Edgar Valladares Hernandez 'El Maestrin' Found Executed After Gulf Cartel Truce Announced

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Edgar Eliud Valladares Hernández alias "El Maestrín"

On Tuesday night reported the execution of Edgar Valladares Hernández, alias El Maestrin, alleged leader of a cell of the Gulf Cartel and one of the main ones pointed out for the massacre of 15 people in Reynosa, as reported by Borderland Beat.

The first reports indicated that the discovery of two bodies would have been made around 01:20 hours on July 27, inside a green Dodge Ram truck located near the Reynosa-Río Bravo highway. The other body was identified as the Maestrin's escort, who was known as El Vale. Infobae Mexico consulted with the Secretary of Security and the Tamaulipas Prosecutor's Office, but the authorities commented that they still do not have reports on this alleged execution of the capo.

According to the state prosecutor's office, there are bodies waiting to be identified in the Forensic Medical Service, but someone with Valladares Hernández's data has not yet been highlighted. Nor has a relative come to claim the body with that name.

Throughout this Tuesday, there were also some operations against organized crime in the border state. For example, during the afternoon, the Special Operations Group pursued and confronted several criminals on the streets of the neighborhoods near Laguna La Escondida, in Reynosa. This security team was making rounds inside the El Anhelo neighborhood when they detected a suspicious blue Explorer truck. The crew members were armed and, upon noticing the presence of the uniformed men, tried to escape.

The persecution ended in the public square on Veracruz Street when the attacks began. Two alleged hitmen fled on foot and two died from gunshot wounds, resulting in four violent deaths in the state in the last 24 hours. 

These deaths and confrontations came a day after narcomantas appeared in Tamaulipas announcing a supposed truce as reported by Borderland Beat: they affirm that the internal fights in criminal organizations ended after a peace pact was concluded.

Narcomantas proclaiming a truce between Gulf Cartel factions were placed prior to the discovery of El Maestrin's body.

"We hereby inform all citizens of the state that today, July 19, we agreed to a truce of tranquility and we stand in solidarity with the people and with coherent principles and ideologies to generate peace," says one of the blankets, according to the photographs released.

The message is signed by "bosses of the Gulf Cartel" and gangs identified as SC-XIX Grupo Scorpion (Los Escorpiones), Primito Grupo Metros (Los Metros) and Tampico Grupo Rojo (Los Rojos). Some of the narco mantas were located mainly in Reynosa, in areas of Tampico, in the municipality of Padilla, in Matamoros, near the border with the United States in Río Bravo and in Ciudad Valles.

The accusations against Valladares Hernández, of ordering the assassination of 15 civilians, came from one of the detainees, identified as Jonathan Balderas Rodríguez, who was also the first to be linked to the process. From a hospital bed, he assured that the attack against the population simply sought to "heat the plaza," and that both he and the rest of the hitmen had followed the orders of an individual identified as El Maestrín, the alleged leader of a cell of the Gulf Cartel.

The massacre in Reynosa was reportedly ordered by Los Ciclones, a cartel faction based in Matamoros and headed by local kingpin Jose Alfredo Cardenas Martinez (alias "El Contador"). He is one of the nephews of the legendary Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen. Citizen journalists in Tamaulipas also accuse Oscar Antonio Lopez Sandoval (alias "La Droga", "Ciclon 89") and Edgar Valladares Hernandez (alias "El Maestrin"), both based in Rio Bravo, of masterminding the attack along with El Contador.

It is not known if the execution of El Maestrín was related to the truce agreements. It could also be related to the internal battle that exists for the leadership of this criminal organization, since José Alfredo Cárdenas Martínez, the Accountant, would be until now the natural successor and who would be seeking to get rid of his “companions” to remain at the front. This alleged criminal - nephew of Osiel Cárdenas, founder of the Gulf Cartel - is one of the men most wanted by justice in Mexico and the United States.

According to intelligence reports, this criminal had an alliance with Petronilo Moreno Flores, and together they operated in the city of Matamoros. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) places Alfredo Cárdenas as one of the leaders of the Gulf Cartel along with José Antonio Romo López, Don Chucho.

Sources: Infobae