Rio Bravo Mayor Found Alive After Abduction in Mexico

Mexican federal officials said on Sunday that Miguel Ángel Almaraz Maldonado, the mayor of Rio Bravo, had been released by his captors and was found alive, after he was abducted the day before. Al Jazeera reported the case.

Almaraz was taken on Saturday while travelling with family and friends in a region that straddles Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí states. Armed men intercepted his car and let the other occupants go. Relatives reached a town in San Luis Potosí, where they alerted authorities to the abduction.

Federal officials said the mayor was taken to the city of Zacatecas and was released there by his captors on Sunday, hours after he was seized. Mexico's federal security cabinet, the Gabinete de Seguridad, said it located him in coordination with other authorities, according to López-Dóriga.

Rio Bravo is a municipality of about 110,000 people in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, roughly 11 kilometres from the border with Texas. Almaraz is a member of the National Action Party (PAN) and was previously associated with the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), a left-leaning group. He was imprisoned for six years before being acquitted of money laundering charges in 2015.

The abduction comes amid a broader pattern of violence in Zacatecas. In Ojo Caliente, a car bomb exploded outside the municipal police headquarters, injuring 11 people and damaging about 30 homes, according to Al Jazeera. In June 2021, police in Zacatecas found the bullet-ridden bodies of 18 men after an apparent gun battle between suspected drug cartels.