MEXICO CITY – The Mexican authorities have rescued 31 migrants who were kidnapped over the weekend in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, officials announced on Jan 3.

Presidential spokesman Jesus Ramirez confirmed the rescue on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

“They are already in the hands of the authorities and are undergoing the appropriate medical examinations,” he added, along with a photo that showed men, women and children, including one holding a stuffed animal.

Mexican Interior Minister Luisa Alcalde wrote on X that the migrants were “safe and sound”, citing information from the state’s governor.

Unknown gunmen snatched the mostly Latin American migrants on Dec 30 from a bus on a highway in the municipality of Reynosa, close to Mexico’s border with the United States.

The bus was destined for Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.

Mexican Security Minister Rosa Rodriguez said earlier on Jan 3 that the kidnapped migrants were from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras and Mexico.

For months, asylum seekers and human rights activists have been warning of an escalating kidnapping crisis in the Tamaulipas border region, especially in Reynosa.

The area is the site of an ongoing conflict between two factions of the powerful Gulf Cartel, known as the Metros and the Scorpions, according to a former security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

He said that migrant smuggling and trafficking has become the most lucrative illicit industry in the region.

Earlier in the day, Mr Rodriguez said the kidnapping was “unusual” due to the large number of victims, although it is not uncommon for migrants to be pulled off buses and kidnapped in Mexico. Usually, the migrants are forced to beg their relatives to pay ransom money.

She added that the authorities were tracking the cellphones of the migrants in efforts to find them.

In March 2019, armed men stopped a passenger bus on the San Fernando-Reynosa highway and kidnapped about 20 people. To date, their whereabouts are unknown.

In May 2023, 49 migrants, including 11 minors, were released after being kidnapped in the south of Mexico while travelling by bus to the US border.

A record number of migrants travelled across Central America and Mexico in 2023 aiming to reach the US, fleeing poverty, violence, climate change and conflict. REUTERS