MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas — Mexican government officials are once again trying to cover up and minimize the scope of the out of control cartel violence that continues to terrorize this border region by covering up a clandestine Gulf Cartel gravesite used by the criminal group to incinerate and bury the remains of their victims.

After almost a week of silence, the Tamaulipas government has finally admitted that they did find evidence of a cartel operations center where they found drums, ashes and bones. However as the political race for Tamaulipas governor continues to heat up, government officials appear to be covering up the true scope of the narco-graveyard with a series of contradictory statements in their prepared comments. Breitbart Texas has previously reported on the close ties that former Tamaulipas governors have had with both the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. Currently former Tamaulipas governors Tomas Yarrington and Eugenio Hernandez are considered fugitives by the U.S. Department of Justice on money laundering charges; Yarrington is also wanted on drug trafficking charges.

As Breitbart Texas initially reported, last week Mexican authorities discovered a campsite that had been used by the Gulf Cartel to incinerate the remains of their victims. Initially authorities had suspected that the region was a clandestine gravesite, however authorities have since discovered large drums and other evidence. Mexico’s El Manana Newspaper also reported on the finding of multiple drums, ashes and fragments citing Tamaulipas government officials as sources.

On a follow up story, Breitbart Texas spoke with a former member of the Gulf Cartel who described in vivid detail the horrors that took place in the the area known as “La Cocina” or the kitchen. In the story, the eyewitness went into detail about how cartel recruits were forced to incinerate victims as a toughening up process and then the ashes were spread out on the banks of the Rio Grande and other surrounding areas in order to erase all traces.

After keeping quiet for almost a week, the Tamaulipas government confirmed that they did find ashes and bones but members of the state’s forensic unit are not able to determine if the bones are human or animal. The Tamaulipas government further made it a point to specify that contrary to “versions” of the events, authorities did not find a clandestine gravesite.

In contradictory statements in their own news release, Tamaulipas officials then claimed that authorities dug in 20 separate places but only found evidence, including bones in 7 sites. The evidence found in the seven sites included bones, clothing, documents, ammunition and containers.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.