Mexican Cartel Triggers Riot in Border State Prison

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas — For several hours, cartel members housed at the state prison in this city waged war over control of the facility. Gunfire could be heard as police forces moved into the facility to restore peace.

The rioting began on Tuesday morning shortly after 11:15  a.m. when rival groups of inmates began fighting in various areas of the prison, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the Tamaulipas government revealed. Prison guards rushed to evacuate dozens of relatives who had arrived at the facility since it was visitation day.

In response to the violence, Tamaulipas State Police officers moved into the facility to suppress the riot while military and federal police forces surrounded the area to prevent escapes. Three helicopters flew overhead as well.

The Tamaulipas government stated that authorities fired various rounds into the air to dissuade rioting inmates. According to citizen journalists, the gunfire went on for more than 30 minutes.

As a result of the fighting, one police officer and three inmates were injured; and one other inmate died at the scene. On Tuesday afternoon, police forces transferred 18 inmates out of the facility.

The move appears to have been an effort to keep rival factions from clashing inside. The latest riot comes less than a month after prisoners rioted for several days, following a mass breakout where dozens of Los Zetas members escaped. The breach was carried out through the use of a tunnel dug from under the prison walls.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León 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.