Activists in Mexico Ask Drug Cartels for Help as Government Can’t Stop Kidnappings

Activists in the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, called on two drug cartels that control the region to help restore peace and end senseless kidnappings after government officials and authorities have been unable to do so. The call for help comes after cartel gunmen kidnapped a school teacher in front of his young daughter. His fate remains unknown.

In a letter and a series of video statements sent by the March 10th National Victims Collective and the Tamaulipas Searching Mothers Collective, their spokesman, Delia Quiroa, asked both the Gulf Cartel and Cartel Jalisco New Generation to help bring back peace to the region and put an end to the kidnappings of innocent victims.

According to Quiroa, on Tuesday night, a group of gunmen kidnapped Juan Manuel Lopez Salinas, a school teacher who was not tied to any criminal activity. Videos from the victim’s home security system in the Las Fuentes neighborhood captured the moment when gunmen rushed into his garage and took Lopez at gunpoint as his young daughter ran after him.

The Tamaulipas government remains silent about the case and refuses to release any information about the kidnapping. Local news outlets in Reynosa have also not published any information about it.

In the letter, Quiroa claims that the Gulf Cartel and CJNG each control a section of the border. She appears to be referring to the Matamoros faction of the Gulf Cartel and the Metros faction from Reynosa, which has an alliance with CJNG. For more than a year, both factions have been waging a fierce turf war for control of lucrative drug and human trafficking routes into Texas.

In her letter, Quiroa asks the drug cartels to go back to the “old school” way of working, where criminal organizations avoided senseless acts of violence and did not disturb the public.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.