Cuban doctor is kidnapped in Mexico, and his family pleads for help for his release

The Cuban doctor Adrián Pupo Ojeda was kidnapped in Mexico, where he was undergoing a migration journey, and his family is urgently pleading for help to secure his release.

The parents of the doctor sent a video to Cuban journalist Mario Pentón, in which they desperately plead for help to have their son released.

Amid tears, Pupo's mother and father pleaded with the kidnappers to release him so he could continue "to where he wanted to go," as the doctor has a young son to care for, which is the reason he had to emigrate from Cuba.

"Help us!" the mother exclaimed, while the father pleaded loudly, "Please, we ask you, let us see him again. Don't hurt my son!"

Pentón shared the chilling video on his social media and appealed to the kidnappers to release the doctor.

His relatives "are desperate, they are asking for money just like many Cubans do to secure his release," he stated. "They are an extremely poor family, very humble people from Cuba who have nothing. They cannot afford to pay any ransom."

"I hope this video reaches those captors and that they know they are very humble people who have sold everything they have and are desperate (...) May God allow the doctor to be well and to be released," Pentón expressed, concerned about the dangerous situation in which the doctor finds himself.

The journalist shared a photo of Pupo with his young son in Cuba and asked his thousands of followers to share the case online.

In a Facebook post, the young Dary Méndez also appealed to people's solidarity to help the family with the payment to the kidnappers, urging for Pupo to be released as soon as possible.

"I can't find the right words to write this letter. This person, Adrián Pupo Ojeda, who is a great friend, father, brother, son, and husband, has been unfortunate enough to be kidnapped in Mexico, putting his life in danger—all for leaving the country where he was born to provide a better life for his family. He is a good person, a doctor who has helped his community," Méndez emphasized in his message.

He added that the kidnappers are demanding money, although he did not specify the amount they are requesting to release the Cuban.

For that reason, Méndez called on "all those who know him or can help in any way... Even a dollar would be appreciated; his family is very desperate, and I don't want to think about how I would feel if it were my own family. May God help him, and may we be able to assist him, even if it's just a little..." she pleaded. The young woman provided her phone number (305-713-3300) for those wishing to contact her.

Dr. Pupo is originally from Puerto Padre and graduated from the University of Medical Sciences in Las Tunas, as noted on his social media.

The Cuban migration crisis has led to an increase in cases of kidnappings of Cubans in Mexico, with criminal gangs exploiting the route to extort money from the relatives of immigrants in the United States.