A former border state governor in Mexico is lashing out at current authorities in Tamaulipas over their attempted coverup of a case where suspected cartel gunmen tried to take his son who was driving along a highway. The former governor claimed that the current state government has worked hand in hand with drug cartels, and the growing crime and lawlessness in the region is a reflection of that.
The issue began this week when former Tamaulipas Governor Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca announced that a group of gunmen had stopped his son while driving along the highway that connected the cities of Aldama with Soto La Marina, Tamaulipas. Through a social media post, Cabeza de Vaca claimed that current Tamaulipas Governor Americo Villarreal was directly responsible for anything that happened to his family since he protected criminals rather than going after them.
The following day, the security spokesman for the Tamaulipas government claimed that the information was wrong. In their statement, they revealed that Cabeza de Vaca’s son was driving through a dirt road when a group of men in a grey GMC Sierra stopped him. When they learned that he had a police escort, they allowed him to continue and that no threats or violence had taken place, authorities claimed.
In that same statement, the Tamaulipas government took a personal jab at Cabeza de Vaca, claiming he was not in the state and is a fugitive from justice. The jab at Cabeza de Vaca came from a series of charges filed against the politician by federal prosecutors, later dismissed in court. As Breitbart Texas reported at the time, Cabeza de Vaca’s attorneys claimed that the charges were part of a political vendetta by players from the ruling party as a way to keep their client from running for office and to help the Morena Party win the state governor’s office.
Cabeza de Vaca responded with a statement where he quoted the report from one of the state police officers assigned as a bodyguard to his underage son, who claimed that a standoff took place. In that statement, the officer stated that they were traveling along a highway in two SUVs when the gray GMC Sierra cut them off, and four gunmen got out, pointing weapons at them. The police officers got out of their vehicle and pointed their weapons back at the gunmen. The leader of the gunmen asked who they were, and the officers replied that they were state police. Upon hearing that, the gunmen got into their vehicle and left.
Cabeza de Vaca asked in his reply for the government spokesmen to stop minimizing the violence that had been growing since Americo Villarreal took office due to his complicity with organized crime.
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
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
