A Highway Interception in Mexico’s Interior
Miguel Ángel Almaraz Maldonado, mayor of Río Bravo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, was located alive on Sunday after escaping armed captors and walking more than 80 kilometers across the countryside into Coahuila.
The municipal leader was intercepted on a highway Saturday afternoon in the center-north of the country while traveling with family and staff toward Real de Catorce in San Luis Potosí, elmundo.es reported.
Federal and State Forces Search for Almaraz Maldonado
Almaraz Maldonado belongs to the opposition National Action Party, known as the PAN, governing a border municipality directly across from the United States. Federal and state forces launched an immediate search operation involving authorities across Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas.
Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch confirmed the recovery on the social media platform X, sharing a photograph of the mayor aboard a Coahuila security vehicle. The federal Security Cabinet reported that the mayor and his companions were tracked down following intensive intelligence and ground searches.
An 80-Kilometer Trek to Freedom
The mayor seized a sudden lapse in attention by his captors to break away.
“Suddenly they left the area, we jumped the fence and ran for an hour without stopping and then wandered all night for 80 kilometers until we got here,” Almaraz Maldonado recounted to local media.
He confirmed that he escaped uninjured from the ordeal, noting that he suffered no physical blows or lasting harm.
“No blows, no injuries, nothing like that, but terrible scares, yes,” the mayor stated.
Conflicting Accounts from State Authorities
State officials reported divergent accounts regarding the exact perimeter where the abduction took place. San Luis Potosí state Attorney General Cristian Paul Camacho stated that multiple vehicles were intercepted by armed civilians along the Zacatecas border limits, leaving several travelers abandoned on the asphalt.
Meanwhile, companions traveling alongside the mayor managed to reach the San Luis Potosí municipality of Cedral to file initial reports. State authorities in San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas continue maintaining conflicting geographical accounts concerning the initial point of the assault.
