REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — Rival factions of the Gulf Cartel once again faced off in fierce gun battles and spread terror throughout the city. The latest spike in violence follows the recent death of a key commander.
The violence began when rival factions of the Gulf Cartel met in the Ramon Perez neighborhood of this border city in an attempt to broker a truce that turned into a shootout. Citizen journalists in Reynosa used their phones to record the barrages of machine gun fire and grenade detonations.
One of the videos shows the moment when a group of panicked women riding a public bus crouched as they waited for the next barrage. Similar scenes are commonplace in Reynosa, where the Gulf Cartel has waged war since 2010.
For more than 40 minutes, rival cartel gunmen roamed the city streets spraying gunfire. When Tamaulipas state police officers, Mexican Marines, and the Mexican Army arrived, the gunmen fled. Authorities confirmed to Breitbart Texas that one person was injured and they seized seven abandoned vehicles used by the gunmen. Two of the vehicles had been torched.
The fighting and the summit follow the recent death of key Gulf Cartel commander Humberto “Betito” Loza Mendez. As Breitbart Texas reported, Loza Mendez had been one of the figures fighting for control of Reynosa to fill the vacuum left by his uncle, former regional boss Juan Manuel “Toro” Loza Salinas who was killed in early 2017.
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 “A.C. Del Angel” from Tamaulipas.