Cartel gunmen continued large-scale shootouts around the Mexican border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, despite the efforts of government officials to deny the violence or minimize its horrors.
Since late April, the border city of Reynosa has been ground zero for a fierce turf war between rival factions of the Gulf Cartel. However, federal and state officials have been manipulating information to minimize the appearance of violence in the region.
The most recent shootout occurred Wednesday morning in the city’s south side, along the highway connecting Reynosa to San Fernando. Law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that state police forces clashed with cartel gunmen. Neither Mexico’s Army nor National Guard troops responded to the shootout — leaving the state cops to fight the gunmen on their own. Three police officers sustained injuries during the shootout.
One day earlier, state police forces fought off another attack from cartel gunmen in Reynosa. A cell phone video captured the scene as state police fought off an attack and chased down gunmen.
The violence in Reynosa and other surrounding cities comes at a time when not only Mexican politicians but also so-called experts from various international think-thanks such as the Institute for Economics and Peace and others have made outlandish claims about how safe Tamaulipas is. In their most recent report, the Mexico Peace Index, so-called experts claimed that Tamaulipas was the fourth safest state in the nation. This as the U.S. Department of State continues to classify it at the same level as an active war zone.
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 Iortiz@breitbart.com.
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 bdarby@breitbart.com.