Eagle Passan Salvador Rios Nunez kidnapped and falsely arrested and detained in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
Just as Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto is set to visit United States President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, January 6, 2015, both countries have much to talk about the growing violence and insecurity in Mexico, including the alleged kidnapping and false arrest and detention of U.S. Citizen Salvador Rios Nunez of Eagle Pass, Texas on December 22, 2014 in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico by members of the State of Coahuila Grupo de Armas y Tacticas Especializada (GATES). Piedras Negras, Coahuila is on the U.S.-Mexico border opposite of Eagle Pass, Texas.
According to family members of Salvador Rios Nunez, Rios went to Piedras Negras, Coahuila on December 22nd to have dinner with friends at a local restaurant. After dinner, Rios and his friends, whom followed him in another automobile, were stopped by members of the elite GATES security force. The GATES security force was inaugurated by Coahuila Governor Ruben Moreira Valdes as the State of Coahuila’s response to combat increased criminal activities and organized crime in recent years.
After being stopped, Rios and his friends, a married couple, were transported to a property outside the city limits of Piedras Negras, Coahuila and were allegedly assaulted, demanded money, and took some liquor bottles Rios’ had purchased earlier, and his new 2014 Chevrolet Z71 Pick-Up Truck. Rios’ married couple friends were released after this incident but Rios was detained by GATES and allegedly taken to a home he owns in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, which was ransacked, and later transferred to another unknown home where he was severely beaten and tortured, including placing handcuffs, a plastic bag over his head, water boarded, beaten on his head, back, stomach, hands, and feet with a wooden board or stick while demanding a One Million Pesos (Approximately $67,000 U.S. Dollars) ransom for his release. Rios allegedly advised his GATES kidnappers that he did not have such money to pay them. GATES allege Rios is a member of a criminal organization in Mexico. Rios’ family and himself deny these false accusations.
Subsequently, Rios was turned over by GATES to Mexico’s Procuraduria General de la Republica (Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office) in Piedras Negras, Coahuila on December 23, 2014. Rios’ family was able to visit him after being turned over to the Mexican Attorney General’s Office, including U.S. Consulate representatives from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico interviewed and visited Rios while in custody of the Mexican Attorney General’s Office. Rios has been transferred to a federal prison in the interior of Mexico with charges that he is a member of a criminal organization in Mexico, which he vehemently denies.
During Rios’ family visit with him at the Mexican Attorney General’s Office in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Rios’ family noticed the severe assault and torture consequences on his body and health. Rios was transferred to a Mexican federal prison without being medically treated and evaluated while in the Mexican Attorney General’s office in Piedras Negras, Coahuila. He remains detained by the Mexican government in a federal prison. Although some personal property was returned to Rios’ family, the new 2014 Chevrolet Z71 Pick-Up Truck was not returned.
Rios is an employee of Union Pacific Rail Road in Eagle Pass, Texas and is a graduate of Eagle Pass High School (Class of 2000) and De Vry University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunications. He has a clean record in the United States. He is married.
Rios’ nightmare occurs too often to U.S. Citizens or residents while visiting or doing business in Mexico. According to the U.S. Department of State, more than 130 U.S. Citizens were reported kidnapped in Mexico during January through November 2014. The U.S. Department of State noted that an estimated 105,682 kidnappings occurred in Mexico during 2012, but only 1,317 were reported to Mexican police. The U.S. Department of State also reported that a total of 85 U.S. Citizens were murdered in Mexico during January through November 2014 compared to only 81 for 2013. The U.S. Department of State recently issued a revised travel warning to Mexico for U.S. Citizens on December 24, 2014, advising “about the risks of traveling to certain places in Mexico due to the threats of safety and security posed by organized criminal groups in the country. U.S. Citizens have been the target of violent crimes, such as kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery by organized criminal groups in various Mexican states.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. the Honorable Tony Garza recently stated in an interview to Dallas Morning News Mexico Bureau Chief, Alfredo Corchado, that “What the Country (Mexico) needs is a healthy dose of rule of law. That’s what Mexicans want, and also what’s necessary for Mexico to assume its place amongst the world’s truly competitive countries.”
Rios’ family allege that the charges against their son and brother, Salvador Rios Nunez, are fabricated, false, and trumped up after the severe torture he was given by members of GATES. Any alleged confessions which the Mexican authorities may have from Rios are as a direct result of the inhumane torture propounded upon him by Mexican law enforcement authorities, including water boarding, placing a plastic bag over his head, and multiple beatings with a wooden board or stick over his body while handcuffed.
U.S. Citizens, including Eagle Passans and Texans, are concerned about their personal safety and security in Mexico as a result of Salvador Rios’ case as well as hundreds of many other cases reported by the U.S. Department of State.
Rios’ family hope that President Barack Obama requests Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to clear Salvador Rios Nunez of the false charges filed against him and immediately release him back to his family in the United States.
