As rival cartels continue to fight for control of lucrative drug and human smuggling routes into Texas, a series of video clips circulated by gunmen provide glimpses into escalating violence as criminal organizations use armored vehicles and high powered weapons in Mexican border city streets.

A recent video reportedly recorded in the border city of Miguel Aleman, just south of Roma, Texas, captured the moment when a group of men identifying themselves as members of the Gulf Cartel fire rifles at a group from the Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) faction of Los Zetas. The men can be heard taunting their rivals in the distance. The video was published by the citizen journalists from La Voz el Pueblo.

The areas immediately south of Starr County, Texas, including Miguel Aleman, are considered one of the busiest smuggling corridors for the Gulf Cartel. The lack of physical border barriers in the region allows the organization to move large quantities of narcotics and thousands of migrants. In recent months, the CDN made several attempts to muscle in on the Gulf Cartel’s turf with gun battles that killed dozens at a time. The violence has led to some infighting between state and federal authorities over the apparent lack of involvement on the part of Mexico City.

#OJO #MiguelAlemán #Tamaulipas Sicario del Cártel Del Golfo Metros se graba al interior de un vehículo blindado conocido como ” Monstruo” mientras recorre el mpio de #MiguelAleman que parece mas bien “pueblo fantasma”.#TamaulipasZonaDeGuerra #FuchiGuácala pic.twitter.com/8HAlbSeNGJ — La Voz Del Pueblo (Oficial) (@LPueblo2) December 15, 2019

In another video taken by cartel gunmen, a shooter riding in the back of an armored truck flashes a .50 caliber rifle as he patrols a border city at night. That video was also leaked by La Voz Del Pueblo and comes at a time when Miguel Aleman and its neighboring areas continue to see regular shootouts.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.