Cartel Kills 2 and Threatens Police in Mexico's Richest City

"MX" for Borderland Beat

This brazen double murder is an unusual occurence in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon, Mexico's richest city. 

The gruesome discovery of two lifeless corpses inside a car in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon, Mexico's richest city, caused commotion and a large reaction from authorities yesterday afternoon.

The Attorney General's Office reported that the two men were reported missing in Guadalupe municipality days prior. The victims were Antonio Peña Díaz, 50, and Rogelio Chavarría Martínez, 51. They disappeared in the same Jetta Volkswagen vehicle they were found dead in.

Inside the vehicle the assassins left a written message against the local police. Investigators confirmed that one of the victims was a former municipal police officer and that the threatening message made reference to a past kidnapping.

"Someone went out of their way to do this. That area where the vehicle was found is in the heart of San Pedro Garza Garcia's business center. This was done to make a statement", a source with direct knowledge of the investigation told Borderland Beat.

Our source said that the killing was not done by the controlling cartel and could have been done to calentar la plaza ("heat up the turf"). A few weeks ago, mayor Miguel Bernardo Treviño de Hoyos said that organized crime groups were looking to "destabilize" San Pedro Garza Garcia with a violent attack since elections are coming up in June.

Background

Last February, a businessman from San Pedro Garza Garcia was kidnapped in broad daylight by the local Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO) faction headed by Jose Rodolfo Villarreal Hernandez ('El Gato'). The victim was Rolando Garcia Cantu, a suspected money launderer from an "old school" cartel based in the area. It is unclear if this kidnapping is tied to the one mentioned above.

The two victims found dead yesterday were reported missing on 13 March 2021.

El Gato is the plaza boss of San Pedro Garza Garcia. He is wanted in the US for the murder of former Gulf Cartel lawyer Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa, who was killed in the Dallas area in 2013. The BLO is mostly involved white collar crime (i.e. money laundering) throughout the Monterrey metropolitan area, but they also run drug trafficking operations to the US.

"El Gato's apparent role in trafficking drugs into the US and the evidence linking him to more than 10 murders in Mexico have made this case a top priority for both U.S. and Mexican authorities. He's a ruthless guy", the FBI Special Agent Gary Koenig explained.

Borderland Beat analysis

San Pedro Garza Garcia municipality is an affluent enclave of the Monterrey metropolitan area. Considered Mexico's wealthiest city, it has one of the highest per capita incomes in all of Latin America.

With close to 5 million inhabitants, the metropolitan area includes the municipalities of Monterrey (the state capital), Apodaca, Garcia, General Escobedo, Guadalupe, Juarez, San Nicolás de los Garza, San Pedro Garza Garcia, Santa Catarina, and Santiago. It is about two and a half hours from the U.S.-Mexico border crossings in Laredo and Roma, Texas, making it a lucrative smuggling route for narcotics.

But Monterrey's appeal extends beyond drugs.

The city is widely considered the most important financial and industrial center in northern Mexico. It is home to several foreign and national corporations, and has a stable and growing small-and-medium business ecosystem. A large amount of U.S. dollars flow in and out of Monterrey, making it an ideal place for money laundering.

Several drug cartels have been reported in the area, including various Gulf Cartel factions, the Northeast Cartel, and even remnants of the BLO.

Security experts say that the Monterrey area, specifically San Pedro Garza Garcia, has been considered a "neutral" ground or haven for large-scale drug traffickers – a place where they could send their families to be safe from the mayhem found elsewhere in Mexico. However, this pax mafiosa has not always been respected by all drug cartels.

Sources: Multimedios; El Porvenir; El Norte (1), (2), (3), (4); SDP Noticias; Heraldo de Mexico; ABC Noticias; Borderland Beat archives; Anonyous source