CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas – Mexican authorities found 19 bodies shot and burned near the Texas border in an area that in recent years has been the scene of violent territorial disputes between organized crime groups.
The bodies were discovered along a dirt road on the outskirts of Camargo after residents reported a burning vehicle, the Tamaulipas state prosecutor’s office reported. Authorities found two burning vehicles, one of them with four bodies and the other with 15.
All had been shot, but no shells were found at the site, so investigators believe they were killed elsewhere.
A Camargo official, who requested anonymity over security concerns, said the men were killed on Friday, but that people were afraid to make the report.
Camargo is an important transit site for drug smuggling and migrants. Organized crime groups covet control of strips along the border because they earn money from anything that crosses the border.
Tamaulipas State Police officers seized weapons, cartridges, drugs, bulletproof vests among other items through operations.
Camargo is close to the territorial boundary historically controlled by the Gulf Cartel and, in recent years, a remnant of the Zetas known as the Northeast Cartel has attempted to take control.
In January 2020, 21 bodies, most of them charred, were found in various vehicles near the neighboring Ciudad Mier. Days later, the Mexican army killed 11 allegedly armed men in the area.
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