Cartel gunmen in the border state of Tamaulipas carried out targeted attacks on state prison guards as part of an apparent turf war, resulting in the death of a chief guard. The killing comes just days after the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas had posted a banner warning of such attacks.
The attack took place on Monday morning in Ciudad Victoria, when Efrain Aleman Martinez, the chief of guards at a state prison, was driving home from work. Martinez was driving his personal vehicle when a group of gunmen pulled up next to him and began shooting.
Martinez received multiple gunshot wounds and died almost instantly. The gunmen were able to flee with complete impunity.
The attack has caused much tension in the city since just two weeks before, the CDN-Los Zetas had left a series of banners throughout the city warning about upcoming violence and claiming that they would go after prison guards who were favoring their rivals with the Gulf Cartel. In the banner, the CDN-Los Zetas contended that they would also be targeting several inmates who are part of the Gulf Cartel.
Credit: Breitbart News Foundation / Cartel Chronicles
In the aftermath of the targeted killing, the Tamaulipas government remained silent. Despite having been in office for over three years, the current state administration continues to blame prior governments for the ongoing security crisis in the state. Rather than carry out enforcement actions and target the criminal organizations that control the state, government officials rely on doctored crime statistics to make empty claims that crime and violence have decreased since they took control of the state.
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 “Francisco Morales” from Tamaulipas.
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