The United States Consulate in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, is sounding the alarm about the targeting of U.S. citizens, residents, and people with connections in the U.S. for ransom kidnappings while traveling on passenger buses.
On Friday afternoon, the consulate issued a Security Alert specifically pointing out the cases centered around the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, claiming that the kidnappings focused on intercity buses leaving Reynosa.
“These kidnappings appear to specifically target passengers with connections to the United States, including U.S. citizens and residents,” the security alert revealed. “The kidnappers typically demand ransoms of thousands of dollars for each victim.”
The case follows a trend previously reported by Breitbart Texas in January, where the Gulf Cartel was targeting buses as they left the Reynosa bus station. At the time, they were kidnapping migrants. In one particular case, the gunmen kidnapped a bus with more than 30 migrants and held them for ransom. It wasn’t until the case drew national attention that the Gulf Cartel released the kidnapped migrants despite initial claims by Mexican authorities about having rescued them through an operation.
The kidnappings appear to be tied to the commercial bus routes connecting Reynosa with Matamoros, where the brunt of the kidnappings have taken place. Those two cities are currently controlled by rival factions of the Gulf Cartel who have been waging a fierce turf war for over a year for control of lucrative drug and human smuggling routes. Despite numerous false claims by the Tamaulipas government about improvements in public safety, the Gulf Cartel has been able to carry out its turf war and numerous other high-profile crimes with complete impunity throughout Tamaulipas.
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
