NUEVO LAREDO, Tamaulipas — Roughly 200 protesters took to the streets demanding the Mexican military leave the city. The protest was sponsored by Los Zetas faction Cartel Del Noreste, which has been on the receiving end of numerous raids costing the criminal organization drugs, weapons, and cash.
The protesters waved signs and poster boards alleging that the Mexican Navy kidnapped and murdered various teenagers from Nuevo Laredo. The group blocked the entrance to one of the city’s international bridges to Texas as well. The protesters claim that as many as 43 were kidnapped and executed by troops. The protesters made no mention of the raging cartel war occurring throughout the city.
One of the poster boards and signs show the photograph of a Nuevo Laredo resident named Tamara Baez, one of the missing victims. A search of Baez’s Facebook page makes various references to her apparent life with Los Zetas and shows photographs of her holding weapons and radios.
Various law enforcement sources consulted by Breitbart Texas report the protest was sponsored by the leadership of the Cartel Del Noreste with some demonstrators being paid to march. As Breitbart Texas reported, Mexican authorities successfully took out various CDN weapon stash houses in Nuevo Laredo where they also found cloned Mexican military uniforms. Authorities were also able to make several heavy narcotic seizures.
In March, teams of CDN gunmen carried out a series of ambushes against Mexican Navy infantrymen and three members of a family were caught in the crossfire which also injured more than a dozen people. The CDN were wearing uniforms and vests matching the Navy. The three members of the family were shot by a military helicopter by accident.
The practice of paying protesters supposedly started in 2006 in the border city of Reynosa–at a time when Los Zetas were the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel. Under the leadership of the late Gregorio “Don Goyo” Saucedo, cartel operators would pay demonstrators in Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey, and the resort city of Cancun to claim authorities were abusing their power and targeting innocent civilians.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
“M.A. Navarro” from the Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.
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