Links between crime and government in Tamaulipas are not new: Padgett

From the times of Juan Nepomuceno Guerra, founder of the Cartel de Matamoros, to Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, leader of Los Zetas, drug trafficking has been one of the most profitable illegal business in Tamaulipas thanks to the partnerships between criminals and government authorities.

Journalist Humberto Padgett, author of the book “Tamaulipas, la casta de los narcogobernantes: un eastern Mexicano” (Tamaulipas: the caste of narcorulers: a Mexican eastern) recounts the origins of organized crime in the state and its relation with authorities, which, according to the writer, started when drug trafficker Juan Nepomuceno smuggled liquor into the United States when it was forbidden in that country, in the 30s.

Until a few years ago, drug trafficking in Tamaulipas was a “family business” that did not have any additional activities, says Padgett. However with the emergence of Los Zetas in the 90s as an armed group of the Gulf Cartel under the command of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the “business model” changed and criminal groups diversified into activities such as kidnapping or extortion.

He explained that collusion with authorities started 80 years ago with the agreements reached between Juan N. Guerra and former president Emilio Portes Gil.

Some of the personalities mentioned in the 13 chapters of the book are Alberto Estrella and Rafael Chao López, members of the then Federal Security Directorate (DFS), as well as Manuel Cavazos Lerma and Eugenio Javier Hernández Flores, former governors of Tamaulipas, and Egidio Torre Cantú, current governor of the state.

In an interview with EL UNIVERSAL Padgett said that "Américo Villarreal did not want to be governor of Tamaulipas. His successor, Tomás Yarrington, sought financing from drug trafficking through Osiel Cárdenas Guillén (head of the Gulf Cartel), who asked to name the commanders of the state police in return in order to have free transit."