Mexican mayor of Río Bravo found alive after abduction near Zacatecas

A road abduction on Saturday

Security authorities in Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí reported the probable kidnapping of Miguel Ángel Almaraz Maldonado, mayor of Río Bravo in Tamaulipas, on the night of Saturday, 7 November. He was travelling with family and members of his team toward Real de Catorce, a tourist destination in San Luis Potosí, when armed civilians stopped several vehicles on a road near the border with Zacatecas. According to the prosecutor, Cristian Paul Camacho, several people were left on the road after the vehicles were intercepted. Companions reached the town of Cedral in San Luis Potosí and reported what had happened to local authorities there. The mayor is a member of the conservative National Action Party, known as PAN.

Search and release on Sunday

On Sunday, 8 November, Governor Américo Villarreal of Morena said a search operation was under way and that his safety was the priority. Later that day he reported that Almaraz had been located, although he did not mention a kidnapping. Federal security secretary Omar García Harfuch wrote on X that the mayor, who had been missing, had been found, and he shared a photo of him inside a vehicle belonging to Coahuila's security forces. The federal security cabinet said the mayor and his companions were located through search and investigation actions. The operation involved federal authorities and the states of Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Coahuila and Tamaulipas. Accounts of his release differ: federal officials described him as freed by his captors, while Almaraz described escaping.

The mayor's account

Almaraz told local media that the captors briefly let their guard down, giving him a chance to flee over a fence, and that he then kept running and walking through the night. He described the escape in these words:

“Suddenly they came out of there, we jumped the fence and ran for an hour without stopping, and then wandered all night for 80 kilometres until we got here.”

He commented on his condition after what he called a bad experience:

“No blows or injuries, nothing like that, but terrible scares, yes.”

The walk, which he put at more than 80 kilometres, ended in Coahuila. Authorities have not disclosed where he was held or who was responsible for taking him. They say they are investigating the case, including who might be involved, and it remains unclear why he was taken.

Background on the mayor

Almaraz was detained in 2009 while leading the PRD, a left-wing party, and was accused of taking part in a network that stole hydrocarbons in the Burgos Basin, with the product sold to refineries in the United States. He was also accused of organised crime and money laundering, and he served six years in El Rincón prison in Nayarit before leaving in January 2015. He stood for mayor of Río Bravo in 2021 and lost to the Morena-PT candidate Héctor Joel Villegas González, but in 2024 he won the post for the PAN. He has said he intends to stand in his party's primary for the Tamaulipas governorship in the 2028 elections. Al Jazeera notes that Zacatecas has seen activity linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel, both accused of attacking civilians and politicians.