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.
TAMPICO, Tamaulipas — Mexican Marines are tired of being held back in the fight against drug cartels. They are asking to be set loose on cartel gunmen and are calling for the return of a special forces leader who had been extremely effective in going after organized crime.
The calls for action come after the apparent lack of response by Mexican Navy officers following the recent kidnapping and torture of three Mexican Marines as well as the murder of a fourth one at the hands of the Gulf Cartel. As Breitbart Texas recently reported, four members of a Mexican Navy intelligence unit were hunted down by Gulf Cartel members in this city. The gunmen killed one Mexican Marine while hunting them down and then managed to kidnap and torture three others. News outlets and Mexican Navy officials have remained quiet about the case.
Some individuals within the Mexican Navy who privately spoke to Breitbart Texas recalled the times when the Mexican Marines were leading the charge against drug cartels in this city instead of sitting back and letting the Federal Police or Tamaulipas State Police do the work. A time when the Marine known as “Marino Loko” was busy kicking doors down and dressing fearsome cartel bosses in women’s lingerie. As Breitbart Texas recently reported in an exclusive investigation, “Marino Loko,” or “Thor” (Hammer), are some of the names used by a Mexican Marine who led a special forces team that became the bane of cartel bosses.
In an exclusive video obtained by Breitbart Texas, a Mexican Marine from Marino Loko’s team questioned Juan Manuel “La Lancha” Perez. During the short video, Perez calls out “A greeting to all my friends in the Marines” before blowing them a kiss, one of trademarks of the Marino Loko team.
Carrying a small mallet on his tactical vest to identify himself as Thor, the Mexican Marine was highly successful in getting under the skin of cartel bosses. His unique methods of operation resulted in multiple seizures and the arrests of key figures within the Gulf Cartel. In what became his trademark, Marino Loko would capture cartel members, dress them in women’s lingerie, have them pose for pictures, dance and kiss each other as a way of emasculating and humiliating the individuals who live outside of the law.
The frontal attack on the Gulf Cartel in Tampico at the time allowed Mexican authorities to develop much of the intelligence that is still being used to this day by Mexico’s federal and state police agencies to target the cartel’s regional structure. Marino Loko has since been pulled out of the hunt by his higher ups under questionable reasons, but the groundwork laid by his team allowed for state and federal authorities to track down key figures such as Silvestre “R1 or Chive” Haro Rodriguez, who was arrested last August by state police officers.
Recently Mexican federal police officers arrested Marco Antonio “R2” Haro Rodriguez; El Chive’s brother who had inherited command of the criminal organization. Earlier this month federal authorities also caught Luis Urbano “El Cumbias” Chavez, one of the regional bosses under “R3” or de Leon Fonseca, who currently runs the criminal organization for the Haro Rodriguez family. Since Marino Loko was moved out of Tampico, the Mexican Navy has not made had successful significant operations against organized crime.
In a previously released video, Marino Loko and his team had targeted the financial network of the Gulf Cartel in Tampico. The group raided the house of former Altamira’s Mayor Juvenal Hernandez Llanos and his son Juvenal “El Juve” Hernandez Amparan.
During the interrogation at the Hernandez house, Mexican Marines were able to learn of the location of various properties being used by the Gulf Cartel in the Tampico, Altamira and Ciudad Madero area.
El Marino Loko was also able to learn from the family about the political ties that the Gulf Cartel had that gave them key people within the port authorities as well as in Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office and in their anti-corruption unit.
The military unit also learned from the Hernandez family that the Gulf Cartel had a key interest in the funding of political campaigns in order to have friendly politicians in power.