GRAPHIC: Terror Reigns in Mexican Border State Amid Kidnappings, Firefights

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas and Coahuila 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 “M. A. Navarro” of Ciudad Victoria. 

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas — A cartel gunman trying to throw a grenade at police forces ended up being consumed by fire when the explosive device went off before he was able to throw it.

During a weekend gun battle in a central part of the city, residents were forced to seek cover inside their homes as gunmen and police forces exchanged gunfire and grenades for more than hours. Sources within Tamaulipas law enforcement confirmed that the gun battle took place less than one block from a house owned by the  father of Tamaulipas Governor Egidio Torre Cantu, who still lives there.

Information obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed that on Saturday night, Tamaulipas authorities received information about a kidnapping victim being held at a house near the intersection of Allende and 17th Streets. Police officers responded to the scene but were met by a hail of gunfire from the gunmen inside. Authorities called for back up with troops. The Mexican Army, Mexican Navy, and Federal police forces responding to the scene.

One of the gunmen died when he tried to lob a grenade at authorities but the device went off inside the house starting a fierce fire. Local firefighters were able to put out the flames but not before the man’s body was consumed by the fire. Police officers were able to arrest four other gunmen and two women who were inside the house. Police forces took custody of an underage child who is believed to be the son of one of the women.

Through social media messages, one faction of the Los Zetas cartel calling themselves Cartel Del Noreste blamed the kidnapping on their rivals Grupo Bravo/Vieja Escuela Z. A man calling himself Comandante GAFE from the CDN claimed to have led law enforcement to the stash house.

As previously reported by Breitbart Texas, for more than seven months, two rival factions of the Los Zetas cartel have been staging a bloody war for territorial control. The fighting between the two factions has resulted in almost daily beheadings, dismemberments, kidnappings and shootings.

In a narco banner hung over the weekend, GAFE named the individuals responsible for the kidnapping and murder of a state police officer in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. Breitbart Texas recently reported on the execution of the police officer, who acted as a link between the leadership of the Los Zetas cartel and police forces.

According to the banner, the man behind the attacks in Nuevo Laredo is Vieja Escuela member known as David “El Charmin” Arellano. In 2013, police arrested Arellano in Jalisco when he was leading raids by the Los Zetas cartel in that region.