Travelers in the border state of Tamaulipas are sounding the alarm about a police checkpoint that state investigators are allegedly setting up to collect extortion, and where at least three victims have been abducted and turned over to Gulf Cartel gunmen. The gunmen reportedly tortured the victims while demanding ransom.
The incident began on October 18, when three victims traveled from the town of Allende to the border city of Reynosa, both in Tamaulipas, to pick up a trailer. The three victims have been identified as 27-year-old José Luis Garza Guerra, 24-year-old Britanny Paola Esquivel Oyervides, and 29-year-old Iván Alejandro Oyervides Ayala.
The victims have made public statements claiming that they traveled to Reynosa as part of their job for a trucking company. As they were returning along the Reynosa-Monterrey highway, they allegedly encountered a checkpoint set up by agents of the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office. At that checkpoint, the agents arrested them over claims that they did not have the proper documentation for the tractor-trailer and demanded from their boss $100,000 pesos or approximately $5,000 USD to continue on their way.
The victims claim that their boss agreed with the authorities to pay the bribe. However, the agents handcuffed them, blindfolded them, and beat them before turning them over to a group of cartel gunmen. The gunmen loaded them into vehicles and moved them along dirt roads to a stash house where they held them for several days while trying to extort their relatives.
Griselda Guerra, the mother of Jose Luis, filed a series of complaints in both Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, reporting the group as missing and pressured authorities to begin a search for the victims. The incident garnered local attention, putting political pressure on the State of Tamaulipas. The state government issued a statement claiming that the reported abduction had taken place in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon. They said they were working with authorities in that state in a follow-up investigation.
The state of Tamaulipas continues to be labeled as a region four by the U.S. Department of State over kidnappings and cartel violence. The two dominant cartels in that state, both the Gulf Cartel and the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas, are considered terrorist organizations by the U.S. government and have been linked to thousands of kidnappings, abductions, and murders with almost complete impunity.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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