MIAMI, United States. – Cuban doctor Adrián Pupo Ojeda, 28, was kidnapped in Mexico while trying to reach the United States, according to reported on Facebook a person close to the victim, the user Dary Méndez.
CubaNet confirmed the kidnapping with Dr. Daniela Pons, Pupo Ojeda’s former classmate, and with the doctor Alexander Pupo Casasalso known to the victim.
“I can’t find the right words to write these letters. This person, Adrián Pupo Ojeda, who is a great friend, father, brother, son, husband, has had the bad luck to be kidnapped in Mexico, putting his life in danger to leave the country where he was born to give a better life to his family,” Méndez wrote.
According to Pons, the kidnappers are demanding 10,000 dollars (USD) for the release of Pupo Ojeda. “The kidnappers contacted us yesterday and asked for $10,000,” he said.
The kidnapped young man graduated as a doctor from the University of Las Tunas and is the father of a child who is about to turn two years old, according to the sources consulted.
Both Méndez and Pons called on everyone the doctor knew to donate money for his rescue.
“I appeal to all those people who know him or can help with something, please contact me. Even if it is a dollar you will be grateful, his family is very desperate,” Méndez wrote.
Kidnappings of Cuban migrants in Mexico are frequent. In January of this year, transcended that the authorities of the Aztec country were investigating the kidnapping of 31 migrants from Venezuela, Ecuador and other nations.
A month later, in February, it was learned that several Cubans who were part of a group of 29 migrants of different nationalities had been rescued in a hotel in the Doctores neighborhood, in Mexico City, where they were kidnapped.
The migrants, including a minor, remained deprived of their liberty and with their immigration documents retained, stated in a statement from the Attorney General’s Office of Mexico City..
Also in February, a young Cuban told the media about his experience of being kidnapped in Ciudad Juárez, on the border of Mexico and the United States. The kidnappers captured him along with two of his friends and demanded a ransom of $5,000 (for each) from the families.
The border crossing between the United States and Mexico ranked as the “most dangerous land migratory route in the world” in 2022, with 686 dead or missing, according to a report of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) published last September.
Almost half of the deaths that occurred on the border between both countries were linked to dangerous crossings of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts.
Cuban and Mexican authorities have not yet issued official statements regarding the incident. Meanwhile, family and friends continue to wait for news and seek support to face this difficult situation.
