Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed Wednesday that 31 migrants were abducted from a highway in Mexico on December 30.

Armed men wearing balaclavas intercepted a passenger bus heading from the northern city of Monterrey to Matamoros, on the border with Brownsville, Texas, US, the Minister of Security and Civil Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, said.

“(It was) on the Reynosa-Matamoros highway at kilometer 6, past the toll booth, forcing 31 of the 36 passengers traveling in the same bus to disembark and board five vans,” the secretary admitted’ on in the morning. conference of the President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“These are the facts, identifying people of different nationalities: Venezuelans, Ecuadorians, Hondurans, Colombians and Mexicans,” he added.

López Obrador indicated that the investigation is progressing.

Colombia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement confirming that four of its nationals were among those abducted.

“Data is being collected to verify whether more compatriots can be identified within the list of missing migrants,” it indicated.

For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador He pointed out that after receiving information from the Mexican Foreign Ministry on a preliminary list, the embassy was told “that it has not been possible so far to confirm the presence of people of Ecuadorian nationality in this group. ”

Ecuadorian diplomatic offices in that country, such as the embassy and consulates, are conducting negotiations with authorities to determine whether any compatriots are among the kidnapped group.

This Wednesday afternoon it was learned that the migrants had been rescued, according to Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, spokesman for the presidency of the republic.

“Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Government of Tamaulipas, the FGE (Office of the Attorney General), Sedena (Minister of National Defense), the National Guard and the SSPYC (Minister of Security and Civil Defense), the 31 migrants who were kidnapped December 30, 2023,” he wrote on the X Network. (JO)