214 massive kidnappings in Mexico affect over 11,000 migrants in 6 months - report

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214 massive kidnappings in Mexico affect over 11,000 migrants in 6 months - report

2011-02-23 12:05:35 GMT+7 (ICT)

MEXICO CITY (BNO NEWS) -- Mexico's Human Rights National Commission (HRNC) on Tuesday announced that it registered 214 massive kidnappings of migrants, affecting over 11,000 migrants during a sixth-month period in 2010.

According to the commission, a total of 11,333 migrants were kidnapped in Mexico from April to September 2010, but ombudsman Raul Plascencia underlined that the migrants' difficult situation, as well as the nature of kidnapping, prevents the gathering of complete facts and numbers, warning that number could be much higher.

In addition, the HRNC chief said a total of 178 testimonies were gathered, 153 of them coming from kidnapping victims, while the other 25 testimonies came from eye witnesses.

The HRNC report shows that 44.3 percent of the victims were from Honduras, 16.2 from El Salvador, 11.2 from Guatemala, 5 percent from Cuba, and 4.4 percent from Nicaragua. Furthermore, the report revealed that the state of Veracruz had the highest number of kidnapping incidents against migrants, followed by Tabasco, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, and Chiapas.

The commission went on to voice concern as migrants are vulnerable to violations against their basic rights, many of them suffering from extortion, discrimination, exploitation, physical and sexual abuse, as well as kidnapping.

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