Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas and Coahuila to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “M.A. Navarro” from Ciudad Victoria.
CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas — One of the latest chapter in the ongoing war between rival factions of Los Zetas brought terror to this city as gunmen and police forces clashed outside of a government building.
During the evening gun battle police officers killed two of the cartel hit-men and ended up arrested two others. Before the firefight began, the gunmen had managed to murder a man selling flowers at a street corner. A video from government surveillance cameras provided by Mexican authorities shows the moment that cartel gunmen and police forces clashed. As seen in the video below, a massive deployment of police officers rushed to fight off the gunmen who were forced to make their stand after their vehicle flipped just yards from various office buildings.
Employees at a the city’s water office (Comapa) government office near the scene of the shootout were forced to take cover, however, one of them took video with his cell phone where the intensity of the gun battle can be heard.
According to information provided by the Tamaulipas government, the gunmen had been riding in an older Jeep at the time they shot at the flower vendor in the city’s downtown area. Police officers with Fuerza Tamaulipas near the scene of the shooting rushed to the scene as a high speed chase and rolling shootout began.
Other members of the Los Zetas faction set fire to three vehicles throughout the city in an effort to distract authorities. The raging gun battle and cartel activity forced residents in this city to lock themselves in their homes or offices in order to avoid becoming another victim. Rumors spread throughout the city that gunmen had even fired shots at the governor’s mansion, a version that the Tamaulipas government later denied.
The gunmen ended up along the banks of the San Marcos river, down the street from the government building when the gun battle began. During that shootout, police officers killed two gunmen, injured a third and arrested a fourth one.
As Breitbart Texas previously reported, two factions of the Los Zetas drug cartel have been fighting for control of the city. The fighting between Grupo Bravo and the faction called Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) has resulted in multiple gun battles, drive-by shootings, executions, beheadings and dismemberments. The escalating violence has brought terror to this once tranquil city.
A poster-board published by the social media page Reynosa Codigo Rojo revealed that Grupo Bravo took responsibility for the gun-battle. In that banner the Grupo Bravo threatened their rivals as well as members of Fuerza Tamaulipas led by “Lieutenant Tirado”.