Deadly Clash in Nuevo León Reportedly Leaves Over 10 Dead and 5 Armored Vehicles Destroyed

Citizen journalists in northern Mexico reported over the weekend that a massive shootout broke between the Gulf Cartel (CDG) and the Northeast Cartel (CDN) in Doctor Coss, Nuevo Leon, close to the border with Tamaulipas.

As shown in several videos and photographs shared on social media, the clash left 5 armored vehicles destroyed. The reports say that the CDN used monstruos (literally “monsters”), a term used by cartels when referring to armored cartel vehicles, when they moved into Doctor Coss. However, the CDG was reportedly able to neutralize the CDN’s incursion in their turf and destroyed their vehicles.

Unofficial reports claim that that the death toll could be as high as 15 sicarios dead. One report said that local CDG boss ‘Comandante Trivi’ was killed during the clash. No authority has issued an announcement of this shootout by press time.

Borderland Beat analysis 

Doctor Coss municipality is close to La Frontera Chica (also known as La Ribereña), a border region along Tamaulipas. In the context of the Mexican Drug War, it is a lucrative drug corridor currently under dispute by the CDN and the Metros faction of the CDG.

This municipality is important turf to control because it has highways that connect it to Reynosa, Miguel Aleman and Camargo, three border cities with legal ports of entry to the US. The CDN, based in Nuevo Laredo, is trying to expand east into La Frontera Chica, which has historically been controlled by the CDG.

Reports say that the CDN commanders in the area are Ricardo ‘Ricky’ Chapa and another individual simply known as ‘El Amarillo’. The CDG commanders in the area are Cesar Morfin Morfin (‘El Primito‘) and his brother Alvaro (‘R-8′). They are among the top ten most-wanted cartel figures in Tamaulipas, as reported by Borderland Beat.

Last February, the CDN clashed with the Mexican military in Doctor Coss. They tried to shoot down a helicopter, but soldiers repelled the attack and killed 5 CDN gunmen.

In November, CDN members killed the Doctor Coss police chief, Francisco Leonides Cruz, and two of his aides. Local reports said that the CDN used the same kind of armed vehicles used in this weekend’s shootout.