Mexico rights body probes death of 3 American siblings
MATAMOROS, Mexico — Inquiries into the deaths of three American siblings in a northern Mexico border city continue to focus on potential government ties.
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, an independent body that investigates alleged cases of abuse, sent investigators to Matamoros this week in pursuit of answers in the case of the three Alvarado siblings whose bodies were found with gunshot wounds last week.
The border state of Tamaulipas has been convulsed by cartel-related violence for more than four years. Soldiers, marines, as well as federal and state police, long ago replaced local police forces rife with corruption.
But with the changes have come more violent confrontations. Last month, Mexican authorities reported killing 19 alleged gunmen in three separate clashes within a half hour between Matamoros and Reynosa.
“Regrettably, this wave that is growing in our country has led to using marines or soldiers as municipal police,” said Jose Javier Saldana Badillo, regional delegate for the Tamaulipas State Human Rights Commission in Matamoros, who took the initial complaint from the Americans’ father and referred it to the national commission.
The parents of Erica, Alex and Jose Angel Alvarado Rivera of Progreso, Texas, said armed men dressed in uniforms identifying them as “Grupo Hercules,” a specialized police unit in Matamoros took them and Erica’s boyfriend from a taco restaurant near the border town of El Control on Oct. 13. Their bodies were found on Oct. 29, in a rural area outside Matamoros.
City officials have said Grupo Hercules is made up of former soldiers and marines who have been vetted by state police to provide security for city officials and target crime in high-risk areas.
On Tuesday, human rights investigators were seen conducting interviews and taking photographs at the Alpha import car lot in downtown Matamoros. The company, which has several lots around the city, is owned by Matam- oros’ social welfare secretary, Luis Alfonso Biasi. He was not present and it was not known whether he had been interviewed. He has not responded to requests for an interview.
The manager of the lot declined to speak on the issue Tuesday after being interviewed by the human rights investigators. Sitting with an open Bible on his desk, he said he feared reprisals and asked that his name not be printed. He locked the door after a reporter exited.
In addition to the human rights commission, Tamaulipas state investigators have already interviewed nine members of Grupo Hercules, as well as the unit’s operations director, Matamoros city clerk Joe Mariano Vega, and the city’s public security director, Juan Sanchez Alvarado.
The National Human Rights Commission said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the Alvarados were “allegedly detained near the Los Indios international bridge, without being taken before a governmental authority or knowing who detained them.”