MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas – The municipal government began a series of mass graves in preparation for future fatalities from Coronavirus (COVID-19).

In recent days, municipal employees started digging the grave sites at the Santa Cruz municipal cemetery as part of preparations for the pandemic’s spread. Ten sites mark the first phase. Matamoros Mayor Mario Lopez told Breitbart Texas that the graves will be utilized with the expectation that the city’s lone crematorium could become overwhelmed.

While federal health officials have ruled that Coronavirus fatalities should be cremated, local authorities also do not want to risk confusing missing persons cases with virus deaths and accidentally destroy evidence.

Tamaulipas officially has 408 confirmed cases with 49 more under testing. Seventeen fatalities were totaled in Matamoros. In Cameron County, Texas, health officials say there are 366 confirmed cases and 12 deaths.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “J.A. Espinoza” from Tamaulipas.