𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗬 𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗟 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗡 𝗥𝗘𝗬𝗡𝗢𝗦𝗔

              by Jim Barton, Source: El Diario de Matamoros 

Ernesto Cuitláhuac Vázquez Reyna

Mexican authorities have dismantled one of the largest fuel theft networks in recent years, an operation that investigators say had tentacles stretching across state lines,  and likely across the border. The Brownsville Observer has previously reported on the involvement of the Jensen family from Utah, the role of Arroyo Terminals in Rio Hondo, and how fuel theft has become a lucrative binational business.  We've even questioned the possible involvement of officials at the Port of Brownsville, where the initial arrests of the two Jensen family sons occurred in May.

Then, between July 25 and 27, security forces under “Operation Northern Border” seized nearly 1.9 million liters of stolen crude oil in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. The joint raid, involving the Ministry of National Defense, National Guard, Pemex, and the Criminal Investigation Agency, also targeted criminal hubs in Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Sinaloa. 

Photos released by officials show nine tractor-trailers, 39 tank trucks, industrial pumps, generators, and other heavy equipment confiscated from a property in Reynosa’s La Escondida neighborhood, believed to be the center of the illicit operation.

U.S. agencies, including the DEA, FBI, and Homeland Security, have long warned that Mexican cartels profit heavily from “huachicoleo,” or fuel theft, which now rivals drug trafficking as a revenue source. They say the business often relies on corrupt intermediaries and small U.S.-based companies willing to process or move stolen crude.

Just days after the Reynosa raid, violence struck at the heart of the state’s justice system. On Monday evening, Ernesto Cuitláhuac Vázquez Reyna, the Tamaulipas delegate for Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) and a key figure in prosecuting organized crime, was killed in a daylight attack.

Driving alone in an armored Cadillac SUV near the FGR offices, he was reportedly hit with an incendiary grenade. Witnesses said he escaped the burning vehicle, only to be shot and killed in the street. Video of the incident shows a man pulling his body from the wreck before more gunfire erupted. Roads were blocked and vehicles hijacked by armed men during the attack, all within sight of major military and federal facilities.

The killing has sparked outrage and suspicion. Why was such a high-level prosecutor traveling without a security detail? How could a coordinated assault unfold in one of Mexico’s most heavily militarized cities? And to what extent did official complicity make it possible? In Tamaulipas, where the Gulf and Northeast cartels compete for dominance, large-scale fuel theft is widely believed to operate with protection from insiders, from Pemex employees authorizing stolen crude, to customs officials enabling smuggling, to police who look the other way.

Governor Américo Villarreal and President Claudia Sheinbaum have condemned the murder, pledging a joint federal-state investigation. Yet, in Tamaulipas, political assassinations linked to organized crime are rarely solved, especially when they threaten entrenched alliances between criminal and political actors.

Vázquez Reyna, who had served as FGR delegate since 2019, handled major cases involving drug trafficking, mass killings, and electoral crimes. Only days before his death, he appeared alongside the governor at a ceremony where the FGR donated a helicopter to the state.

His assassination is being seen as a direct challenge to the federal government’s security strategy and a reminder that Mexico’s fight against organized crime means confronting networks deeply woven into official institutions. In Reynosa, the fear now is not just about who killed Vázquez Reyna, but whether anyone will ever be held accountable.