Mexican sailor returns home to festivities after 14 months in Houthi rebel captivity

Arturo Zacarías, center left, attends a Mass with family members outside his home in Misantla, Veracruz state, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, days after he was released by Yemen Houthi rebels who had seized his cargo ship Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea in 2023. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez).

MISANTLA, Mexico (AP) - Escorted by locals on bicycles and in cars that awaited his arrival outside his hometown in Mexico, Arturo Zacarías Meza returned home days after Houthi rebels in Yemen released him and his fellow crew members following more than a year in captivity.

In Misantla, a small town in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz with tile-roofed buildings facing a lush central square, a Norteño band belted out Zacarías´ favorite song on Friday and neighbors prepared the carnitas - Mexican pulled confit pork - that the 32-year-old merchant marine had most missed.

"A mother´s prayer will never fail," Zacarías said upon his return home, where residents had been lighting candles for his safe release since November 2023.

On Nov. 19, 2023, Zacarías and much of the rest of the crew of the Galaxy Leader were resting in their quarters when Houthi rebels descended from a helicopter onto the ship transiting the Red Sea.

"Immediately the captain gave the order that we should surrender and not do anything," Zacarías said. "And thanks to that we´re alive, because if we had done something more they would have given the order to shoot."

The rebels told them in broken English that they weren´t pirates and weren´t looking for money, he said. They said they wanted to stop the war in Gaza.