This situation, confirmed by Mexican authorities, came to light after 14 Cubans were kidnapped and tortured in that country by members of these criminal groups.

Four of the victims who were sent back to Havana by plane told Granma newspaper about the terrible nightmare they lived from September 3rd to the 13th this year.

According to the testimonies, the group clandestinely left the country on a boat from the Isle of Youth towards Cancun. Once they reached their destination, there were supposed to be taken to the Mexican border after a relative or a representative of the group deposited 10,000 dollars.

Since the money was not transferred, they were locked up in a room and submitted to brutal tortures: ears mutilated, flogged with machetes, suffocated with air bags, and one of them was even threatened with a gun in his mouth.

The criminals recorded the screaming of the victims and used it to make the American relatives pay the money.

Neighbours of the place where they were kept warned the Mexican authorities who were able to release them after 10 days of being locked up.

According to Granma, several news outlets refer that the United States encourages human trafficking through its policy of giving protection to Cubans who leave the country illegally no matter what means they use to reach that country.

In July 2008, the Mexican daily La Jornada published information that linked the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) with the drug trafficking Gulf Cartel and its network of paid killers, known as the zetas.