The Gulf Cartel has once again begun targeting innocent civilians for ransom kidnapping as they try to increase their revenues at a time when the smuggling operations have become more difficult due to the ongoing pressure from the U.S. government.
In the city of Matamoros, the Gulf Cartel has increased its focus from kidnapping a few business owners for large ransoms to targeting a larger number of average citizens for smaller ransoms. This model allows them to get cash quickly without as much attention as they have gotten in the past when they would abduct a business leader.
Earlier last week, the Gulf Cartel kidnapped an 18-year-old teenager and held him for several hours until his loved ones were able to pay $700 for his release. As in most cases in Tamaulipas, the victim’s loved ones have been reluctant to file any formal complaint with authorities, fearing future reprisals from the criminal organization.
The case began on July 16, when Cesar Alejandro Urrutia Rojas received a phone call from individuals claiming to be with the Gulf Cartel who said they would hurt his mother if he did not follow their instructions. The gunmen ordered the teen to walk out of the house and make his way to a local shopping center.
There, the gunmen had the teen change the SIM card on his phone and then held him for more than six hours until his loved ones wired 14,000 pesos to various accounts.
The kidnappings in Matamoros come at a time when the Gulf Cartel has also been behind numerous kidnappings in the border city of Reynosa. Most recently, Gulf Cartel gunmen murdered a local businessman and activist who had been exposing the kidnapping operations of the Gulf Cartel in that city. As Breitbart Texas reported, Gabriel Hernandez Tovar had been assigned police protection after the Gulf Cartel had kidnapped him four times before. However, just days before his murder, a Mexican judge removed his security detail and ignored his appeals requesting its reinstatement.
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 “J.A. Espinoza” and “J.C. Sanchez” from Tamaulipas.
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