Mexico arrests Gulf Cartel second-in-command in Matamoros, roadblocks and burning cars close bridges to Brownsville as US consulate orders staff to shelter, suspect was previously arrested in 2023 and freed in 2024

Images

bnonews.com

Mexican forces arrested the second-in-command of the Gulf Cartel's Ciclones faction in the border city of Matamoros on Thursday. Within hours, gunfire and burning cars had thrown up roadblocks across Matamoros and Río Bravo, the international bridges to Brownsville were temporarily closed, and the US Consulate ordered American government employees to shelter in place, advising everyone else in the area to do the same.

The detainee is Axel Alfredo Cárdenas Rodríguez, known as "El Titan", arrested along with another person, according to the Defense Ministry. He is the son of the faction's leader, José Alfredo Cárdenas Martínez, "El Contador", and a nephew of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the imprisoned former head of the Gulf Cartel. The ministry links him to killings, kidnappings, extortion and trafficking of drugs, weapons and people between Mexico and the United States, and accuses him of involvement in a May attack on federal protection officers in which one officer was killed and several were injured. Weapons, ammunition, drugs and a vehicle were seized during the operation; both detainees were flown to Mexico City and handed to prosecutors.

It is, at minimum, his second arrest. Cárdenas Rodríguez was previously detained in May 2023 and in January 2024 was allowed to remain free while his case proceeded.

Tamaulipas security officials advised residents to avoid affected areas and follow instructions from security forces. The State Department maintains a Level 4 "do not travel" advisory for Tamaulipas, citing terrorism, crime and kidnapping, and Washington designated the Gulf Cartel — one of Mexico's oldest criminal organizations — a foreign terrorist organization in 2025. Brownsville police later reported that all bridges had resumed normal operations.