The Associated Press reports that alleged members of a Mexican drug cartel penned a letter apologizing for the kidnapping of four Americans and the killing of two of them last week. The letter also claimed that the five perpetrators of the violent attack had been handed over to Mexican police.
"We have decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline," the letter reads. The AP obtained the letter through a Tamaulipas state law enforcement official. It added those involved in the attack on the Americans had gone against the Gulf cartel's rules, which include "respecting the life and well-being of the innocent."
Images posted on Twitter show five men on the pavement with their hands tied -- next to a small pickup truck, with a handwritten letter of apology on the windshield.
While letters from cartels aren't unprecedented, the apology is very unusual, according to former CIA officer and FBI agent Tracy Walder, who spoke with the NBC 5 Dallas-Forth Worth media outlet.
"I can't remember the last time that I saw something where you have an actual faction saying, we did this: 'We're sorry. We're the people responsible,'" said Walder.
According to Walder, the apology was issued amid turf wars between the Cyclones and the Scorpions, two subgroups of the cartel.
Mexican authorities have theorized cartel members probably mistook the Americans for drug smugglers and abducted them while killing two.
The ambush took place last Friday in Tamaulipas, a state in the northeast region of Mexico, and in a border town called Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.
Despite the killing of Americans, the Biden administration on Wednesday ruled out designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
The chaos on the border highlights how the immigration policies by the administration have exacerbated the crisis along the US-Mexico border.
The Associated Press reports that alleged members of a Mexican drug cartel penned a letter apologizing for the kidnapping of four Americans and the killing of two of them last week. The letter also claimed that the five perpetrators of the violent attack had been handed over to Mexican police.
“We have decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline,” the letter reads. The AP obtained the letter through a Tamaulipas state law enforcement official. It added those involved in the attack on the Americans had gone against the Gulf cartel’s rules, which include “respecting the life and well-being of the innocent.”
Images posted on Twitter show five men on the pavement with their hands tied — next to a small pickup truck, with a handwritten letter of apology on the windshield.
While letters from cartels aren’t unprecedented, the apology is very unusual, according to former CIA officer and FBI agent Tracy Walder, who spoke with the NBC 5 Dallas-Forth Worth media outlet.
“I can’t remember the last time that I saw something where you have an actual faction saying, we did this: ‘We’re sorry. We’re the people responsible,'” said Walder.
According to Walder, the apology was issued amid turf wars between the Cyclones and the Scorpions, two subgroups of the cartel.
Mexican authorities have theorized cartel members probably mistook the Americans for drug smugglers and abducted them while killing two.
The ambush took place last Friday in Tamaulipas, a state in the northeast region of Mexico, and in a border town called Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.
Despite the killing of Americans, the Biden administration on Wednesday ruled out designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
The chaos on the border highlights how the immigration policies by the administration have exacerbated the crisis along the US-Mexico border.
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