11 people disappear from Mexico City bar; relatives seek answers

The protesters who gathered Thursday are relatives of 11 party-goers who went missing more than a week ago from a bar in a posh Mexico City neighborhood known as "Zona Rosa," or Pink Zone. The area has a vibrant night scene with bars, nightclubs and upscale restaurants on every street.

The protesters say their relatives were kidnapped on May 26 as they were partying at Heaven, an after-hours bar in the neighborhood. All 11 disappeared sometime between 10 a.m. and noon, they say.

Here's where it get's even more weird:

Guadalupe Dominguez, a relative of one of the missing, said a witness told her the 11 people were kidnapped by armed men who showed up in SUVs, but authorities say there's no evidence of such an incident.

"The (bar) owner apparently told them that there was going to be a police operation and turned the lights off. He told them to get out, and armed men in black SUVs were already waiting for them outside," Zamudio said.

Police say there was no such operation. Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said authorities are treating the incident as a missing-person case because so far there's no evidence the young people were kidnapped.

(CNN) www.cnn.com...

This is just one very strange story. People taken by black SUV's in broad daylight, and the police state they weren't involved? Was one of the 11 a target for someone? Also, this happened nearly a week ago? Strange, strange stuff.

From the Washington Post:

MEXICO CITY — Surveillance video reviewed so far by police hasn’t shown a mass abduction of 11 young people who have been missing in Mexico City for more than a week, an official in the city prosecutor’s office said Monday.

The official said investigators still had several more hours of footage to review but they hadn’t found any scenes of gunmen kidnapping the group as described by a witness.

www.washingtonpost.com... 40-ccb6-11e2-8573-3baeea6a2647_story.html

A man who said he escaped the mass abduction from the bar on May 26 told authorities that masked men with large guns and SUVs kidnapped the group in broad daylight.

The man talked to authorities when he accompanied one of the missing’s relatives to file a report, but authorities haven’t been able to locate him since then, the official said.

Stranger and stranger.....

He said the bar’s owner was being sought by authorities. Police also have said they couldn’t locate any of the bar’s employees.

reply to post by Gazrok

Good catch for a modern mystery! That does get stranger and stranger as I read down the list. Kidnapping and Ransom as a profitable business is no stranger to Mexico and of course, the cartel killings are ..legendary. This is downright weird tho? It sounds like those who weren't taken, weren't around to be found much after that themselves? Tying off loose ends? It's particularly bothersome about the eye witness you mention at the end who was happy to stand and state what he saw and what happened .....just to vanish and not be heard from again too.

If it wasn't real human beings we were talking about in a real and likely lethal situation? It would almost be funny. It's like one of those black comedy routines where everyone who goes to check out the strange noise never returns...to leave just one guy wondering what the noise is ...and when did the whole place empty out and vanish?

I do very much hope these folks are found unharmed, somehow. It sure doesn't sound real good though, given Mexico's recent history in their civil war. That's the odd thing though, isn't it? This isn't Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Cartels don't generally hold people as prisoners for any real length of time, do they? Bodies are normally found pretty quick as I've read.

Maybe the fact that hasn't happened yet is a good sign?

I'm not so sure the cartels go in for black SUVs though either. Maybe it is too many movies, but I imagine a mish-mash of vehicles, and different cartel characters with different weapons, etc., not a group that resembles an ATF task force storming in. That's just one of the elements that makes this a modern day Twilight Zone story. (Or a real life Fringe type episode). Just weird.

Originally posted by Gazrok
People taken by black SUV's in broad daylight, and the police state they weren't involved?

Drug barons. They have their own private armies. There's no way the Mexican police would want to touch this.

Originally posted by Gazrok
I'm not so sure the cartels go in for black SUVs though either.

I don't recall the memo specifying their automobile preferences, but I'll defer to your intimate knowledge of the Mexican drug cartel's favoured vehicles.

Hopefully they find them

If it may help or add context as the story develops, I found this as an official (Homeland Security) map of the Mexican Cartels and their coverage.



Los Zetas is known to operate like a police or military unit and have actually been seen in Phoenix, Arizona dressed in full American police gear to 'enforce' against their own people and problems North of the border. It's been a couple years since I read of one...but still...

You're right though. Mexico City proper isn't Los Zetas stomping grounds. That's Beltran Leyva territory by the look of that display. Others show a near convergence between the Beltran, Los Zetas and La Familia organizations with Mexico City as the near nexus of their overlap. So, doesn't that just add to the headaches?

They may not even know what direction to look? I'm guessing, like American Mafia in years past, each of these organizations represents a veritable mountain to climb for an investigation like this. 3 or more at once? Geeze.. I hope the people are released alive.

The CNN version is full of holes and smells of corruption. Of course there is no sign of forced entry. The bar owner received a tip or call and sent people out. No need for forced entry so why does this justify police saying can't prove kidnapping because no forced entry. Then they say there is no proof of any foul play. A guy who escaped gave a testimony to what he saw. That's evidence. Then cameras are not working and those that are working show nothing? Doesn't even show them "safely" leaving the bar? The police don't have their stories (lies) cooperated very well. This was a sudden decision by whoever has these people, the police are lying, and the bar tender is deeply involved (drugs in bar). Maybe the kidnappers feared witnesses to something they would do to him. It sounds drug related and it sounds like police are involved. Looking more closely at bartender and asking about him will lead them where they need to be but they play stupid and are not very good at it.

Why is my first thought a cartel kidnapping?Another interesting thread Gazrok.

Corrupt cops.
They likely know exactly what happened here, and they are staying silent or covering up because they were directly involved or because they fear for their own safety.

This is the kind if sh*t that goes down when you let cartels, militia, gangs and other random groups thrive without challenging them, and that's as much down the people and the local governments as the national level.

It's sad, but it's likely those missing people will be found in ten or twenty years time in a mass grave somewhere, and all because one sick and twisted gangster wanted to "send a message" to some other sick and twisted gangster.

I wouldn't be surprise from the media being confused of this news. With the Mexican Drug War there are so many cartels and gangs fighting against another and there is infighting. It's sad there is a lot of people dying. Crazy how drugs can cause this destruction.

According to the below washington post story, 2 of the victims were sons of drug traffickers:

The mothers of two of the 11 young people kidnapped from a Mexico City bar in a shocking, daylight abduction acknowledged Friday that the youths’ fathers are serving prison sentences for drug-related crimes.

The fathers of two of the youths were arrested in 2003 in connection with killings, robberies and drug dealing. It was not immediately clear which of those crimes resulted in convictions, but both men — viewed as top criminal figures in Tepito — are now serving prison sentences at maximum-security facilities.

Leticia Ponce, whose 16-year-old son Jerzy is among the missing, acknowledged that his father is convict Jorge Ortiz Reyes, alias “The Tank.” People who worked near the bar involved in Sunday’s abductions long suspected it was connected to drug traffickers or criminals because of the shady characters, street disputes and flashy cars that were frequently seen outside.

articles.washingtonpost.com...

Amid the lack of an explanation, speculation emerged that it was a retaliation crime relating to the fathers of the two boys.

The spokesman for the city's penitentiary system said Sanchez's father, Alejandro Sanchez, was sentenced in October 2004 to 23 years in prison for extortion, organized crime, homicide and robbery. He is serving time in a maximum security prison in the city.

Nearly a week later, the two mothers found themselves denying that the brazen abduction had anything to do with their sons. Both acknowledged that the boys' fathers are serving prison sentences for drug-related crimes. But Ponce tearfully pleaded with reporters on Friday not to criminalize her son, Jerzy. His father has been in jail for 10 years.

Rumors also spread that the abductions might be the result of one of Mexico's major drug cartels trying to break into the lucrative black market of Tepito, traditionally controlled by local mafias and families.

lacrossetribune.com...

Jerzy Ortiz is the son of Jorge Ortiz Reyes, alias "The Tank", considered one of the main offenders in the neighborhood of Tepito, since 2004 who faces a sentence of 23 years in prison. According to the Attorney General of the Federal District (PGJDF), Ortiz Reyes was sentenced to 15 years for the crime of aggravated extortion and eight years by organized crime.

Along with "The Tank" was sentenced Alejandro Sanchez alias "El Papis" Said Father Sanchez, another missing in the bar in the Zona Rosa. www.excelsior.com.mx...

In reviewing the profile of the alleged victims was found that four of them have criminal; Marines Rafael Rojas, 33, was recorded in 2004 at Eastern Prison for the crime of theft. Another is Joshua Stone reported Moreno, 29, who was imprisoned in the Eastern Prison for the crime of theft in 2004. While Alan Omar Athiencia Barranco, 26, was held at the Northern Prison for the crime of robbery in 2011. www.aztecanoticias.com.mx...

reply to post by Gazrok


If the 11 were involved in Drug Trade then they are probably already dead.

If they are not then they are probably being held for a ransom, which is common. I guess just as common as murdered drug traders.

I find it Interesting that they were partying in the morning. 10am might suggest that they pulled an All Nighter.

Was the owner involved? Kind of sounds like it.

And the guy who got away. How did he manage that? It sounds highly suspect.

Theyll turn up inthe desert with their heads hacked off probably whether they are being held hostage currently or not.
The Policia wisely have opted to act stupido to cover their own corrupt traces, and hopefully save their miserable lives.
There is no real hope to see any of these people alive again.
Just some more casualties in the rampant criminality in Mexico.

There is no mystery here.
What don't you understand?
As they say, the devil is in the details.
Obviously, you know little about how thousands of the cartel killing and kidnapping operations are carried out.
This one is typical of their well-funded and well-planned attacks on their enemies rather than a mass kidnapping.
You don't think those taken were innocent do you?
Hint: They were together for a party. What did they have in common?

Let us hope that it was merely a kidnapping capper, but I doubt it. I know of a family in Guadalajara that had four different members kidnapped over the span of a couple of years. Non were killed, but large sums of money went to get them freed..

were they the only patrons at the club at the time? no ransom demands have been made and no one is admitting whether or not these people had any involvement w drugs or the cartels? this would be a pretty easy case to figure out, but like another poster said the cops in mexico don't want to touch this one w a ten foot pole. the people who have disappeared either owed the cartel money, informed on the cartels, had family members that crossed the cartel or they crossed someone who contracted the cartel to do their dirty work. we don't know they may have even been members of a rival cartel.

reply to post by Murgatroid


Good point on questioning what they were still doing partying at 10:00 am. Maybe they were in that particular bar for the drugs. Maybe a stretch as would have to assume they all knew each other. Violence is so bred into that country and its easy to see why. Kids raised in that atmosphere fall prey to joining these gangs Protection for their families, power, money.

This link sounds a lot like the one discussed in here but has to do with a US marine. Car pulls up and takes people. Maybe the article is onto something. Rounding up people for their drug trafficking. What doesn't make sense is kidnapping people rather than just recruiting more locals. I'm thinking like the mafia they extort money from businesses. Guy in bar had not renewed his license. Marine visiting his dad, who had a ranch. It's so hard to tell because as someone in here pointed out - there are too many cartels to investigate.

news.msn.com...

This one is of some of the missing (journalists) found dead. It seems it will never end down there. So very sad for locals who have no choice.

www.nydailynews.com...

I wonder if this is related to the US marine that went missing in Mexico.

This needs looking into. It's the Cartels. A Mod wondered above if the cartels even use SUV's// why wouldn't they? They have the money and power. They can look and act like any Yuppy American and no one will know the difference.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


They probably purchased them in America. It's an outrage that Obama is taking a hands off approach with this when they have infiltrated our country. The map on this link is only the beginning.

blog.foreignpolicy.com...

They are killing people who even blog or Facebook about them now so whose to say this stops in their country once their grip is tight here. Our police force can't handle this problem. I get that mexico probably has a strategy and asked Obama to let them take care of it but this is about our safety too. I guess have to trust it doesn't spread further and Mexico authorities have a plan now.

reply to post by Sankari

I don't recall the memo specifying their automobile preferences, but I'll defer to your intimate knowledge of the Mexican drug cartel's favoured vehicles.

Was on your desk this morning...Damn, you never read any of them, do you?

Seriously though, while a Cartel hit is an easy conclusion to jump to, it's not the only explanation, and one of the people missing is 16, though of course, could still be involved in the drug trade.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


SUV's make sense, I just got the impression from the article that they were all similar, and the armed kidnappers more military like in style. Of course it doesn't rule out Cartels, but I doubt it is par for the course either.

reply to post by stirling

There is no real hope to see any of these people alive again.

Given the disappearance of the witness and the owner, I'd say that's probably a safe call...