Extortion and kidnap - a deadly journey across Mexico - BBC News

Under the radar in the US border crisis debate is the role of drug cartels preying on migrants.

13 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Queue of migrants outside processing centre in Arizona after crossing the borderBy Linda Pressly BBC News, San Luis Rio ColoradoThe influx of migrants across the southern US border has become a critical factor in the US presidential election. But what is little known is the role of drug cartels in making a dangerous journey across Mexico even more perilous.

With its strip clubs, taco stands and buzzing motorbikes, San Luis Rio Colorado is typical of Mexican border communities.

In a migrant shelter, a stone's throw from the towering, rust-red fence that separates the town from the US state of Arizona, Eduardo rests on a shady patio.

On one wall, there's a large wooden cross. And it's here that Eduardo began to process - and recover from - his terrifying ordeal in Mexico.

Eduardo, who is in his 50s, used to run a fast-food restaurant in Ecuador. But organised crime has tightened its grip in his former, mostly peaceful, South American home.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68816029

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