PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Coahuila — Members of the Los Zetas drug cartel have been using the border state of Tamaulipas as a safe haven from where they have been launching their attacks into the neighboring states of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila.
Once the attacks are carried out by Los Zetas, they make their way back into Tamaulipas where they have been able to successfully avoid capture. Authorities from Coahuila and Nuevo Leon are not allowed to cross state lines in order to pursue them.
Breitbart Texas has been documenting various violent attacks that have turned into chases in both Coahuila and Nuevo Leon that have mysteriously ended in Tamaulipas. According to law enforcement officials from both states that have spoken to this outlet in an anonymous fashion, there is tension between state law enforcement agencies in the three states for what they claim is the lack of action on the part of Tamaulipas.
In one recent action, members of the Coahuila police force known as GATES (tactical unit) spotted a group of gunmen stealing cars near the rural community of Hidalgo. The police officers tried to arrest the gunmen who fired at police and then fled the area towards Colombia, Nuevo Leon. The small community has a little over 500 residents but is home to Nuevo Leon’s international bridge.
When the police officers arrived in Nuevo Leon they faced off against an ambush by other gunmen from the Los Zetas cartel. The Los GATES called for help from their counterparts in Nuevo Leon’s Fuerza Civil police force that arrived to Colombia to help them fight off the attack. From there, the gunmen fled towards Nuevo Laredo. At the entrance of Nuevo Laredo the Los GATES forces faced even more resistance.
The governments from Tamaulipas and Coahuila have not released any official information as to the fierce gun battle not provided any information as to the casualties. Officials with the Tamaulipas government
The violence in Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon is tied to an ongoing internal struggle between rival factions of the Los Zetas cartel. As Breitbart Texas has been reporting for almost 10 month a faction now going by the name Vieja Escuela Z (Old School) has been trying to push out a faction known as Cartel Del Noreste from their lucrative territories that include Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Victoria and most of Coahuila. The fighting has resulted in unending violence including kidnappings, shootouts beheadings, dismemberments, incinerations and other gory executions.
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 Coahuila’s “J.M. Martinez” and Breitbart Texas’ Ildefonso Ortiz.
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