Located in northeastern Mexico, Tamaulipas’
eastern border is on the Gulf of Mexico, with its northern border covering 370
kilometers (230 miles) with the US state of Texas. This includes a thin strip
of land extending west to Nuevo Laredo, with Laredo Texas being the sister city on
the US side.
Other border cities in Tamaulipas include Reynosa and
Matamoros, which are across from the US cities of McAllen and Brownsville,
respectively. The capital of Tamaulipas is Ciudad Victoria, which is located in
south-central part of the state, at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental.
The state has a population of ~3.5 million.
In recent years Tamaulipas has become infamous
for battles between the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, and government forces for control of the “plaza” (territory). Due in large part to the brutal tactics
of Los Zetas, particularly in the context of human smuggling, Tamaulipas has
developed a reputation as being one of the most troubled states in Mexico.
Politically, the state has historically been controlled by
the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), under whose watchful eye it fell into a
morass of corruption. The examples are too numerous to include in this post, but at the highest levels we have the last two PRI governors, Eugenio Hernández Flores (2004-2010) and Tomás Yarrington (1999 to 2005).
Eugenio Hernández Flores has been indicted by the US government for money laundering, with his extradition pending, and Tomás Yarrington has been accused of receiving millions of dollars from the Beltran Leyva Cartel, Los Zetas, and the Gulf Cartel.
With regard to Yarrington, arrest warrants were issued in both Mexico and the United States in 2012, and after a five year search Yarrington was finally arrested in Florence, Italy, on 9 April 2017. He was then extradited to Texas a year later, in April 2018. It should be noted that the web of corruption here is wide, with ongoing investigations into Yarrington’s friends and relatives, as well as functionaries in the Tamaulipas government, and other politicians.
Eugenio Hernández Flores has been indicted by the US government for money laundering, with his extradition pending, and Tomás Yarrington has been accused of receiving millions of dollars from the Beltran Leyva Cartel, Los Zetas, and the Gulf Cartel.
With regard to Yarrington, arrest warrants were issued in both Mexico and the United States in 2012, and after a five year search Yarrington was finally arrested in Florence, Italy, on 9 April 2017. He was then extradited to Texas a year later, in April 2018. It should be noted that the web of corruption here is wide, with ongoing investigations into Yarrington’s friends and relatives, as well as functionaries in the Tamaulipas government, and other politicians.
As a result of the depth of the PRI’s
corruption, and in particular its close connection to organized crime,
Tamaulipas is now largely under the control of the right-of-center National Action Party (PAN). The state has three federal senators. Two are members of
the PAN, and one is a member of the PRI. Governor Francisco Javier García
Cabeza de Vaca is also a member of the PAN.
Governor García assumed office in 2016. García
is the first non-PRI governor in 86 years. He won with 50.1% of the vote, with
some controversy over his undeclared properties, including a $2.5 million home in Mexico
City, allegedly purchased in 2015 – directly before the gubernatorial campaign.
As well, the left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) claimed
that it and other political parties had been threatened in three municipalities
to support García.
The brutal tactics employed by Los Zetas, generally
understood to be one of the most violent criminal organizations in the world, has
made its eradication a top priority of the Mexican government. This has resulted in some
criticism that other cartels, notably the Sinaloa Cartel, were receiving less attention,
and that the government itself committed human rights abuses. However, the government
has had some success: Los Zetas has now effectively been dismantled into
smaller groups.
But insecurity remains. In 2017, 1,623 people were murdered in the state. Most recently, Morena campaign worker Leonardo Díaz was
killed in the early hours of June 25th when coming home from a
meeting. Díaz was working on the campaign of Jaime Hinojosa Peña, candidate for
mayor of Miguel Alemán. His body was found in a campaign vehicle that had been
pumped full of bullets and set on fire.
And Tamaulipas remains a dangerous place for journalists.
And Tamaulipas remains a dangerous place for journalists.
In January of this
year the journalist Carlos Domínguez Rodríguez, 77, was stabbed 21 times inside his vehicle in
the presence of his daughter and grandson. Domínguez worked independently and
wrote a column on political issues. Previously, he had worked for the newspaper
El Diario de Nuevo Laredo.
Three months after the
murder, six people were arrested in connection with the crime: two were hitmen,
and three were allegedly journalists – Luis Ignacio Valtierra Hernández, who was president
of the local journalists' union, and the reporters Gabriel Garza Flores y Juan
Jesús González Zúñiga.
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| Carlos Domínguez Rodríguez |
The sixth was Jorge
Alfredo Cantú García, the nephew of Carlos Cantú Rosas. As a member of the PAN, the uncle Cantú Rosas was mayor
of Nuevo Loredo. Now he has switched to the left-leaning Morena party, and is running to be mayor
again. Cantú Rosas has been accused of corruption and of having links to the
Cartel del Noreste, a remnant of the fractured Los Zetas cartel.
Authorities as well as
Domínguez Rodríguez’ son believe that the murder was a political vendetta. The
killing was set up by what Domínguez Rodríguez’ son has called the “pseudo-journalists”,
who wanted his father to go to a meeting at a restaurant. Suspicious,
he didn’t go, but was nonetheless killed later in his car.
In another instance, Tamaulipas reporter
Héctor González Antonio, 39, who worked with the nationwide news service Grupo
Imagen and the newspaper Excélsior – as well as his own news website, Todo Noticias
– was killed either on the evening of May 28 or early in the morning on May 29,
in Ciudad Victoria. He appeared to have been bludgeoned to death by a rock.
A motive has yet to be determined, but González’s most recent articles for Excelsior,
according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) “were on crime in
Tamaulipas, including criminal gangs involved in shootouts and blockades in the
city of Reynosa and the arrest of four police officers accused of involvement
in a May 26 kidnapping.”
Tamaulipas has always been a dangerous place to be a journalist, and things didn't improve after the drug war officially started in December, 2006. During the 20th century, and up until the beginning of the drug war, there were an estimated 21 murders. Most of these were recent: there were 10 murders between 2000 - 2006. However, since the start of the drug war there have been another 15. As noted above, two of these have been in 2018.
Tamaulipas has always been a dangerous place to be a journalist, and things didn't improve after the drug war officially started in December, 2006. During the 20th century, and up until the beginning of the drug war, there were an estimated 21 murders. Most of these were recent: there were 10 murders between 2000 - 2006. However, since the start of the drug war there have been another 15. As noted above, two of these have been in 2018.
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| Voting preferences for the federal senate - by state |
Despite the fact that most
of the violence in Tamaulipas is committed by organized crime, a significant
amount of international attention has been given to the human rights abuses committed
by the Mexican military and federal police.
At the end of May the
United Nations reported that there were “strong
indications” that federal security forces were responsible for the
disappearance of 23 people, including at least five minors, in Tamaulipas from
February until May 16, 2018, with three additional disappearance occurring after
that date. According to the UN Human Rights Office, a federal security force allegedly
perpetrated the disappearances, “often late at night or at dawn.” As well,
local human rights organization recorded at least 40 disappearances during
roughly the same period.
Despite the ongoing struggles in
Tamaulipas, a security agreement between the state government and federal sources has fallen apart. As a result, beginning in mid-March
and into May, 2,466 troops were withdrawn
from Tamaulipas, despite their deployment not being scheduled to end until
December. The agreement was first signed in 2011, and has been renewed annually
ever since,
The reason for the breakdown was the unwillingness of the state of Tamaulipas to help pay for the cost of deploying the troops. One could argue that this is a good sign, in that the state may be more confident in its ability to provide security, but it’s unclear whether or not the state is willing or able to fill in the security vacuum – in 22 of 43 Tamaulipas's municipalities Mexican soldiers have acted as local police officers.
Even with this depletion of the military presence,
3,500 troops remain in Matamoros, Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Mier, Tampico,
and the state capital Ciudad Victoria. Of note: a Mexican non-government organization ranked
Ciudad Victoria as Mexico’s fifth – and the world’s eighth – most violent city
in 2017.
When it comes to the July 1 election, the
PAN-led “Por Mexico al Frente” coalition is leading in the polls. This is not
surprising given that left-leaning parties have tended not to do well in Tamaulipas.
As well, some Morena candidates have had to weather their own corruption
allegations.
On the federal front we can also expect
Ricardo Anaya, the presidential candidate for the PAN-led “Por Mexico al Frente”
to out-poll Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) of the Morena-led “Juntos
Haremos Historia” (Together We make History) coalition. Given the atrocious behavior of
the past two PRI governors in Tamaulipas, as well as the unpopularity of the
PRI president Enrique Peña Nieto, the candidate for the PRI-led "Todos por Mexico" coalition,
Below is a list of eight candidates for
the federal senate from Tamaulipas:
- Gustavo Cárdenas Gutiérrez: Citizens’ Movement (MC)
- Jorge Valdéz Vargas: Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD)
- Hector Garza González: National Regeneration Movement (Morena)
- Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca: National Action Party (PAN)
- Abdíes Pineda Morín: Social Encounter Party (PES)
- Armando Vera García: Workers Party (PT)
- Baltazar Hinojosa Ochoa: Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
- Francisco Chavira Martínez: Independent
Below are the links to the posts for each state:
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