Hundreds of Valley Residents Missing in Mexico

Posted: Feb 27, 2013 10:00 PM
Updated: Feb 28, 2013 12:40 AM

WESLACO - The number of United States residents missing in Mexico keeps climbing, federal investigators said.

Law enforcement officials said the chances of finding them are slim.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has at least 272 cases on file. Each case may include more than one victim.

FBI stats show that 254 of the missing were from McAllen and Brownsville.
The records show that 109 others were from Laredo.

FBI officials said 125 of the 272 cases are still active.

Siblings Claudia Benavides and Daniel Rodriguez are two of the Rio Grande Valley residents waiting for news from their loved one.

"It's hard to know that there is nobody that can help us in any kind of way," Benavides said. Her mother, Carmen Maria Gonzalez, disappeared six months ago after she boarded a bus in Miguel Aleman.

"We always thought that was never going to happen to us," Rodriguez said.

"She was going to see my grandma, she was going to visit her and my aunts," Benavides said.

Gonzalez left from her home in Roma and walked across the border to the bus station on Aug. 1, 2012. That was the last time the siblings saw their mother.

A relative later called them to say their mother never arrived.

Gonzalez walked into a city where firefights, carjackings and bombings have become a part of life. The American consulate often warns Americans to stay away from Mexico, particularly the border cities in the state of Tamaulipas.

Still, the siblings said their mother frequented Mexico, even when she could hear the violence from her doorstep.

"We used to hear gunshots and even grenades," Benavides said.

Living so close to the danger gave them a false sense of security, Benavides said.

Benavides said the incident has changed her family's perspective.

"It's a different point of view, and it's really hard to think about it," she said.

The family launched an aggressive search for their mother. They filed reports with police on both sides of the border, but got no results.

The response from Mexican officials is especially frustrating for families.

"It's hard not to be angry and resentful, but you can't hold onto those feelings because it will hinder you," Lizanne Sanchez said. Her brother, Zane Alejandro Plemmons, disappeared in Nuevo Laredo.

Sanchez said she has little faith in authorities to find her brother.

Plemmons was a freelance journalist when he disappeared. The Mazatlan-native spent years working for newspapers reporting on the drug wars.

"It was important for him ... he was so driven. He had a passion," Plemmons' brother-in-law Michael Sanchez said.

Plemmons received threats in 2010. He returned to San Antonio after the threats. Still, his family said his heart was in Mexico.

Two years later he decided a trip back would be safe.

His mother drove him to a hotel in Nuevo Laredo on May 21, 2012. He was scheduled to take a bus to Mazatlan the next day. He disappeared after he ran out of the hotel, camera-in-hand, during a shooting.

"I have yet to hear of a person who has turned up after they have been missing for a while," Laredo Police Investigator Joe Baez said.

Baez said the cases have become increasingly common.

"It is extremely frustrating. They will come with pictures of their loved ones ... they are desperate for any help. We are here to help them, but it's rather limited in terms of our reach and authority," Baez said.

Local police agencies send the cases to federal authorities.

"We know how stressful, sad and serious this is for families," FBI Special Agent Eric Vasys said.

"The FBI, especially in the Valley and our border offices, we receive numerous complaints for kidnapping and missing Americans," Vasys said.

The FBI is the primary agency that investigates the cases.

"We have to have a crime as the reason for the person's disappearance. ... It's a jurisdiction issue," Vasys said.

There is little the agency can do if there is no evidence of a crime, he said.

"We've been cataloging the missing Americans who don't fit in the crime category as missing-Americans-in-Mexico initiative," Vasys said.

He said there are many cases that are never reported.

"We know that there is a large portion of crimes, of kidnapping crimes that go unreported, where the families are handling this themselves," Vasys said.

When it comes to kidnapping, fear may force families to keep quiet, he said.

Many of the kidnapping victims had a connection to organized crime, officials said. Still many are cases of mistaken identity.

The FBI relies heavily on cooperation from Mexican authorities, Vasys said.

"We ask them. ‘Here's what we've found, here's what we are looking for, and we request these leads to be covered,'" he said.

"The quick response to law enforcement we are accustomed to here slows down quite a bit when we are asking our counterparts in Mexico to cover our leads for us," Vasys said.

Baez said it is a fact of life along the border.

"There are recourses of law enforcement agencies you can go to ... the consulate office. (But) it's rather limited. There are piles and piles of people ... lives yet to be accounted for," Baez said.

The law enforcement roadblocks are a product of the chaos created by the cartels, Vasys said.

"The cartels helped create this instability, where they are (fighting) for control of the border cities. We have to reinforce our partnerships on the other side," he said.

The situation leaves many families in limbo. Many of those families share their stories through social media and blogs.

"We unfortunately know there's little to no chance they will ever be found again," Baez said.

"These are some very dangerous times," Vasys said.

"It's really sad not to know what's going on, if she's alive, what she's going through," Benavides said.

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