Mexico : A policeman and 3 drug dealers were killed in an armed confrontation on the US border

Mexican authorities announced the killing of a policeman and three drug traffickers during an armed confrontation in the city of Matamoros, northeastern Mexico, on the border with the United States.

The shooting occurred when police were chasing a pickup truck transporting armed men, the Tamaulipas state government wrote on social media.

The local authorities explained that “three of them were killed, while another fled,” noting also that “a member of the state guard,” a local security service, had been killed.

The state of Matamoros, located on the border with the US state of Texas, is witnessing confrontations between the "Clan del Golfo" gang and rival cartels, such as "Los Zetas," according to what the authorities explain.

The state of Tamaulipas suffers greatly from drug trafficking, and the city of Matamoros is a way station for migrants who irregularly cross the Rio Grande River to head to the United States.

The roads of this region are considered among the most dangerous in the country due to the "risk of being kidnapped and extorted by criminal gangs."

In March 2023, suspected members of the Clan del Golfo kidnapped four Americans, two of whom were killed.

About 32 migrants from Venezuela and Honduras were kidnapped in January, when they were traveling on a bus on a highway linking the cities of Reynosa and Matamoros on a journey extending less than ninety kilometers.

Violence linked to "cartels" has resulted in more than 150,000 dead and 100,000 missing in Mexico since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) launched a military campaign against drug trafficking.