Five Cuban Nationals Arrested, Four Victims Rescued in Cancun Kidnapping Case

Cancún, Quintana Roo — A joint police and military operation in Benito Juárez municipality exposed another Cuba-to-Cancun human trafficking network, freed four people held against their will and led to the arrest of five Cuban nationals on kidnapping charges.

Officers from the Public Security Secretariat, the Mexican Navy and the Mexican Army were patrolling De Los Jaguares Street when a woman standing outside a white house asked for help, saying she could hear screams and people inside calling for help. After officers heard the sounds from the street, they entered the home.

Inside, officers found nine people. Four of them — two men and two women identified by the initials R.G.G., S.M.S., Y.G.C., and Y.A.M. — said they were being held against their will.

One of the victims, a Cuban man, told investigators he had found a fake job offer on social media and traveled by boat from Playa Boca, San Diego, Cuba, to Cancun. Once in the city, he said, he was taken to the house in a gray vehicle, robbed of his belongings, beaten and recorded on video as his captors demanded $5,000 from his family for his release.

The four victims identified the suspects — Alejandro “N,” Llanet “N,” Zaida “N,” Francheska “N,” and José Luis “N” — as the people who held them and assaulted them. A search of the suspects turned up five cellphones and a keychain.

The five suspects were arrested and turned over to the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Kidnapping and Extortion to determine their legal status.