EXCLUSIVE: Drug Rehab Center Was Front for Mexican Border State Cartel

An investigation into a shooting at a drug rehab center in Nuevo Leon revealed the facility was a front for one of the local cartels.

The shooting took place shortly after midnight on New Year’s Eve in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area. Gunmen pulled up in two SUVs and began firing dozens of rounds. The attack was not fatal as only two men inside were injured. The incident garnered minimal coverage by news outlets in Nuevo Leon.

Breitbart Texas consulted with U.S. law enforcement sources operating in Mexico who say the attack was not an isolated incident, but part of an ongoing turf war. The rehab clinic operated without any certifications or licensing and is owned by Jeronimo “El Jero” Hernandez de la Rosa, a local member of the Gulf Cartel. El Jero operates under Agustin Jaime “El Barbas” Gonzalez Garza, a regional crime boss with a long criminal history including drug, weapons, and fuel theft charges.

Cadereyta, where the rehab is located, is a key territory used to steal large quantities of fuel from pipelines. The Cartel Del Noreste factions of Los Zetas have been trying to take the region by force.

Two weeks before the attack on the rehab center, gunmen ambushed and killed 48-year-old Francisco Guerrero Barreiro outside of Cadereyta City Hall. Even though that attack took place shortly after midnight, authorities did not respond until 6 a.m. to document the crime scene and collect the body.

Cadereyta is the same city where, in April, gunmen from the CDN-Los Zetas killed a Gulf Cartel regional boss during a cockfight despite Coronavirus lockdowns at the time.

CDN-Los Zetas gunmen dressed as police officers. They killed a regional Gulf Cartel boss named Ulises Ramses Lozano Garcia and injured six others.

Gerald “Tony” Aranda is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.