Gunmen Try to Kill Mayor of Mexican Border City

MEXICO CITY – Matamoros Mayor Leticia Salazar Vazquez was not hurt in an attack by gunmen over the weekend, Mexican officials said.

Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the attack, the Tamaulipas Coordination Group said.

Salazar Vazquez was “entering Matamoros from the western sector” around 8:10 p.m. Sunday when she was attacked, the security agency said.

The gunmen, who were riding in an automobile and an SUV, opened fire “on a vehicle carrying her bodyguards,” the Tamaulipas Coordination Group said.

The four suspects arrested in connection with attack told investigators the incident was a mistake, Tamaulipas state government secretary-general Herminio Garza said.

“They are saying that they participated in the attack on the mayor by mistake, thinking it was another gang that was entering Matamoros and that’s why they attacked the mayor,” Garza told Milenio Television.

Matamoros is located across the border from Brownsville, Texas.

The Gulf and Los Zetas drug cartels have been fighting for control of Tamaulipas and smuggling routes into the United States for years.

The federal government deployed additional security forces units in Tamaulipas last year and purged law enforcement agencies in an effort to stop a wave of drug-related violence in the northeastern state.