Getting kidnapped by members of the notorious Gulf Cartel in Mexico was a harrowing experience for four American tourists. The two who survived this terrifying ordeal had finally talked about what happened that day.

Survivors LaTavia Washington McGee and Eric Williams went to Mexico with their friends Zindell Brown and Shaeed Woodard on March 3 for a medical appointment in Matamoros in Mexico's state of Tamaulipas.

However, the van they were driving was attacked by members of the Gulf Cartel, who later abducted them. Brown, Woodard, and a bystander were killed.

The two surviving American tourists sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper in a tell-all interview on Tuesday to talk about their harrowing experience while in Gulf Cartel custody and about the moments leading up to the deaths of their friends.

"To hear your brother, somebody who is your friend, who you can call a brother, tell you they love you and know you're never gonna see them again," Williams described, with Washington McGee adding, "watching them fight for their life, and there's nothing you can do."

Mexican authorities believe that the attack was a case of mistaken identity as the Gulf Cartel members initially thought that the American tourists were Haitian drug smugglers.

According to PEOPLE, Washington McGee saw a video of her own kidnapping filmed by a bystander, and one of her captors showed it to her. She told Cooper that at the time, "I just started crying, [thinking] looks like I'm never going home."

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American Kidnapped by Gulf Cartel in Mexico Tried to Escape Twice

According to ABC-15 News, LaTavia Washington McGee was asked about her attempts to escape while being held captive by the drug cartel.

Anderson Cooper asked, "You tried to escape twice... what was behind that?"

"For my brothers to have the proper burial and for us to go back home to our family and kids... none of us deserved that but we're alive, and we have a lot of recovering to do," replied Washington McGee. 

Mexican authorities eventually rescued the group in a house some 30 minutes from where their vehicle initially crashed when the cartel members attacked them.

One alleged member of the Gulf Cartel was arrested during that operation. But the cartel willingly gave up the other five men responsible for the incident and even wrote an apology letter.

Americans Talk About the Gulf Cartel Attack

Eric Williams also told Anderson Cooper that while they were driving, a car appeared behind them and started shooting.

"Zindell and Shaeed, they jumped up to run and they were gunned down," Williams noted.

Williams, who was the driver, told Cooper that when a cartel member started beating on their vehicle with a gun, he also tried to jump out but was shot in both legs.

The four Americans were then loaded into the back of a pickup truck, with Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown still alive at the time.

When they arrived at the house where they were held captive, the pair said the kidnappers, wearing red "Diablo masks," put "guns at our heads, telling us not to look up." 

They noted that Brown and Woodard were fighting for their lives at the time, but the cartel members "didn't do" anything. The two men eventually died.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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