By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – 10,000 Central American migrants crossing the border into Mexico have been abducted in the last six months according to a survey by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission.  The survey was conducted in migrant health and detention centers.

According to the report, migrants were kidnapped in Mexico between September and February predominantly by drug gangs. The report identified 5, 723 people abducted by polleros or smugglers, 3,000 from different bands of kidnappers, 44 by gangs, and 427 by kidnappers claiming to be from the mercenary group known as “zetas”.  Authorities were also reportedly involved in 91 abductions.

70 percent of those abducted were from Honduras, however there were abductions reported from El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru.  The ransoms range from $1,500 to $ 5,000, with an estimated total of $25 million over the six month period. Some of those abducted are forced into slavery.

Abductions detailed in the report include 157 women, four pregnant, of which two were killed.  Many women were reportedly raped.  The report highlighted the lack of official figures on this issue, blaming the “inefficiency” of the justice system in preventing and investigating the cases.  The states with the most abductions were Veracruz and Tabasco.

It is estimated that 500,000 Central American undocumented immigrants try to enter Mexico each year across the southern border. According to Jose Luis Soberanes, the commission’s head, “the kidnapping of migrants has become a constant practice, on a worrying scale, generally unpunished and with characteristics of extreme cruelty.”