A Honduran couple, their three minor children and two other relatives, who, according to their family in Honduras, had been kidnapped in Mexico City, were released, Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina reported this Sunday.
“Our Consulate in Mexico City has confirmed with the authorities of the Mexican Prosecutor’s Office that the Honduran family that was kidnapped has been released. We await more details to inform especially her family with whom she has maintained contact, ”Reina wrote in a message on Twitter.
They are the Honduran Kenya López, 35 years old; her husband, Darwin Rivera (38), her three children between the ages of 4 and 16, and two cousins, also minors.
The Hondurans were kidnapped in Mexico City allegedly by members of the Los Chaparros organization, who demanded $5,500 from their relatives in Honduras for each person for their release.
The group of Hondurans left Honduras on October 27, 2022 with the idea of reaching the United States and on February 8 their family in the Central American country received a call from alleged members of Los Chaparros who said they had them in their possession and asked them to a rescue.
The family in Honduras carried out various activities, such as asking for money on the street and selling food, to raise the amount of money the kidnappers demanded, and asked the authorities for help.
In a second message, the Honduran foreign minister thanked “the Mexican authorities, to whom we also filed the complaint and who supported us in following up on this delicate case,” although he did not specify whether the ransom was paid.
The Mexico City Prosecutor’s Office has arrested three people for considering them “responsible for the kidnapping of our compatriots, who have been rescued safe and sound,” Reina said in a third message, which accompanies a photograph of those captured, including two women.
Migrants are victims of all kinds of harassment by criminal groups that operate in the region and in some cases by the authorities themselves.
According to human rights organizations, every year thousands of Hondurans, including children and adolescents alone or accompanied, undertake the adventure of immigration through Central America and Mexico to the United States, and are victims of acts of violence ranging from the theft of their belongings, to kidnapping, prostitution, rape and murder.