MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas– The mayor of this border city has taken direct action against 40 officers with the transit police by ordering them to be confined to their headquarters while the City carries out an internal investigation.
“In Matamoros, there is a government and I have the reigns, no one else,” said Leticia Salazar during a recent interview with Breitbart Texas.
The order to confine and investigate the officer came after suspicions arose about the officers being directly involved with members of “organized crime”; the term used in Mexico to refer to drug cartels.
Earlier this month after learning of the suspicious behavior, Salazar ordered that all 40 transit police officers be confined to headquarters while an in-depth internal affairs investigation is carried out.
The officers have all been removed from their position and 13 of the city patrol cars have been parked as well. The City has only nine transit investigators on staff to handle traffic accidents and emergencies.
“I reinforce my commitment and I tell you that we will remain firm until the last day of my term–which ends on September 30–not a single day before,” Salazar said.
At the conclusion of the mayor’s term, the new mayor–who comes from the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI)–is set to take over. As Breitbart Texas has previously reported, the PRI has a long history of corruption and of helping Mexican drug cartels in exchange for lucrative bribes.
In the case of the transit police, some suspicions came after community members began to complain that the officers were routinely carrying out extortion schemes.
“I said that from my first day in office my hand would not shake when it comes to making hard choices and carrying out said actions against everyone and everything that affects the well-being of the families in Matamoros,” Salazar said.
According to the current mayor, the corrupt actions by the officers were emboldened by the fact that her term is almost over.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican 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 Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “A.C. Del Angel” from Matamoros.
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