The five members of the Reynosa-based norteña band Grupo Fugitivo have been reported as missing after their families lost contact with them on Sunday.
The young men reportedly disappeared after a performance in the Riberas de Rancho Grande neighborhood of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, on Sunday night.
Relatives of the musicians subsequently reported their disappearance to the Specialized Missing Persons Unit in the northern border city, according to media reports.
There is scant information about what happened to the members of Grupo Fugitivo, which, according to the band’s Facebook page, is available to play at events in Reynosa and surrounding areas.
The newspaper La Jornada reported that the men disappeared along with their SUV, instruments and audio equipment.
The Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office issued boletines de busqeuda, or search bulletins, for the five men.
They are:
- Francisco Xavier Vásquez Osorio, 20.
- Nemesio Antonio Durán Rodríguez, 40.
- Livan Edyberto Solís de la Rosa, 27.
- Víctor Manuel Garza Cervantes, 21.
- José Francisco Morales Martínez, 23.
Each of the search bulletins states that the missing person “may be a victim of a crime” given that his whereabouts is unknown.
The group “Desaparecidos in Tamaulipas Colectivo Amor” (Missing in Tamaulipas Love Collective) posted a photo to Facebook that showed Grupo Fugitivo’s black SUV towing an enclosed trailer, which the band presumably used to transport instruments and audio equipment.
The Facebook post also included photos of the missing men and a plea for any information about their disappearance to be shared in a private message.
On Sunday night, Grupo Fugitivo was active on social media, posting a video to Facebook from the pedestrian section of the McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge.
In addition, the group appeared close to the bridge in a post to Instagram on Sunday night.
View this post on Instagram
“See you in a while McAllen Texas. Pure Fugitive, crossing borders. (Don’t believe it, it’s just a photo on the Mexican side, but we hope to one day expand into the United States),” said the caption to the post
The band’s Facebook page has a link to another Instagram page with the handle @grupo_fugitivooffical. The account has zero posts, just 42 followers and was only created this month, according to Instagram.
A social media story posted to that account on Monday night states “Por favor ayúdanos” (Please help us).
A second story states: “Ru[m]bo a Nuevo León por favor” (On the way to Nuevo León please).
Mexico News Daily could not verify that the account is actually controlled by Grupo Fugitivo, and it is possible, or even probable, that someone outside the band created it after news of the disappearance of the five year young men broke.
Tamaulipas is known as a violent state, although less than 1% of Mexico’s total homicides in the first four months of the year occurred in the northern border state. The state is home to the notorious Gulf Cartel.
The United States advises U.S. citizens to not to travel to Tamaulipas “due to crime and kidnapping.”
Kidnappings occur frequently in Mexico, and many victims are never found. Almost 130,000 people are currently classified as “disappeared” or “unaccounted for,” according to the National Search Commission.
With reports from El Universal, Infobae, La Jornada, El Mañana and ABC Noticias
