SAN FERNANDO, Tamaulipas — A squad of cartel gunmen, presumably with the Los Zetas cartel, traveling in a convoy of nine vehicles attacked the wife of the mayor of this rural community. The gunmen fired machines guns at her and her escort vehicles. Police officers assigned to her security detail fought off the attack and there were no injuries or fatalities.
The attack took place when Rosa Elida Garza de Rios, the wife of a local mayor and head of a local government funded healthcare organization, returned from a local event in the rural communities where she had been handing out scholarships and congratulating students.
Garza Rios is the wife of Jose Rios Silva, the mayor of San Fernando. He is a member of the National Action Party (PAN), an opposition party that recently defeated the regime of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that had ruled over this state for more than 80 years and had been closely linked to drug cartels.
The mayor’s wife was not with her husband when she was traveling in a white Dodge Journey. Authorities provided an escort as she returned from the trip.
In the “El Norteño” rural community, a convoy of nine trucks ambushed the Garza’s vehicle. They also began firing at the two police vehicles that were guarding her. The rural community of El Norteño is approximately 50 miles north of San Fernando and 60 miles south of the border city of Brownsville.
The attack took place along a farming road that connects the communities of Gonzalez Villarreal and San German. Police officers from Fuerza Tamaulipas fought off the attack. The security detail extracted Garza de Rios from the area and took her to a highway crossing called the “y.” There, they met up with a convoy of 10 SUV’s full of police officers to secure the mayor’s wife and take her home.