Organized Crime impacts one of Mexico’s major highways
A wave of kidnappings and other violent incidents along Federal Highway 85, which connects Nuevo Laredo with Monterrey caused several protests and an energic reaction from the governor urging travelers to avoid using the highway until conditions improve. This highway plays an important role as a major transport artery between the border and one of the country’s largest metropolitan areas and as part of a major cargo route that connects to the U.S. interstate system.
Federal Highway 85, often referred to within Tamaulipas and Nuevo León as the Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo Highway (Carretera Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo) is a major free highway that connects Nuevo Laredo, a major border city and transportation hub situated across from Texas, and Monterrey, the anchor city of the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Federal Highway 85 should not be confused with Federal Highway 85D, which is a toll road known as the Autopista Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo. Federal Highway 85 begins at the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge in Nuevo Laredo, while Federal Highway 85D’s northern gateway is the World Trade International Bridge, however the two follow a nearly identical path from the outskirts of Nuevo Laredo to the Tamaulipas-Nuevo León border.
Federal Highway 85D is a toll road and like most of these runs parallel to the alternative free highway, Federal Highway 85. Toll roads tend to offer more direct routes between locations, are better maintained and tend to be better lit at night. The route between Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey is highly traveled on both the free and toll roads, serving as one of the most important transportation corridors for business travel and migration in the country. It is also a major cargo pathway, as part of the Pan American Highway, becoming Interstate 35 once it crosses into Texas.
The government of Nuevo León has acknowledged reports of 19 reported disappearances along the highway in 2021. Open-source reports say that as many as 50 people have disappeared on the highway within the past year. The majority of disappearances have occurred within the vicinity of Nuevo Laredo and appear to have targeted drivers of commercial and private vehicles alike, including cargo trucks and taxis, although it is difficult to determine victim profiles given inconsistencies in reporting.
The reason for the increase in kidnappings along the highway is unclear. However, the region is considered to be the territory of the Northeast Cartel, a powerful splinter cell of the heavily fragmented Zetas cartel based in Nuevo Laredo. The Northeast Cartel, like other major criminal organizations in the country, engages in diversified illicit activities like drug trafficking, kidnap for ransom, and extortion. The group does not have a monopoly over criminal activity in the area, however, and competes for territory with the Gulf Cartel (based in nearby Matamoros), the Old School Zetas (another splinter cell of the Zetas), and the rapidly expanding Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG).
An increase in reported kidnappings along Highway 85 may be correlated in part with increases in road travel as COVID-19 restrictions loosen throughout the country, although the state of Tamaulipas has long had high rates of kidnappings and is considered a no-go zone for travelers. Because the route of the highway lies along valuable drug and human smuggling corridors to the U.S. border, it is possible that increased cartel is caused by competition to take control of the territory, with groups like the Northeast Cartel and competing gangs using the kidnappings as an intimidation tactic. Many of the abductions are likely due to targeting of suspected cartel rivals or people opposing the cartels’ activities.