A new trend has surfaced in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, where state police forces wait hours after cartel gunmen carry out any attack before responding. Mexican federal and military forces have already been doing this and sometimes do not even respond.
Meanwhile, government officials are carrying out an information suppression strategy where they are not only hiding the truth but have been lying about the impunity with which cartels are able to operate in the state.
Armored cartel vehicle was torched by rivals during a shootout where police forces waited until the fighting ended to respond. (Breitbart Texas / Cartel Chronicles
One of the most notorious cases took place last week on Thursday night along the highway that connects the city of San Fernando with Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Two rival factions of the Gulf Cartel clashed in that area using dozens of armored vehicles filled with gunmen.
Despite locals calling authorities about the shootout and even posting about it on social media. The local residents claimed that a very large shootout was taking place, and they could hear gunfire and explosions. Authorities waited until Friday morning when gunmen had left the area, to respond. Once there, they secured a scene where gunmen had left several makeshift armored vehicles on fire. Local firefighters responded and put out the fire.
Cartel armored vehicle left to burn overnight after authorities failed to respond to calls of a shootout. (Credit: Breitbart Texas / Cartel Chronicles)
The Tamaulipas government sent out a notice warning the public about a road closure along the highway, claiming the highway was closed because of a vehicle on fire. The notice never mentioned that the vehicle on fire was an armored cartel vehicle set ablaze during a large-scale shootout.
Those notices and the entire effort to suppress information about violence and the lack of response by security forces in Tamaulipas is led by Jorge Cuellar the state spokesman for security issues. As Breitbart Texas reported, Cuellar has gone as far as to claim that the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros lied when they sent out a travel alert over kidnappings of U.S. citizens and residents riding on passenger buses.
A similar case took place on Saturday night when a large group of cartel gunmen pulled up to a house in the town of San Nicolas in the North-Central part of Tamaulipas. The gunmen immediately began shooting into the house and then set it on fire.
House torched by cartel gunmen during a night attack in Tamaulipas where police forces did not respond for hours despite being called. (Credit: Breitbart Texas/ Cartel Chronicles).
Inside the house, there was a meeting between the city treasurer, Jesus Anselmo Peña González and two city councilwomen, María Guadalupe Terán Lozoya and San Juanita Narvaez Terán. The brother of Narvaez Teran Eleazar was inside the house and died during the shooting. Authorities found his charred remains the next day. During the shooting, the gunmen injured Pena Gonzalez, while the two women managed to run out of the house and called for help.
However, authorities did not respond until the following morning when military and police forces arrived. They found an injured Pena Gonzalez and rushed him to a hospital.
On Monday, newly sworn President Donald Trump declared certain Mexican cartels to be foreign terrorist organizations, Breitbart Texas reported.
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
