Recently Captured Gulf Cartel Boss Was a Mexican Border City Cop

MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas – The recent capture of a top leader within the Gulf Cartel sparked controversy after a collection of documents revealed he was either a current or a former local police officer. The revelation has led to finger-pointing weeks before Mexico’s federal elections this coming summer.

This week, Breitbart Texas broke the story and published an exclusive photograph of Evaristo “Vaquero” Cruz Sanchez’s after his arrest in Nuevo Leon. Vaquero was the elusive leader of the Matamoros faction of the Gulf Cartel. Breitbart Texas also published information provided from U.S. law enforcement sources that revealed officials targeted Vaquero for his role in using cartel funds to finance political campaigns. Authorities also arrested Raul Cantu de La Garza, a candidate with the Movimiento Ciudadano Party, in Nuevo Leon. Authorities also detained a drug lord tied to Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion named Santiago “El Chago” Villarreal. It remains unclear if authorities released him or if he was able to bribe his way to freedom.

In the aftermath, news outlets in Mexico published documents revealing that El Vaquero was a police officer in Matamoros. Outlets reported that Vaquero was hired by current Matamoros Mayor Mario “La Borrega” Lopez, who hails from the MORENA party, the one founded by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

In response to the documents, the City of Matamoros held a news conference and released a statement noting that El Vaquero was in fact a police officer but had been hired during the previous administration of Jesus de la Garza Dias del Guante from the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI). According to the statement, Vaquero did not work as a cop under the current administration.

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” and “J.C. Sanchez” from Tamaulipas.