REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — The ever worsening security situation in Mexico has led to a new mode of transportation for Mexican tourists that includes traveling in a convoy with police escorts at speeds of 100 miles an hour or more — all in an effort to avoid getting carjacked by drug cartels on their journey to the U.S. border.
The police escort is provided by the Mexican Federal Police which leads daily convoys to and from cities like Tampico and Ciudad Victoria to the border cities of Matamoros and Reynosa. Each day, between 100 to 150 travelers line up outside of the police station where they provide their license and other identifying information to police officers in preparation for the convoy.
Once the group is set to go, they all line up single file and take off at a high rate of speed averaging 100 miles an hour.
“It is tense traveling like that, but it is better that having to drive that dammed highway alone with my family,” said Jose Luis Aguilar, a citizen from the Mexican port city of Tampico who spoke with Breitbart Texas outside of the police station.
As Breitbart Texas previously reported, despite the Mexican government’s efforts to downplay violence, drug cartels continue to run wild in Tamaulipas. They not only engage the Mexican military in fierce shootouts, but also target the average citizens with extortion, kidnapping and carjacking.
Aguilar spent the Christmas holidays with a group of relatives in the Texas border city of Mission, where like most Mexican tourists, they took the time to raid the local malls in addition to enjoying the holiday festivities.
“Before they did the police convoy I would worry about making the drive with my family, especially on the way back because we had the truck filled with what we bought,” Aguilar said.
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