MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas — This city froze to a standstill after the Gulf Cartel set up a series of blockades along main avenues, spreading panic among the stranded. Citizens worried they would experience a large-scale gun battle like seen in Reynosa.
Main avenues like Portes Gil and El Niño were not only affected by blockades, but also makeshift road spikes that disabled more than 10 vehicles causing them to lose control and crash.
The blockades began along the highway that connects this city with Reynosa–where Gulf Cartel gunmen steal cars at gunpoint to set up roadblocks.
“We thought it was a traffic accident but in a few minutes the highway was filled with cars, it wasn’t an accident, it was a blockade causing the chaos,” a student who refused to give his name said.
Schools sent notifications to parents letting them know they would remain open and shelter students. It was up to the parents and students to attend classes due to the possibility of new waves of violence.
While local and federal authorities remain silent about the situation in Matamoros, social media pages run by citizen journalists sent out multiple warnings about the areas to avoid.
The tension comes after months of violence in neighboring Reynosa where rival factions of the Gulf Cartel are fighting for regional control since clashes began in early May.
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 “J.A. Espinoza” from Tamaulipas.
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