The Gulf Cartels have been almost completely exempt from it, extending control of Tamaulipas to the point where they operate as an alternative government for the border city of Matamoros. This management requires all businesses, including food vendors, flower shops and even bread handlers, to pay weekly protection fees to the Gulf Cartel. The cartel runs a large database of the city’s commercial and uses city officials to raise funds.
This control is very useful for local and state politicians who enjoy the kind of drug that comes from allowing Gulf cartels to suppress violence and operate uninterrupted in exchange for hiding their presence in the shadows. The management has now been overlooked by Mexico’s federal government since political allies ruled Tamaulipa, but it could spell out trouble as the Trump administration labeled the Gulf Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization.
This mode of operation is not new in the city, but it has expanded dramatically in recent months as Gulf cartels and local politicians try to keep them under-remarkable. At the same time, other Mexican cartels draw national headlines. Despite fighting grass wars with rival factions in various cities, Matamoros largely avoids large-scale gunfights, giving the false appearance of peace. But that peace is not due to the government’s security strategy, but rather the control that the Gulf cartel has through Matamoro.
Pay for work
Because of the controls that the Gulf Cartel has in the city, anyone who wants to do business must pay the usual fee. Flower shops, butchers, corner stores, tire shops, taco racks, musicians, and DJs are all visited by cartel representatives or city employees to talk about mandatory fees or “Quotas.” Payment must be made in cash. However, for medium to large businesses, city authorities will provide tax receipts.
For a corn bender selling products for 30 pesos per cup, he has to pay a daily fee of 100 pesos. Barbacoa restaurant owners must pay 3,000 pesos per week. Tire shops selling tires for around 500 pesos must sell 10-12 tires given by the Gulf Cartel or pay for the difference.
Creditbart News Foundation / Cartel Chronicles
For agricultural vendors, certain pharmacies, and even flower shops, in addition to the protection fee, businesses must obtain products from the Gulf Cartel or its approved vendors.
This tactic has also moved to large manufacturing plants that provide components to US companies. Mexican executives at some of these companies have been pressured or threatened to open doors to cartel-approved vendors that pay the organization.
Complete silence
“They even have a payment schedule where they offer discounts if you take each month or pay in advance each year,” said a local catering employee who had a wedding event that was recently destroyed by gunmen because they didn’t use flowers. “My boss tried to save money and instead of buying it from the Gulf Cartel, I shipped flowers,” he said. “They showed up during the party and broke everything.”
The company owner called the local government, but no one showed up. The next day he went to the state attorney general’s office. There, staff members could file his complaints but told him they could not “guaranteed his safety” if “the affected party did anything.”
The immunity run by the Gulf Cartel is that the business community is quietly paying horror to avoid violence. In the past, the only individual who spoke about the cartel restraint and the city officials that follow it was Giulio Almanza, the late leader of the local chamber of commerce. In August 2024, a group of gunmen shot and killed Armanza outside his office, Texas’ Breitbart reported. Before his murder, Armanza exposed some of the methods used by the Gulf Cartels and how Matamoros city officials collected fees.
Editor’s Note: The Breitbart News Foundation travels to Mexico City and the provinces of Tamaulipas, Coahuira and Nuevo Leon, recruiting citizen journalists to risk their lives and cartels silence the community. Writers will face certain deaths at the hands of various cartels that operate in areas such as the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if pseudonyms are not used. Cartel Chronicles from Breitbart News Foundation It is published in both English and original Spanish. This article was written by Tamaulipas’ “Ja Espinoza” and JC Sanchez.”
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