News Reports El Primito's El Roque Was Arrested, Government Has Not Acknowledged the Arrest

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat

Two highly reputable newspapers reported that El Roque, from Gulf Cartel's Metros, was arrested on Sunday in Tamaulipas. 

Its now Tuesday and the government has still not acknowledged that this arrest occurred. Instead they claim just that a couple of vehicles were seized after State Police were ambushed. 

This has left some to speculate that Metros paid for Roque to be quietly released. 

The Alleged Arrest of El Roque 

At approximately 1:00 am on April 2, 2023, two Grupo Reforma newspapers (El Norte and Reforma) published a story claiming that Gulf Cartel’s El Roque had been arrested by authorities. 

They write that he was arrested in the border city of Reynosa - an area where Roque is known to operate.

Just to review, Roque Barriga Cruz Fuentes, alias “El Roque”, is a leadership figure within the Gulf Cartel’s Los Metros faction. The overall leader of the Metros faction is César Morfín Morfín, alias “El Primito”, codename "Metro 300".

El Primito has his direct report Carlos Humberto Acuña de los Santos, alias “El Mono”, in charge of controlling the city of Reynosa, which is located within the municipality of the same name. 

In turn, El Mono placed El Roque, in charge of the Aquiles Serdán sector of Reynosa. 

El Roque, codename Metro 58, was said to have taken over position after the brothers Ernesto Sanchez Rivera, alias "La Mierda" and Héctor Sánchez Rivera, alias  “La Mimi”, were ousted from the position - sometime around summer 2022. 

The brothers were reportedly removed from power because El Mono began to distrust them, according to Borderland Beat contributors Itzli and Ivan. 

Now, almost all details on how Roque was arrested are scant and there are few news outlets outside of Grupo Reforma which reported this occurred. 

El Norte and Reforma claim that at approximately 7:00 pm on April 1, state police engaged in a “suprise action” in a northwestern region of the border city of Reynosa, in the Hacienda Las Fuentes neighborhood.  

The newspapers acknowledged that there was no official government confirmation of the arrest but they reference police sources who confirmed to them the arrest occurred. 

A pickup truck used by Gulf Cartel hitmen was later found crashed in a wooded patch near where Roque was arrested. The newspapers published two images of the pickup truck, shown below. 

Firearms and fake military uniforms were reportedly found inside the truck by police officers. The hitmen who crashed the vehicle were presumed to have fled the scene immediately after the crash. 

Reforma writes that "In response to the arrest, hitmen created narco road blockades and threw Molotovs in different parts of the city in an attempt to stop the transfer of the detainee [Roque] to the Attorney General's Office (FGR) or to the airport."

"There were even reports of convoys of pickup trucks with hitmen who were attempting to approach official government buildings, such as the FGR."

50 patrol vehicles from either the State Police, National Guards, the FGR, the FGE and the Army were said to have been called in to respond to the violence. 

Three additional pickup trucks were reportedly seized from hitmen at various locations throughout the city. 

Despite all this reported violence, the local, state and federal government have yet to acknowledge the alleged arrest, nor even the alleged narco blockades. 

Instead they released a press release which details only that State Police were attacked by hitmen in Hacienda las Fuentes which led to the seizure of two vehicles. 

No detainees, hitmen or otherwise, were mentioned in the press release. This press release and its version of events has been covered by Razón. 

Other Recent Attempted Arrests 

It's interesting to note that there may be a law enforcement crackdown going on in Reynosa.

As recently, as covered by Itzli and Ivan, La Mierda was arrested in Reynosa on March 9, 2023. Mierda was a figure who had fallen out of favor with Metros leadership like El Primito and El Mono. The two had reportedly grown to distrust Mierda and his brother Mimi. 

The arrest of Mierda may have been seen favorably by Primito and Mono.

It is even possible that some of the law enforcement officers who receive weekly payouts from Primito (police bribery being a very common practice, even more common in border cities) may have been involved in Mierda's arrest. 

Then, on March 31, 2023, El Mono allegedly had his own run-in with law enforcement in an incident which almost led to his arrest. News outlets, however, reported the event as a Gulf cartel ambush on state police officers, as seen in this Excelsior article. 

Then, just days after the failed attempt to arrest El Mono, one of his direct reports, El Roque was allegedly arrested. 

Just now, as this story is being written, new reports are coming out that another Metros figure was arrested and freed yesterday, April 3, in Reynosa. 

Reynosa Maldosa reports that an operations manager who works under Raul Leonel Maciel Vazquez, alias "El Raulin", codename Metro 16, was arrested and released. They claim authorities are only reporting the incident as the seizure of one vehicle and one firearm. 

This recent series of attempted arrests signals a change in the power dynamics of Reynosa's cartel landscape. The exact change though is unclear. 

What is clear, however, is the need for on-ground reporting in Reynosa that goes beyond taking the state government press releases at face value. 

Because if someone big is arrested in Reynosa, the Tamaulipas state government will be the last to tell you about it. 

Sources: El Norte, Reforma, Primera Vuelta Noticias, Grillonautas, Excelsior, Reynosa Maldosa, Razón