Posted by LeChef for Borderland Beat by Omar Sánchez de Tagle for 24 HrsEl Cuate,
"El Cuate" of CDG is named as responsible
The customs situation in
Tamaulipas, has worried the authorities of the Attorney General's Office (PGR)
and the State Government. Since last
September there are indications that the Gulf Cartel controls the passage of
legal and illegal goods, primarily on the bridges of Matamoros.
According to federal
investigations, this cartel has diversified its business and not only continues
trafficking drugs, kidnapping and extorting merchants and businessmen in the
region. Now its leaders have found in Tamaulipas customs a new modus operandi to extort and control
much of the merchandise crossing.
The investigations of
the PGR are in addition to those of the US authorities, who also detected that
the members of the Gulf Cartel have managed to corrupt the officials of the
U.S., while operating extortions in customs.
One of those
responsible of this modality and who has gain control of customs officials, is Carlos
Martínez alias El Cuate, whom the
authorities of the DEA have identified as the son-in-law of Osiel Cárdenas
Guillén, founder of the Gulf Cartel.
El Cuate, is the one
who is in charge of extorting the customs agents of Tamaulipas, mainly they
indicate him, as the one that controls one of the four most important bridges
of Matamoros, it is the bridge known as Los Indios.
It is through this
point that the organization, in which he is a leader, forces employers to pay him fees when they
cross merchandise ranging from electronic devices, clothing, stolen fuel, cars
and, of course, for the transfer of drugs.
