Report: Kidnapping of migrants up in southern Mexican

MEXICO CITY – Activists say dozens of central American migrants have been kidnapped and tortured in Tenosique, a town in southern Mexico near the Guatemala border.

The head of the “72” shelter in Tenosique says kidnappers have snatched at least three dozen migrants since July.

Ramon Marquez says kidnappers forced the migrants to provide telephone numbers for relatives in the United States who could pay ransoms for their release.

The aid group Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday that migrants reported being stripped, whipped, beaten and tortured with electric shocks.

Some reported they were forced to watch kidnappers rape other migrants.

Marquez said authorities have been slow to investigate the crimes.