the life and well-being of the innocent.”
“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 read.
The killing of the Americans brought National Guard troops and an Army special forces unit to the area, which put the cartel under more pressure and scrutiny.
Mexican security analyst David Saucedo commented on the effects that the increased military presence is having on the cartel.
“It is very difficult right now for them to continue working in terms of street-level drug sales and transferring drugs to the United States,” he said. “They are the first ones interested in closing this chapter as soon as possible.”
Along with the letter, the police were provided a picture of five men who were bound and face down on the pavement. Officials had confirmed that five men were found tied up inside a vehicle that authorities were searching in connection with the kidnapping.
On Friday, the four Americans had crossed from Texas into Matamoros in order for the one of them to receive cosmetic surgery. They had been surrounded and kidnapped in downtown Matamoros. When the four were recovered, two of the men had been killed, and one was wounded. Additionally, a Mexican woman had also been killed during the kidnapping due to a stray bullet.