Mystery: Three Texas Women Still Missing Near ‘Mexico’s Richest City’

Three Texas women are still missing two weeks after going missing while traveling to Mexico to sell clothes at a flea market near the country’s wealthiest city.

Sisters Maritza Trinidad Pérez Ríos, 47, Marina Pérez Ríos, 48, and their friend, Dora Alicia Cervantes Sáenz, 53, disappeared in Mexico on February 24 after traveling from Peñitas, the small Texas border town where they they lived.

The women were driving to a flea market in the Mexican city of Montemorelos, about three hours from their home in Peñitas. Missing placards from Mexican authorities indicate the women were Mexican citizens living in the United States.

The FBI has since launched an investigation into her disappearance, while US authorities have warned spring breakers against traveling to the country amid a recent wave of cartel-fuelled kidnappings.

It comes on the heels of the highly publicized case in which a cartel kidnapped four Americans after traveling to the country for a tummy tuck. His kidnapping was caught on video last week and received an avalanche of attention.

They crossed into Mexico to sell clothes at a flea market three hours from the border (in the photo: Maritza and Marina)

These are the current travel advisories for Mexico from the United States government. Only two states, Yucatán and Campeche, are completely free of notices.

Authorities said the three women were traveling in a mid-1990s green Chevy Silverado and never returned. His home in Peñitas is only a few hundred feet from the Rio Grande.

Last to know of the women was one of her husbands who spoke to her on the phone while she was in Mexico. She later reported them missing after worrying about her when she couldn’t locate them after her, Penitas Police Chief Roel Bermea said.

The sisters’ cousin, Ludy Arredondo, wrote on Facebook that “they don’t have a single piece of news (and) the authorities don’t say anything,” as she and others continue to pray for their safe return.

“They have no clues,” he wrote. ‘PLEASE don’t leave us alone.

‘My cousins ​​and her friend are women, hard-working, responsible, mothers of their children, noble, simple women, they are WOMEN WHO WENT TO WORK. PLEASE friends post (and) share,” she pleaded.

Officials with the state attorney’s office said they have been investigating the woman’s disappearance since Monday. Beyond that, US and Mexican officials haven’t said much about their search for the three.

The FBI said it was investigating the disappearance, saying in a statement that it “relentlessly pursues all options when it comes to protecting the American people, and this does not change when they are in danger across the border,” according to NewsNation.

But many relatives of Americans still missing wonder why Washington hasn’t given their loved ones a higher priority, as it did with the recent kidnapping.

Mexican authorities conduct search for missing women

A missing poster of Dora Alicia Cervantes Sáenz, 53, issued by Mexican authorities

A missing poster of Maritza Trinidad Pérez Ríos, 47, issued by Mexican authorities

A missing poster of Marina Pérez Ríos, 48, issued by Mexican authorities

Lisa Torres, whose son Robert disappeared at the age of 21, was angered when she saw the coverage of the four friends.

“I am so angry that I could not sleep, thinking about how my government of the United States acted in Matamoros with the kidnappings,” she wrote in Twitter. ‘This only confirms that my United States government can and did not help in my son’s case. BECAUSE?’

A lawyer, Geovanni Barrios, whose son was kidnapped in Reynosa when he was 17, told the Washington Post: ‘We see that when the US government makes strong statements, there are results. But there are not only four missing Americans in Mexico. We don’t see (the US government) making these statements about the hundreds of other missing Americans.’

While many families still hold out hope that their loved ones will turn up again, they are resentful that they have not been given the massive search and government attention that the four Americans did. For most of the 112,000 missing in the country, the only ones looking for them are their desperate relatives.

The three women are among a staggering 550 Americans who have been reported missing in Mexico. according to public records. This is a small part of the total 112,000 missing persons in the country, and it is a small percentage of the millions of US citizens who travel to Mexico each year for vacations and work.

Lt. Chris Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told travelers preparing for spring break to be careful when planning their vacations in the popular tourist destination.

“Our department urges anyone traveling to Mexico, especially for spring break, to avoid those areas, because it is too dangerous right now with the increase in violence and kidnappings in Mexico,” Lt. Olivarez said. foxnews. ‘I can’t stress enough to those thinking of traveling to Mexico, especially for spring break…to avoid those areas as much as possible.