Security forces in Mexican border state struggle to wrest control from cartels

By GNNLiberia On Feb 4, 2018 65

By Aaron Nelsen |

A Tamaulipas State Police officer checks vehicle documents at a checkpoint on Bulevar del Maestro in Reynosa, Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco Cabeza de Vaca initiated the checkpoints in October as an effort to curb criminal groupÕs violence including carjackings. The police searches for stolen vehicles, drugs and guns (Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News)

REYNOSA, Mexico — The state of Tamaulipas recorded 805 homicides last year, a 35 percent increase over 2016 and the highest since its peak in 2012, when violence between feuding gangs sparked a border war.

And that figure doesn’t even include the many victims, whose bodies vanish without a trace, often after bloody carjackings, leaving friends and families grieving amid increased fear.

Reynosa has seen some of the worst violence lately, searing in the minds of residents the knowledge that their city isn’t a safe place to live.

In an effort to restore some semblance of order, Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca ordered state police to set up checkpoints across the city last year. The random checkpoints have continued into this year, with officials claiming they have reduced the number of auto thefts and of the terrifying carjackings.

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Source: MySA

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