Texas Man Missing in Mexico
FBI believes Tamaz abducted by Zetas

Updated: Wednesday, 27 Apr 2011, 10:19 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 27 Apr 2011, 10:19 PM CDT

HOUSTON - A Texas man with ties to the FOX 26 newsroom has vanished in Northern Mexico.

A representative for the FBI confirmed Wednesday, the agency is looking into the disappearance of Robert "Bob" Tamez.

Tamez, an American citizen who grew up in Falfurrias, is a childhood classmate of FOX 26 reporter Kristine Galvan.

Tamez recently moved to Ciudad Mier, a cartel infested Mexican border city, to live with his father. His most recent Facebook posting was made on April 13. His sister notified friends of his disappearance the following day.

The FBI representative said agents believe members of the military-trained Zetas drug cartel kidnapped up to a dozen people, including Tamez, from a ranch in Ciudad Mier earlier this month.

Tamez's father has since relocated to the United States

After receiving confirmation of her classmate's abduction, Galvan sat down with Don Clark, a former special agent in charge of the FBI's Houston office, to talk about the escalating violence.

FOX 26: I'm devastated at what is happening along that border.

Don Clark: Well, I think you have the right to be devastated, and I think (the same for) all the people who are living down there. Kristine, I've done a lot of research into this area and even the farmers, even the farmers who are out in the fields just trying to make a living everyday are now afraid to be in the fields. They don't know what’s going to happen. They don't know who is going to be a target, if they're going to be a target or if they're just randomly hit. That's how devastating it is down there. It is not a joke on the border right now.

FOX 26: Going back to the farmers that you mentioned, the last time I went down to the valley on assignment we stopped and spoke to one of my friends who does farm the land, has for generations. His name is Joe Aguilar. He tells us he's selling off his property.

DC: And your friend is not alone. Across that border, that's the same kind of activity that's happened because no one can provide or is prepared to provide the magnitude of security to make sure the farmers and all the citizens down there and visitors are safe.

FOX 26: We heard about the ICE agent that was shot and killed because he was very high profile. We heard about David Hartley, the man who was shot and killed on Falcon Lake. I knew about my classmate because I come from a small town and people talk. But how many Americans are going to Mexico and disappearing that we don't hear about?

DC: There's a lot of them. It's a good point that you make because the people keeping the statistics can't keep up with the number of people. They don't know.

FOX 26: I love south Texas. I love the border region. I love northern Mexico, and I love to vacation at all the nice Mexican resort spots. I don't want to go anymore.

DC: I'm telling everybody just stop. Just stop going across the border. You can wait a couple of years for your great vacation that you like down there, rather than let lives be taken. And look at the lives. It's well over 7,000 in the last four or five years, and I would bet that’s a low number.

To file a report on an American missing in Mexico, contact the U.S. State Department at 888-407-4747.


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