Gulf Cartel gunmen set fire to a snack company's warehouse and truck yard in Matamoros this week. The blaze burned for hours and destroyed more than 40 delivery trucks.
It is the fifth big cartel fire in the border city so far this year.
The fires are hitting business owners in Matamoros, just across the river from Brownsville, Texas. Cartel members use fire as a warning. Pay up, or watch your business burn. The pattern has played out again and again in 2026, and local officials have tried to hide what is really going on, Breitbart Texas reported.
This week's fire hit a snack distribution company. Gulf Cartel gunmen set the warehouse and truck yard on fire. The fire burned for hours before crews put it out. One warehouse burned down. More than 40 delivery trucks were destroyed. Firefighters and police rushed to the scene. They never found the gunmen who set the fire, Breitbart Texas reported.
This attack is the latest in a run of fires across Matamoros this year. On January 23, fire tore through the Spellman manufacturing plant. Three firefighters died fighting that fire. City officials first said it was an electrical fire. Law enforcement sources later told Breitbart Texas the fire was set on purpose.
More fires followed all year. On May 5, flames hit the Cypress Industries plant. On July 6, fire burned down a seafood restaurant on Camino Real Avenue. The very next day, July 7, fire hit four shops inside the Paseo Palmares plaza.
Each fire follows the same pattern, Breitbart Texas reported. Cartel members demand money from a business owner. If the owner will not pay, or falls behind on payments, the business burns. The cartel does not just hit small shops. Breitbart Texas reported the cartel also goes after bigger targets, like factories and food companies, to squeeze out bigger payments.
The Gulf Cartel has squeezed business owners in Matamoros and in nearby Reynosa for years, according to Breitbart Texas. City officials have often helped the cartel collect its money, law enforcement sources told the outlet. The U.S. government has named the Gulf Cartel a terrorist organization, Breitbart Texas reported.
Speaking out can cost a business owner his life. In the summer of 2024, gunmen killed Julio Almanza. He was president of the local Chamber of Commerce. He had spoken out publicly about cartel extortion before he was shot.
Fire works as a warning in a way that other threats do not. A burned warehouse cannot open the next day. A burned truck cannot make deliveries. Neighbors see the smoke and the damage for weeks. Business owners across Matamoros do not need a phone call to understand the message behind each fire.
No one has been arrested in any of the 2026 fires. Police say they are still looking for the gunmen who burned the snack distributor's trucks this week. It is not clear how many other business owners in Matamoros have quietly paid the cartel to keep their doors open and their trucks safe.
Business owners in Matamoros now face a hard choice. Pay the cartel and try to stay open, or say no and risk losing everything to fire. Matamoros sits just across the border from Brownsville, Texas. People cross between the two cities every day for work, school, and family visits.
Many families in Cameron County and across the Rio Grande Valley have relatives, friends, or business ties on the Mexican side. The smoke from these fires is not far from home. Every truck that burns in Matamoros can mean lost jobs, canceled deliveries, and higher prices that reach shelves on both sides of the border.
For now, the fires keep coming and the gunmen keep getting away. Business owners in Matamoros are left to decide, on their own, whether to pay or to fight.
