Three cartel gunmen died in a fierce shootout with authorities when their vehicle caught fire and their bodies were incinerated. That shootout is one of several that took place during recent days in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
A fiery gun battle took place this week when a group of Gulf Cartel gunmen clashed with Tamaulipas state police officers on the west side of Matamoros. Following a brief exchange of gunfire, the three gunmen riding in an SUV attempted to flee. The group sped away along the highway known as Sendero Nacional.
Police officers chased the gunmen and exchanged gunfire during a rolling shootout. The clash ended when the gunmen crashed into the wall of a manufacturing plant and their vehicle quickly became engulfed in flames. By the time local firefighters responded and put out the flames, the three gunmen had been partially incinerated.
Since that shootout, Tamaulipas state authorities engaged in several clashes and shootouts with Gulf Cartel gunmen in Matamoros. This led to several arrests and left gunmen and police officers wounded. Security conditions in Matamoros worsened in recent weeks as gunmen expanded their extortion operations. They also turned to armed robberies and carjackings — similar to the current trends in Reynosa. The escalation in violence in Matamoros is also linked to an apparent internal conflict within the leaders of that faction.
As Breitbart Texas reported, over the summer, the Matamoros faction of the Gulf Cartel had announced they were stopping a long-term turf war with the faction in Reynosa in an attempt to restore peace to the region. Despite such claims, both border cities continue to suffer from violent crimes at the hands of the criminal organization.
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.