Mayors from the border cities of Miguel Aleman and Camargo are asking the new Tamaulipas governor for help in dealing with raging cartel violence. Officials claim that the bloodshed is preventing foreign investments.
In recent days, mayors from the 43 municipalities that make up the border state of Tamaulipas have been meeting with Governor Americo Villarreal, a controversial figure from Mexico’s ruling party Morena, who has also been linked to organized crime. During meetings, mayors from Miguel Aleman and Camargo openly talked about the raging violence.
According to Mayor María Del Carmen Rocha Hernández from Camargo, just south of Rio Grande City, Texas, since 2019, the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel have been waging a fierce turf war in her region. Due to lacking of public safety, cartel members took over the rural communities of Estacion, Santa Rosalia, and Los Ochoa, which forced more than 100 families to leave their homes. The recent arrival of military forces allowed 14 families to return to the area, however, they were mainly the elderly residents.
The road between Santa Rosalia and Nuevo Leon has become precious because it provides criminal organizations with an easy route to the Texas border for smuggling. Prior to the increase in violence, the region was a healthy commercial route.
Ramiro Cortez Barrera, mayor of Miguel Aleman, also voiced his concern over the violence in his city which is just south of Roma, Texas. According to Cortez Barrera, the two warring cartels are to blame for the violence that has affected surrounding area. Recently, gunmen dumped four severed human heads as a public threat to their rivals. In a separate incident, gunmen also left a dismembered body.
Cortez Barrera said the violence is spreading to the nearby cities of Ciudad Mier and Diaz Ordaz, but local leaders fear cartel reprisals if they speak out. The politician also said there is interest from businesses in Texas to invest in the region but basic public safety concerns ultimately halt negotiations.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the 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.