Man who escaped kidnappers tells of Mexican underworld

Editor’s Note: Juan Perez is a false name used to protect both him and wife.

BY SERGIO CHAPA
The Brownsville Herald

Juan Perez said he escaped from a gang of Mexican kidnappers Sunday, but his wife was not as lucky.

The El Salvadoran couple wanted to come to the United States to work but ran into trouble at the Las Norias checkpoint, 74 miles south of Matamoros.

Perez said he, his wife and other Central Americans were forced to exit a Transpaís bus by Mexican immigration offi-cials.

The 34-year-old man said they were sold several times between criminals and police until they ended up in the hands of a criminal organization in Matamoros.

Perez said he and his wife were taken to a group of warehouses near the Rio Grande somewhere between Playa Bagdad and Matamoros.

Once there, the couple and as many as 200 other immigrants from Central and South America were allegedly forced to use cell phones to call their relatives to send money for their release.

“Some would tell me they were taken in Nuevo Laredo, others in Reynosa and others in Matamoros,” Perez said. “They would bring people from all over the border because it was safe there.”

Perez said his captors used weights to prevent the men from escaping in addition to witnessing women being raped and men being murdered.

“There was a large grave that smelled of death,” he said.

The El Salvadoran man said his kidnappers had milked several thousand dollars from his family when two men took him to the Rio Grande to kill him Sunday night.

Perez said he fought with his kidnappers and all three of them plunged into the river.

The 34-year-old man said he emerged from the river alone and then followed it to Matamoros where he was intercepted by honest members of Grupo Beta, the Mexican Border Patrol.

Perez said he filed complaints with the Mexican Commission for Human Rights and other agencies but that didn’t do much good.

“This is more than just corruption,” he said.

The El Salvadoran man said he crossed an international bridge in Brownsville using broken English to falsely claim he was an American citizen.

In Brownsville, Perez said he found a place to stay and filed complaints with American law enforcement officials but has had several sleepless nights worrying about his wife.

“I can’t sleep. … I can’t eat. … I’m very nervous and worried,” he said.

FBI officials interviewed Perez Friday afternoon, but the El Salvadoran man said he believes his wife is safe as long as the kidnappers think he died in the river.

“This is very delicate situation,” Perez said. “What I want is my wife to be safe.”

Valley Movement for Human Rights Director Nathan Selzer said the abuse of Central and South American immigrants at the hands of government officials and criminals is common on both sides of the border.

Selzer said human smugglers are extorting money from their clients by exploiting their legal status while politicians de-bate immigration reform in Washington, D.C.

“That’s why we’re pushing for safe and humane immigration reform,” Selzer said. “People need to cross the bridge le-gally. Tighter immigration laws and enforcement means a boon for smugglers.”

schapa@brownsvilleherald.com