Mexican army frees 34 kidnapped Central American migrants

MEXICO CITY – The Mexican army says it has freed 34 Central American migrants who had been kidnapped in the northern state of Tamaulipas, across from Texas.

The Defense Department said Thursday in a statement that the migrants had been held at a property in the municipality of Altamira and were located by patrols. Twenty-five were Hondurans, eight were from Guatemala and one from El Salvador.

It was a different group from the at least 19 people who were abducted from a bus in the state on March 7 and whose whereabouts remain unknown.

Tamaulipas is generally the shortest route toward the United States for Central American migrants heading north.

It also has high rates of violence and other crime, and gangs are known to prey on migrants including kidnapping them for ransom.