Officials in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas are advising tourists to travel only during daytime hours. The request comes at a time when drug cartels continue to openly roam the country’s highways, setting up their own clandestine checkpoints, extorting motorists, and kidnapping innocent civilians.
This week, the Tamaulipas government announced an increase in police presence along the main highways in the region, marking the start of the summer vacation season, during which officials expect a large number of motorists to hit the road.
The announcement comes as Tamaulipas continues to be labeled a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” region by the U.S. Department of State due to the high danger of kidnapping.
Credit: Breitbart News Foundation / Cartel Chronicles
Soon after the announcement, Tamaulipas Governor Americo Villarreal sparked controversy by asking motorists to limit their travel to daytime hours. The politician tried to downplay the request by claiming that it was due to the high number of tractor-trailers that travel during the day.
The comments made by Villarreal contradict the rhetoric pushed by Tamaulipas security spokesman Willy Zuniga Castillo, who has been constantly claiming that the state is safe, crime is continuously diminishing, and that motorists can travel at any time.
As Breitbart Texas reported, just last month, the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, issued a travel alert warning about kidnappings along the highway that connects the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, with Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
Credit: Breitbart News Foundation / Cartel Chronicles
Villarreal has been harshly criticized in the past for his inaction against criminal organizations since the start of his administration. As Breitbart Texas reported, Villarreal’s spokesmen have outright lied about the security conditions in the state and have gone as far as to claim that travel alerts issued by the U.S. Department of State were based on lies.
Breitbart Texas reported extensively on Villarreal’s ties to the Gulf Cartel and how members of that criminal organization even campaigned for him during his gubernatorial run.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart News Foundation traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and their original Spanish. This article was written by “J. A. Espinoza and “J.C. Sanchez” from Tamaulipas.