After the villagers took the local elected official, they left the police vehicle behind. Authorities recovered the vehicle and are in the process of trying to find the missing politician.

According to Mexico’s AM News, villagers were members of the Toztziles indigenous people. Since then, no demands for ransom have been made. None of the various indigenous groups or organizations in Chiapas have claimed responsibility for the abduction.

In recent weeks, Chiapas began to see high levels of violence as rival drug cartels have started clashing in the region for control of lucrative drug trafficking as well as human smuggling routes into Mexico. Chiapas is on the southern border with Guatemala. It is considered one of the immigration hotspots as that is where a large portion of Central and South American migrants enter the country trying to make their way north to the US-Mexico border.