Executed in Reynosa: between despair and endless violence

Like every Saturday, Fernando Ruiz placeholder image he waited for the pay with his companions of Reynosa tamaulipas, after repairs for the Municipal Water and Sanitation Commission (Comapa). This is how he earned a few pesos while the Covid-19 pandemic and face-to-face classes returned to complete their nursing studies.

The 19-year-old got the job thanks to his stepfather, who works for Comapa and commanded a small group of subordinates.

But around 11:00 a.m. on June 19, gang members heard bullets in the streets of the Almaguer district, where they were waiting for the boss.

Fernando’s stepfather asked for permission to a house for shelter and everyone was about to enter when a commando of hired killers approached them and shot them.

13 other people were executed in the neighboring settlements of Lampacitos, Unidad Obrera y Bienestar, in the same way: in cold blood. Going down the street. One of Reynosa’s bloodiest days had been unleashed against innocent people.

The demarcations of the attack went to south-eastern border town, around the avenue Porfirio Díaz, between the ring road of Oriente and the road Puente Pharr.

As in the worst years of “war against narco“, it started Felipe Calderón Hinojosa During his government (2006-2012), the hand of organized crime once again showed its power in Tamaulipas.

However now the authorities were not the main target, nor the criminal cells fighting over territory, but 14 innocent people who were just in the streets, they were walking on the sidewalk.

“It was an attack on civil society“, said to Infobae Mexico Geovanni Barrios Moreno, president of the Asociación Civil Justicia Tamaulipas AC, after a long sigh in which he let slip the few remaining hopes of seeing his state of security, without the recurring fear of going out on the streets.

He is also a member of the Research Commission for State Figures He stressed that there had been no direct attack on the population in the last few years that he can remember. Crossfire had been people’s worst enemy, but now they were seeing it head on.

“They just screamed at them ‘what? They thought they were very much ”and they took out their guns and started shooting at them», Said Olga Ruiz, Fernando’s sister Infobae Mexico.

For Barrios Moreno, some deaths could be completely avoided. Two women and a man from the same family, who were traveling in their car, were ruthlessly murdered after being taken out of the truck.

“They might take the vehicle away without doing anything, however they kill themHe complained about the executions on Bienestar Avenue.

Some local journalists took to the streets to record this infamous moment in Tamaulipas history. Barely covered bodies were dumped on the sidewalks. No authority was near, not even the usual witnesses, for fear permeated more than curiosity.

“We called on people not to leave their homes. To prevent because we do not know what is happening. If you have nothing to go out, better stay at home until the authority can clarify this or establish what is going on, ”said Geovanni Barrios.

In social networks, Murder complaints started around noon. The assault on the crime left bodies lying in the crosswalks. A taxi driver was shot dead.

Like an old person, who approached within 10 meters of another victim, a young man walking across the street.

The elder was on his back with a throat impact. They were both covered in blue blankets as blood flowed from their wounds.

Around the corner where they murdered the family in the neighborhood of Bienestar, members of the armed command previously deprived of the life of a man in his fifties who was in his grocery store. A neighbor who was shopping there was also killed.

One of the errors that caused the most problems in the entity is the lack of coordination between government orders, say of activist Geovanni Barrios.

In his opinion, federal agents are staying out of operations.

“They had a passive attitude. In fact, yes. The state authorities were more those who faced criminal groups, ”assured the Tamaulipas.

For him, the only solution is coordination, teamwork that allows them to act and face crime face to face organized to bring it down.

“Today it happened. The two levels came closer and began to search for those who were causing the damage, ”he continued, recalling the four hired killers allegedly killed this Saturday, between noon and 7:30 pm.

the Tamaulipas State Peace Coordination Group acted responsively. The army, national guard, state police and the local prosecutor’s office reported what happened in two statements, as a sign of joint work.

Olga Ruiz He said that in social networks there was a clamor for the intervention of security guards, but they arrived when the crimes had been consummated.

“People were alone, sheltered, abandoned“He accused.

As these attacks continue, the the suffering will continue in the more than 3.5 million Tamaulipas that every day they must listen to the bursts of guns and see blood flow in their streets and highways: the balance of the war on drugs which does not have for when.

“We are in a huge emotional crisis because every time we think that you have overcome the situation, we fall into the no. The ‘security’ that we have is a simulation because at any time we go back to the time when there was this type of confrontationThis way even innocent people are taken away, ”said Barrios Moreno, dismayed.

Fernando’s sister recalled that this situation has been going on for 15 years, a time when people close to the family, like his cousins, disappeared.

It was now Fernando’s turn, who saw his goal of becoming a nurse frustrated, something he had been pursuing since playing with the stethoscope with his brother, who died two years ago from health complications.

“There is no guarantee of safetyEither you deal with the police or you deal with armed people, ”Olga Ruiz warned.

A year ago it was assassinated an engineer by state forces, after being mistaken for a hit man. After 20 days, the narcos they executed a child under the age of 14 that she left home to find someone to fix her electrical system because she had run out of electricity. They allegedly asked him if he was a “pointer” and then executed him.

Tamaulipas is under the Northeast Cartel dispute, derived from The Zetas, and the Gulf Cartel. The entity has been a stronghold of the drug cartels as it borders its northern border with the United States, the main user of narcotics.

In their background, current criminal groups were part of the same faction, but over the years they have had differences and betrayals that have led to fragmentation.

Although, both maintain estates in some municipalities, none of them is so powerful to impose on the other. They thus remain in regional battles, constant and fierce, where the survival of the criminal side is at stake with each confrontation.

Olga Ruiz calls for justice for her loved one and that those responsible for the kidnapping of the second and last of his male brothers be arrested.

In addition, the authorities should not be indolent and understand the pain experienced by family members, since the forensic service has asked them for several documents to hand over the body.

“They got very angry with us, they started fighting us, Instead of respecting the pain, they started arguing with my mom and dad and threatened him. that they were going to take him to prison, ”denounced the resident of Río Bravo after relatives complained of the crime and were treated arrogantly.

Between heartbroken, sad and angry, Fernando’s sister and her family will have to train before nine in the morning of this Sunday, June 20 to not to be relegated to the line where others will claim their dead.

Until 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, authorities have reported 18 dead, 14 victims and four alleged assailants killed.

Due to these events, there is only one detainee, who was carrying two women in the trunk of a car. The attackers were in a caravan.

Preliminary insurance accounts two vans and a carIn the latter vehicle, the arrested individual was traveling with the women deprived of their liberty. In another of the units, one person was shot dead. A long gun was also seized.

Residents consulted indicated that the night was still tense and gunshots were heard. A grenade was thrown into the Chevrolet Agency of the Municipality of Río Bravo. While clashes were already reported at the other end of the region adjacent to Nuevo León.

Neither the federal authorities let alone those in the state offered immediate support to the victims. No message, intention of psychological support or help with funeral costs either, nor any other manifestation of solidarity.

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