The fierce cartel turf war in northern Mexico is turning taxi drivers into targets as criminal organizations force commercial motorists into their ranks–or else. Tamaulipas is again seeing a spike in taxi driver murders as factions of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas fight for control of the region.
The trend focuses in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas. Since the beginning of 2021, there were more than a dozen attacks with minimal information released by state officials. Organized crime members are forcing taxi drivers to work as distributors or lookouts, or face torture and death. No primary cartels are taking public credit, however.
Both are believed responsible for most of the violence in the state. The fighting in Ciudad Victoria has manifested itself primarily by targeted killings and abductions.
The trend of killing taxi drivers began in mid-January when gunmen passed themselves off as clients and shot a driver based out of the Walmart in the Adelita’s neighborhood. The gunmen shot the victim twice on the head with a .40 caliber pistol and fled the scene.
On January 18, a similar case took place in the Casa Blanca neighborhood when a gunman broke into a house and killed the intended victim with a rifle.
On January 19, another gunman broke into a house in the Enrique Cardenas neighborhood and shot a 32-year-old taxi driver. The victim survived the attack.
On January 20, a gunman on a motorcycle shot and killed a driver in the Pajaritos neighborhood.
Several more cases have been noted in recent days, despite the claims by officials that crime is decreasing.
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 “Francisco Morales” from Tamaulipas.
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