In a Mexican border town, Central Americans returned by the U.S. are systematically targeted by kidnappers seeking ransom
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - The kidnappers came to the shelter near the U.S.-Mexico border looking for Cuban migrants, favored targets because relatives in the United States are known to pay exorbitant ransoms to free abducted loved ones.
In cartel-dominated Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, a gateway to the United States, it's a lucrative racket: Snatch a migrant from Cuba, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela or elsewhere; commandeer their cellphones; then call U.S. relatives demanding thousands of dollars.
No need to spell out the consequences of nonpayment in the lawless Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, known for mass graves and massacres of migrants - including hundreds slain by gunmen of the Zetas cartel outside the town of San Fernando in 2010-11.
On Aug. 3, when the Rev. Aaron Mendez, an evangelical pastor and head of the Amar shelter, refused the kidnappers' demands, the thugs took him away.
The pastor entered the twilight world of
