Matamoros is situated on the south financial institution of the Rio Grande, immediately throughout the border from Brownsville, Tex. The three.1-mile distance between the 2 cities may be crossed in about 17 minutes in keeping with Google Maps.
The FBI, which is investigating the kidnapping alongside Mexican regulation enforcement companies, is providing a $50,000 reward as authorities search the gunmen’s arrest and the return of the victims.
Here’s what we learn about Matamoros and the reason why folks cross the U.S.-Mexico border, together with for well being care.
What’s Matamoros identified for?
Every single day, tens of hundreds of individuals both stroll or drive throughout the bridge from Brownsville, Tex., to Matamoros, house to 580,000 folks, for physician’s appointments, commerce or mundane actions akin to having a lunch. The glistening inexperienced Rio Grande river snakes between the 2 sister cities.
Formally referred to as “Heroica Matamoros,” town is situated the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, one of the crucial crime-ridden states in Mexico and one in every of six Mexican states to which the State Division advises Individuals in opposition to touring, citing the danger of crime and kidnapping.
“Legal teams goal private and non-private passenger buses, in addition to non-public vehicles touring by way of Tamaulipas, usually taking passengers and demanding ransom funds,” the division’s newest journey advisory says.
Tamaulipas is thought for its lengthy historical past of crime and lawlessness, being a predominant route for migrants headed to the US, in addition to for the bustling and built-in border life shared by Mexicans and Individuals on each side of the border.
Previously decade or so, Tamaulipas has turn out to be emblematic of Mexico’s drug-related violence and residential to a few of the worst human atrocities within the nation, the place felony teams and drug gangs routinely combat turf wars, terrorize communities and run kidnapping rackets.
Most not too long ago, town turned identified for its squalid makeshift tent camps the place hundreds of asylum seekers had been compelled to attend whereas they made their circumstances beneath former president Donald Trump’s “Stay in Mexico” program.
In 2010 and 2011, a sequence of migrant massacres within the metropolis of San Fernando, roughly 87 miles south of Matamoros, shocked the nation and the world. In 2010, authorities found the our bodies of 72 migrants from Central America who had been killed by the Zetas, a ruthless group that broke from the Gulf drug cartel within the mid-2000s.
In 2011, gunmen yanked no less than 193 folks — a few of them Central American migrants — off buses, bludgeoned them to dying and dumped their our bodies in 47 clandestine graves. The 2 circumstances of mass killings of civilians at distant ranches 90 minutes south of Texas marked a brand new degree of barbarity in Mexico’s U.S.-backed drug conflict.
Matamoros was not spared of this wave of violence. In 2011, 18 members of a household had been taken from three properties within the metropolis on the morning of July 9. Whereas the ladies and kids had been freed days later, the boys had been by no means returned regardless of a number of funds of ransom.
Though town is presently within the palms of the Gulf Cartel, Mexican authorities have made stable progress in enhancing safety lately.
Based on official knowledge, the variety of kidnappings and homicides, each domestically and throughout the state, have considerably dropped lately. At present, there are a lot fewer high-profile assaults like Friday’s kidnappings and residents get pleasure from a relative peace.
Why do Individuals cross the border for well being care?
Pharmacies, dentists and optometrists start showing virtually as quickly as you cross the border into northern Mexico. Numbers are tough to return by however Individuals commonly cross the border for well being care together with beauty surgical procedures, specialists mentioned.
Some of the frequent health-care causes for Individuals to cross the border is to go to the dentist, in keeping with lecturers finding out the U.S.-Mexico border.
“It’s a quite common phenomenon to journey to Reynosa or Matamoros for medicines, or medical procedures, and particularly to see dentists as a result of it’s cheaper than in Texas,” mentioned Nestor Rodriguez, a sociology professor on the College of Texas at Austin. “Some Mexican-Individuals might really feel extra aware of Mexican medical doctors relatively than with American ones.”
Prescription medicines are far cheaper in Mexico, mentioned Kathleen Staud, a professor emerita of political science on the College of Texas at El Paso.
For individuals who can’t afford medical insurance coverage — Texas is amongst a handful of states which have refused to increase Medicaid — well being care in Mexico is an inexpensive possibility, mentioned Staud.
Mexican pharmacies supply some benefits over these in the US, mentioned Staud. These embrace an on-site medical physician who can supply a reasonable medical intervention, in Spanish. There’s a caveat that individuals touring for medicines or care should have time to attend in traces to cross the border.
One other benefit of Mexican pharmacies is that they provide many prescription medicines over-the-counter; which means sufferers can skip the wait time and and price of a health care provider’s appointment.
“The pharmacy enterprise is a thriving on one on the border,” mentioned Ricardo Ainslie, a professor of border tradition and historical past on the College of Texas at Austin. “Matamoros is an enormous vacation spot for well being care, and so are cities and cities 50 miles west of Matamoros.”
Medicines for hypertension, diabetes, and antibiotics are amongst people who Individuals seek for throughout the border, mentioned Jose M. Villarreal, a professor of Chicano Latino research at College of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Others may be in search of painkillers akin to Oxycotin, mentioned Ainslie. “Individuals with habit issues, who don’t have prescriptions or don’t wish to be tracked relating to their consumption might journey to Matamoros,” he mentioned.
Some folks additionally journey to Mexico for surgical procedures. Ainslie mentioned northern Mexico has a number of respected medical colleges the place folks might journey “to entry certified well being care on the fraction of the price of American well being care or surgical procedures regardless of it being utterly out of pocket.”
What are different causes folks in border cities commonly transfer between U.S. and Mexico?
Individuals residing in border cities akin to Brownsville, Tex., or Matamoros are sometimes bi-national and for generations have been touring to see household or mates, or for work and college, in keeping with border research specialists.
“There are individuals who journey commonly from cities in Texas to Reynosa or Matamoros, or different cities in between to be able to meet household,” mentioned Rodriguez. “There are such a lot of households which can be divided by the border.”
Individuals residing on the American aspect may cross the border for extra “informal causes,” he mentioned. Generally Rodriguez’s college students cross the border for meal on the Mexican aspect.
Equally, Amelie Ramirez, the director of the Institute of Well being Promotion Analysis in San Antonio, mentioned Hispanics usually cross the Texas border to buy groceries.
“Because the cartel violence grew in these areas, I’d guess the proportion of White Individuals touring to Mexico has dropped resulting from safety fears,” mentioned Ainslie. “However it nonetheless exists, and other people commonly journey to Matamoros for every kind of causes.”
Based on the Bureau of Transportation Statistics no less than 948, 895 folks entered the US by way of the Brownsville border in January 2023; in January of 2000 this quantity was no less than 1,809,300.
Kevin Sieff and Leo Sands contributed to this report.