Mexican Government Investigating Prison Deaths

(UnitedVoice.com) – The Mexican government has been fighting a cartel war for almost 20 years. The battles between the gangs even extend into prison. That’s where two hitmen were when their lives ended violently.

On January 18, two members of the Los Zetas’ Cartel Del Noreste, 30-year-old Jesus Uriel Briones Muñiz and 29-year-old Luis Gerardo Perez Andrade, were placed in prison in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas. Ten other men were also arrested and incarcerated. They were all believed to be members of a hit squad that carried out murders, extortion, kidnappings, and attacks. The Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office issued a statement on Twitter announcing the arrests of the 12 men.

#FGJT_Informa Operativo conjunto Ejército Mexicano 48/a. Zona Militar, #GuardiaNacional, Guardia Estatal y FGJT, permitió la detención de 12 personas, armas y sustancias propias del narcotráfico, hechor registrados este 18 de enero en #CiudadVictoria, #Tamaulipas pic.twitter.com/qLwA78M3sC

— Fiscalía General de Justicia de Tamaulipas (@FGJ_Tam) January 19, 2023

One day after Muñiz and Andrade arrived, the two men were stabbed to death by members of the Gulf Cartel. Nestor Adrian Vázquez Lozoya is suspected of helping to kill the men.

The Tamaulipas State Attorney General’s Office told Mexican news site El Universal it is going to carry out an investigation into the stabbings. Investigators processed the scene and collected evidence to gain more information about what happened in the prison that day. Sergio Chávez García, the head of the Ministry of Public Security, denied the prisoners were governing themselves.

The new year is already shaping up to be a deadly one in Mexico. A number of violent attacks have taken place in the first three weeks of 2023. A bloody battle broke out between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Army on January 5, when authorities arrested Ovidio Guzmán, the son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The conflict resulted in the deaths of 29 people, including 10 military members.

As of September 2022, the death toll in the Mexican Cartel War was at least 360,000. Despite Mexico’s government spending billions to bolster its military, it is still having trouble controlling the outbreaks of violence, as demonstrated by the prison attack.