By Itzli.
Welcome to another round of news and gossip related to the Cártel del Golfo (CDG, Gulf Cartel). It’s been two and a half weeks since we first did this sort of article and there’s been a few things that almost made me do a new one that we’ll start off with.
For those that missed it, I did anupdate to the last article on March 1st to answer a question about increased violence in Ciudad Victoria. I won’t repeat all that or really do much of an update other than there have still been killings taking place and it’s being said that Cártel del Noreste is behind the increased violence. Situaciones de Riesgo (SDR) reports have been surprisingly quiet in Río Bravo; instead, the majority are taking place between Reynosa and San Fernando.
What has caught my eye is the number of police actions taking place:
March 3rd in Río Bravo- Guardia Estatal seizes weapons, marijuana, and vehicles
March 3rd in Reynosa- Army seizes methamphetamines and a stolen vehicle
March 4th in Miguel Aleman- Guardia Estatal seizes marijuana
March 4th near Linares- Fuerza Civil seized weapons
March 10th in Ciudad Mier- Army seizes weapons and an armored “monstruo” truck
March 10th in Camargo- Army seizes vehicles, an armored “monstruo” truck, and marijuana
March 10th in Ciudad Victoria- Policía Estatal seized weapons and vehicles, 3 arrested
March 10th in Matamoros- Army seizes weapons
March 11th in Río Bravo- Army seizes weapons and vehicles
March 12th San Fernando- Methamphetamines found at checkpoint near La Lomita
Another thing worth noting is clashes between cartel members and government forces. Before dawn on March 4th the Matamoros Faction of the CDGgot into it with the Marina in Santa Rita, a small town in the San Fernando municipality near the coast. Onecartel member was killed andeleven arrested (four of them were injured). It appears that this was acell under Escorpión 18.
A somewhat similar event took place inejido Paso Real, on the southwest outskirts of the city of San Fernando on March 10th, this time theGuardia Estatal was attacked and three Zetas Vieja Escuela (ZVE) cartel members wereinjured in the shootout.
The Broken Ceasefire
The big story revolves around the ceasefire that was reached between the Cártel del Noreste (CDN) and Los Metros CDG that was reached on February 25th. Days later more information came out, citizens who fled towns likePeña Blanca that had seen back and forth controlwere told they could return home safely.The dividing line between forces was presented as being Los Guerra straight south to a point just west of El Zacate and then a diagonal line to Doctor Cross before going south again to General Bravo, with the southern part being aneutral zone, although China itself appears to remainunder the control of Los Metros.
March 3rd, Guardia Estatal helicopter gets shot at near Arcabuz, which would be in CDN but near the border line. Same day Los Metros forces underLeonel Artemio “El Chaparro” Bazán García clashed withFuerza Civil in General Bravo. A day later a CDN member wasarrested in China. Alsoon March 4th a CDN member was arrested in Doctor Coss after an attack on a Fuerza Civil and military forces traveling there to provide backup. It was said that CDN leaderJuan “La Sombra” Cisneros Treviño was giving them orders via radio.On March 6th reports of at leastthree cartel roadblocks between China and General Bravo as well asarmored vehicle movement to the northwest. If that didn’t look like enough of a powder keg, last week on March 11th the bodies ofthree decapitated women were left in El Zacate. I’m surprised pictures never came out as widely as it was reported. Next daysomeone was arrested with weapons afterattacking Fuerza Civil in Los Aldamas.
You’d think with all that going on that would be the area where the ceasefire would break down but nope, ashootout took place yesterday evening outside Los Guerra andtwo CDN members were killed. Another clash took place in Nuevo Leonin San Bartolo, just south of Cadereyta Jiménez. So the ceasefire has been broken after lasting shorter than five Danny Divitos, I mean four weeks. The question is will this turn back into full scale war or will they somehow get past this and continue the ceasefire? In recent days it seems that they had been taking advantage of peace, withLos Metros allegedly reinforcing the CJNG in Zacatecas andCDN making moves in San Luis Potosi.
That’s it for now so let’s get the conversation rolling on the comments. I know a certain someone thinks I get Tamaulipas totally wrong so it would be great if anyone wants to jump in with alternative information on anything I’m getting wrong and as always questions are always welcome. Feel free to hit me up atitzli.borderland.beat@gmail.com also.