MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas — As warring Gulf Cartel factions just south of the Texas border continue to battle, creating panic in several Mexican border cities, the Tamaulipas government continues to take part in a systematic effort to downplay the nonstop violence.
The current conflict involves the faction of the Gulf Cartel in the border city of Reynosa and their allies, taking on the faction from Matamoros and their allies.
While hours-long shootouts have become a daily occurrence, the Tamaulipas government has only confirmed those that involve authorities, completely ignoring and refusing to provide any information about all the other shootouts between the warring cartel armies.
The various factions have set up roadblocks with armored vehicles and heavily armed gunmen on the main highways and rural roads that lead to their respective cities in order to keep out their rivals. The fighting has turned parts of the border cities into warzones as convoys of gunmen with grenade launchers, .50 caliber machine guns and rifles and other deadly weapons roll down main streets and avenues raining gunfire on their opponents.
In the most recent series of clashes that Tamaulipas official have confirmed to Breitbart Texas, a convoy of Mexican soldiers came under fire on Sunday on the highway that connects the border city of Rio Bravo and Matamoros. During the shootout, a group of gunmen, who had apparently set up a roadblock using trucks with Texas plates, fired at the convoy forcing the soldiers to fight back. One of the cartel gunmen was killed, but he has not yet been identified. Officials did not provide any information about the fighting that took place in that area between cartel gunmen.
In the border city of Reynosa, the Mexican military killed two gunmen and arrested a third following a series of shootouts in that city. While the Reynosa government did confirm an active shootout in the city, Tamaulipas officials only provided information about the shootout that authorities took part in. After those shootout, authorities seized various weapons including a grenade launcher.
In the border city of Miguel, Aleman which is just south of Roma, Texas, two warring factions of the Gulf Cartel got into a fierce firefight that, according to individuals who spoke with Breitbart Texas could be heard all the way across the American side of the border. While the shootout took place for more than one hour, the Tamaulipas government only reported arresting two cartel gunmen who had been throwing road spikes.
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