Human Rights Commission Says Tamaulipas State Police Was Involved in Reynosa Killing Spree

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat (formerly "MX")

On Saturday, 18 June 2021, an armed commando killed 15 people at random in various parts of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. 4 gunmen were killed in clashes with the police that same day.

Raymundo Ramos Vázquez, the head of the Human Rights Commission of Tamaulipas, said that the killing spree in Reynosa that claimed the lives of 15 innocent civilians was likely perpetrated with the help of Special Operations Group (Grupo de Operaciones Especiales, GOPES), the elite unit of the Tamaulipas State Police.

He said that the nature of the attacks was "atypical" and not the modus operandi of the local cartels.

"Shooting innocent civilians at random in broad daylight in Reynosa was not the way these local cartels operate ... I do not think this was perpetrated by organized crime groups", Ramos Vazquez said. 

This directly contradicts the version released by the Tamaulipas Attorney General, Irving Barrios, who alleged that the massacre was carried out by rival factions of the Gulf Cartel. The official version is that the attack was done by the Matamoros faction of the Gulf Cartel (Los Ciclones) to "heat up the turf" of their rivals (Los Metros) in Reynosa.

In addition, Ramos Vazquez considered that the attack was an "act of terrorism" and "post-election violence". He claimed that some Reynosa residents believe that the attack was politically motivated, and that the June elections marked an important change for underworld politics in Reynosa.

In the elections, voters ousted the incumbent National Action Party (PAN) in Reynosa for the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA).

Ramos Vazquez says the killing may have something to do with this power shift.

Under this theory, the attack was reportedly planned by Tamaulipas Governor Francisco Javier Cabeza de Vaca, from the PAN, to challenge and pressure to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) of MORENA. Both politicians have clashed in recent years due to political differences.

"It seems to me that the Governor, with his ties to cartels, could have organized this attack as a sign of farewell to the people of Reynosa and the federal government; and as an act of provocation for the new state authorities […] I feel that the Governor's hands are stained with the blood of innocent people," Ramos Vazquez said in an interview.

It is worth mentioning that Ramos Vazquez has been accused by La Voz del Pueblo, a citizen journalist blog, of having ties to drug traffickers. In January 2020, an audio was released where Ramos Vazquez reportedly spoke on the phone with a Northeast Cartel (CDN) boss based in Nuevo Laredo, Jorge Ezequiel Ramos (alias "El Borrado"). The report said that Ramos Vazquez "victimized" CDN members to help them in criminal cases, and that the US government had revoked his visa. 

Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, university professor and author of a book about Los Zetas, agrees with Ramos Vazquez. She also claimed that the mayor elect of Reynosa for MORENA, Carlos Peña Ortiz, has denounced persecution from Cabeza de Vaca since the elections.

In contrast, Dr. José Andrés Sumano Rodríguez, professor-researcher in the Department of Cultural Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, ruled out that the violent acts were directed by the state government.

The professor recalled that Reynosa has been a particularly violent area for many years given its strategic location at the US-Mexico border. Authorities say that cartels want Reynosa for its international border crossings, where multi-ton shipments of narcotics and hundreds of migrants are smuggled into the US every year. 

Two of the detainees were reported missing months prior to the Reynosa massacre.

Possible Scapegoats?

Ramiro Liceo and Alfonso Aguilar, two of the detainees in the Reynosa attacks who were arrested on 19 June, were reported missing by their families on 24 April and 22 May.

Ramiro worked as a bricklayer and was reportedly kidnapped from his home. Alfonso worked at a beer factory and was kidnapped while running an errand for his boss. 

Their relatives say that the GOPES carried out an operation on 19 June where they released 18 people and arrested four suspect kidnappers. Authorities say that Liceo and Aguilar were the kidnappers, but their families believes they were framed and used as scapegoats.

The Human Rights Commission of Tamaulipas filed a complaint to the federal government for torture and arbitrary detention. Relatives say that Ramiro and Alfonso were beaten by the GOPES and forced to confess their involvement in the cartel.

"They beat them with their weapons. Both of them had bruised ribs", said one of the parents.

Tamaulipas Attorney General Barrios said he was unaware of their disappearance complaint and said his team would investigate further.

Barrios said that in some occasions, when people are working for the cartel, their families file a missing person complaint so that their cartel-involved relative can pose as a victim should they be arrested.

Sources: Aristegui Noticias; SinEmbargo; El Universal (1); (2); La Vanguardia