“Char” for Borderland Beat
This article was translated and reposted from ELEFANTE BLANCO
With the protection of the State Guard and the Army, residents of Los Guerra, Miguel Aleman, have begun to flee their homes, forced by the Northeast (CDN) and Gulf (CDG) cartels, who have begun a new battle for control of territory accessing the United States.
Elefante Blanco received videos showing the abandoned houses and businesses painted with messages from the criminal groups, as well as the efforts of police and soldiers to help forcibly displace Tamaulipan families.
Los Guerra has become a battleground and an invisible border in the Ribereña region. The fight is over the entrances for the trafficking of people, drugs, weapons and money between Mexico and the United States.
According to intelligence reports, the CDN controls the municipalities of Nuevo Laredo, Nueva Ciudad Guerrero and Ciudad Mier, and a CDG faction operates in Miguel Aleman, Camargo, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz and Reynosa.
LOS GUERRA, TAMAULIPAS
Violence is nothing new for this town located halfway along one of the most dangerous highways in the country. Its inhabitants lived through the terror that arose in 2010, when Los Zetas confronted the CDG. However, 13 years ago the site of horror and exodus was Ciudad Mier, today it is Los Guerra.
Elefante Blanco was able to confirm the exodus with residents of Los Guerra. Via telephone and requesting anonymity, they explained that violence has increased in recent weeks, with the burning and robbery of houses, threats to public transportation, theft of vehicles, blockades of commerce and shortages of basic goods.
“In terms of violence they are lying, nothing has changed in the last 13 years”, responded one of the people interviewed when asked about security in the Ribereña region.
A week ago, military and state officials helped more than 9 families who decided to protect their lives by moving out of Los Guerra after a night of gunfire that ended with one woman’s home consumed by flames.
The 25th Motorized Cavalry Regiment of the Mexican Army, established more than 7 years ago in Ciudad Mier, has been in charge of protecting the mobilization of the population.
In Miguel Aleman, a little more than 60 elements of the State Guard try to stop the battlefield, where they are attacked daily. However, they are still accused of collusion with the Gulf Cartel, which they blame for economically “drowning” the rural town in order to drive out the rival group.
A week ago, the population of Los Guerra called on the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) to prevent the operation of the cartels that confront each other during the night and early morning hours. So far there has been no forceful response to stop the new exodus of families in the north of Tamaulipas.
Mayor confirms forced displacement
“When a family looks to us for support to leave their home, we are obligated and committed to provide security, we serve as liaisons with Sedena and the State Guard. We cannot leave a family alone, it is not the solution to the problem, but neither can we demand that they stay, if they have already decided to leave their home and are asking for our help”. In this clear and direct way, the mayor of Miguel Aleman, Ramiro Cortez Barrera, recognized the social emergency due to violence.
Elefante Blanco interviewed Cortez Barrera, biologist and politician of the National Action Party (PAN), who assured that he also suffers from the violence in Los Guerra, where, he affirmed, he is a native and resident. He has denounced the violence in the government of Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca and in the current government of Américo Villarreal Anaya.
“Los Guerra was the town that originated the ranch El Arroyo and then San Pedro de Roma, which in 1950 became independent, and is now Miguel Aleman. Here there is an elementary school that has existed for more than 100 years, we have the general hospital, the Polytechnic University of the Ribereña region, also the Center for Wellness and Peace,” explained the municipal president.
In view of the commercial downturn, the mayor maintained that Los Guerra’s hope is centered on the operation of the Recinto Fiscalizado Estratégico Alfa, a foreign trade center inaugurated in the first quarter of 2023, with which it intends to give work to people who did not decide to move.
The situation has also had an impact on the municipal capital of Miguel Aleman, with the closing of businesses and companies and the abandonment of houses. Part of the population has decided to cross the international bridge to Roma, Texas, or drive south to take refuge in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.