Pastor Aarón Méndez Ruiz and Alfredo Castillo de Luna were forcibly taken from a migrant shelter in the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo on 3rd August, after Pastor Méndez Ruiz blocked the kidnapping of a group of Cuban asylum seekers by an organised crime ring.
Four days before the men’s disappearance, 500 asylum seekers arrived at the Casa del Migrante AMAR migrant shelter in Nuevo Laredo.
A number of Cuban migrants were kidnapped at the AMAR shelter earlier in the year which resulted in victims experiencing severe physical mistreatment, including torture, during their captivity before being freed.
Those seeking asylum from Cuba are particularly at risk by criminal groups due to the belief that most have family members in the US with access to funds to pay ransom.
Following Méndez Ruiz and Castillo de Luna’s disappearance, family and friends have received no ransom demand or any further communication in relation to the two men, according to religious freedom charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
On 4th October the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH) issued a call to the Mexican government to detail what measures it has taken “to determine the whereabouts or destination” of the men, to protect the families of the victims and report the progress of any investigations.
Catholic and Protestant church leaders have increasingly become the target…
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