Breitbart Texas is now working with citizen journalists who are willing to report on cartel activity and public corruption in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, immediately south of the Texas border. The citizen journalists’ reports will be published in English and in Spanish. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles will help bring attention to the level of violence and corruption along the U.S.-Mexico border. The truth and realities of the region will be on full display for citizens of the U.S. and Mexico.

The region is controlled by warring factions of the Gulf cartel and news media has been silenced in the region. Mainstream reporters will be killed if they report on the violence and the corruption. Courageous citizen journalists are using social media under pseudonyms in an effort to spread the word about the raging violence and rampant corruption. When discovered, these clandestine citizen journalists are killed.

Breitbart Texas’ Ildefonso Ortiz and Managing Director Brandon Darby traveled to the Mexican border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros in an effort to find ways of supporting the few citizen journalists in the region and to bring them on as contributors for Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles. Several agreed to continue risking their lives and report from the region under pseudonyms for the effort.

Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon stated, “The Cartel War that stretches from the jungles of Central America to the inner city of Chicago is reshaping America in ways that ISIS can only dream about. Breitbart Texas is the leading news site in the world for coverage of this war and with the launch of “Cartel Chronicles” we will double our efforts on live continual coverage.”

Breitbart Texas’ journalist Ildefonso Ortiz discussed the region and said, “It is disheartening to see how the Mexican states along the border, particularly Tamaulipas, have been infiltrated and overrun at all levels by drug cartels. An incompetent and corrupt government, along with a muffled local media, has allowed criminal organizations to create an alternative government where the true power lies at the hands of cartel bosses. The hardworking citizens in these narco-cities have been betrayed by their government officials who still claim that the region is safe.”

Ortiz added, “It is because of these citizens, my good friend Brandon Darby, and the support of Breitbart News that we have taken this bold step to help give average citizens a voice. They can tell the world about how a group of criminals along with corrupt officials have turned a beautiful state into a war zone covered with the blood of thousands of citizens. While some may claim that the violence is Mexico’s problem, let’s not forget that some of those cartel members are in fact U.S. citizens who continue to operate on both sides of the border.”

Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon Darby discussed the Cartel Chronicles and said, “A project of this nature would not be possible without extremely supportive leadership at Breitbart News and without the very courageous Ildefonso Ortiz. He is a dear and trusted friend and taking such risks for others next to him is an honor.” He added, “The citizen journalists in Mexico are heroes. Voices in Tamaulipas have been effectively silenced by cartel-bullies. They beat and kill journalists who report on them. This is unacceptable and U.S.-based media outlets assisting the citizen journalists who are taking these murderous thugs on is the only way to challenge them. We will continue to identify honest and courageous Mexican citizen journalists, allow them to report clandestinely, and publish their words to a U.S. audience and a Mexican audience.”

Darby said that citizens having information is vital and that the Cartel Chronicles can hopefully add to the movement to support citizen journalists in the region. He concluded, “Andrew Breitbart hated bullies. These cartel and organized crime members are bullies in the greatest sense of the word. They keep killing journalists and anyone who dares to share information on what the cartels are doing. For every journalist they kill, we will try to magnify the voices of even more citizen journalists. As long as there are citizens willing to risk their lives to report from the region, we feel a responsibility to assist them.”

En ESPANOL