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Mexican town shows heroism, now under threat

Residents of a small Mexican town called Rafael Lara Grajales, showed the world the best of Mexican courage when confronted with the fate of strangers at the hands of organized kidnappers.

According to the Amnesty International report, the residents became involved when they witnessed a large group of people escaping from a gang. Some of the 60 people were naked and many were bleeding.

Towns people witnessed this group fleeing down a street and came to their aid. They provided first aid, clothing and food.

The entire group had been kidnapped for ransom,

a growing industry world-wide, and subjected to torture to the purpose of securing ransoms from relatives, some of whom live in the United States. When the residents indicated they would get the police, the victims plead nay, as local police were part of the kidnapping gang.

When police in fact arrived and attempted to force the victims onto an unofficial bus driven by an unidentified civilian, as many as 1,000 towns folk gathered to prevent the recapture.

This episode demonstrates the best of Mexico. Sadly it also reflects the challenges.

The very towns people who showed such courage are now targets for corrupt police and the criminal gang. Some have already been arrested by these local “law enforcement officers” and several have been denied basic civil rights such as access to a lawyer. Local police implicated in the gang have not been suspended, much less arrested. Six kidnappers remain at large.

There is reason for hope that further officially-sanctioned reprisals against the town can be prevented. The Mexican National Human Rights Commission has opened an investigation into abuses against the migrants; the towns people were able to directly deliver the victims to federal migration authorities and four of the kidnappers to the Federal Attorney General’s Office.

The involvement of the Mexican federal government is extremely important since both local authorities and the state prosecutors appear to be either directly involved or targeting local citizens for reprisals. Amnesty is asking people to write to Mexican authorities to secure the safety and human rights of both the kidnap victims and the courageous local residents.

Human Rights, Amnesty International, Mexico, Rafael Lara Grajales, Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, Mario Marín Torres, Blanca Laura Villeda Martínez, Cecilia Romero Castillo, Emilio Goicoechea Luna, Puebla, migrants, kidnapping