GRAPHIC: Narco-Turf War Behind Weekend’s Murders in Mexican Border State Capital

Tamaulipas State Guard
Tamaulipas State Guard

Two murders in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas over the weekend point to the reignition of a narco-turf war between criminal organizations. The murders come as government officials try to hide the control that criminal organizations have over the state.

The killings took place over the weekend in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas. The most recent murder occurred on Saturday shortly after 6 a.m. outside of a cartel-connected nightclub called “La Capital.” Tamaulipas State Police Officer Miguel Angel Ventura Mora was coming out of that bar when a lone gunman approached him and shot him several times in the chest.

As part of the investigation, authorities learned that Ventura was one of the officers in charge of the security details at a police building at the intersection of 2nd and Zaragoza streets in Ciudad Victoria.

Just 24 hours before Ventura’s murder, a gunman had killed one man and injured another right outside of the same police building where Ventura worked.

In that case, a group of gunmen wearing vests and face coverings got out of a vehicle and shot 28-year-old Edwin Yahir Marin Cavazos and wounded his 19-year-old brother, Jesus Yael. The two brothers and their mother were leaving the police building when the gunmen pulled up, shot at them, and fled.

According to Tamaulipas law enforcement sources, Edwin was a local street-level dealer in Ciudad Victoria. One of the theories surrounding the murder points to a fight for control of the local distribution of drugs between rival drug cartels. It remains unclear which drug cartel Edwin worked for.

Authorities had arrested him on Thursday night on a minor charge, and his relatives had been there to bond him out when the shooting took place.

Investigators are also looking into the possible involvement of law enforcement individuals who may have tipped off the gunmen as to when Edwin and his family were going to leave the police building.

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 their original Spanish. This article was written by “Francisco Morales” from Tamaulipas. 

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