CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas – Two main factions of the hyper-violent Los Zetas cartel are once again fighting for control of the state prison in this city. Despite government crackdowns, cartel members continue to run various moneymaking operations from inside prison walls making the detention facility a lucrative territory to control.
In the most recent fight, members of the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas used shanks and other makeshift weapons to fight against members of the Vieja Escuela faction of Los Zetas and their allies with the Gulf Cartel inside the state prison in Ciudad Victoria. As Breitbart News reported, in previous clashes at this prison have led to the use of firearms by cartel members as well as massive prison escapes.
The fighting began in the morning in Pod 1 where numerous members of the two factions began fighting. Almost immediately, jailers called for help from Tamaulipas state police officers and military forces in case the riot continued to escalate. With the presence of state police, jail guards managed to suppress the riot and moved three injured inmates to the infirmary where they were treated for various slash type wounds. A fourth inmate had to be rushed to a local hospital due to the extent of his injuries.
While authorities did not disclose details of the riot, the violence mimics the ongoing fight for control between the two factions of Los Zetas that is being felt in Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila.
As Breitbart News reported in November, members of the CDN in Nuevo Laredo murdered Luis Enrique “El Rex” Reyes, the head of the Vieja Escuela, inside the state prison in that city. Soon after the murder, CDN gunmen stormed a local funeral home and stole his body. The remaining cartel bosses appeared outside of three prisons in Nuevo Leon with multiple cartel banners. CDN gunmen then dumped his head outside of the state prison in Ciudad Victoria with threats to their rivals.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart News 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 “Francisco Morales” from Tamaulipas