Gunmen from the Mexican terrorist organization known as the Gulf Cartel killed a young girl from Texas and injured others during attempts to rescue a captured crime boss considered the number two leader of the criminal organization.
As Breitbart reported, the case took place on Thursday afternoon in Matamoros, where members of Mexico’s National Guard and Mexican Navy arrested Axel Alfredo “Titan” Cardenas as he was driving a blue Lamborghini Urus along one of the city’s main avenues. After the arrest, Mexican authorities worked to move Cardenas to the Matamoros airport in order to move him to Mexico City, where he is wanted on federal charges in connection with his role as a leading figure in the Gulf Cartel.
After the arrest, Gulf Cartel gunmen clashed with Mexican authorities in various parts of Matamoros in an attempt to rescue Cardenas.
It was during one of those clashes that a seven-year-old girl from Texas was fatally shot, while her father was injured as the two drove along the streets of the Las Rusias neighborhood. Law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart News Foundation that the young girl was born in Texas and went by the name of Araiza “N”.
During those clashes, cartel gunmen also injured a member of the city’s civil protection department who was rushed to a local hospital and is expected to recover.
Additionally, the criminal organization torched various vehicles and carjacked tractor-trailers to set up blockades along main avenues in an attempt to spread terror and pressure Mexico’s government to release Cardenas.
The terror spread by the cartel prompted the U.S. government to temporarily shut down three international ports of entry connecting Matamoros with Brownsville, Texas.
The move was unsuccessful as Mexican authorities flew him to Mexico City and are holding in a federal detention center as they await hearings before a judge. Cardenas’ role as the number two in the Gulf Cartel comes from his father, Alfredo “El Contador” Cardenas, the current leader of the criminal organization. After his arrest in 2022, El Contador spent time in a Mexican prison fighting his extradition to the United States. However, in 2024, a judge in Mexico released him on a ruling based on an injunction filed by his defense team. He has been on the run since.
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”. “J.A. Espinoza” and “J.C. Sanchez” from Tamaulipas.
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The Breitbart News Foundation is an independent non-profit. All content created by it is available for licensing without charge to any legitimate publisher with a large audience and that agrees to the licensing terms. For licensing information, please contact us.