The Ministry of National Defense (Defensa) deployed 450 troops and two helicopters to Matamoros and other municipalities in Tamaulipas to restore order after the arrest of a high-ranking criminal suspect triggered a violent response last Thursday.
A seven-year-old girl, a U.S. citizen, was killed during the violence that followed the arrest. The girl’s family alleges she was shot by security forces who fired from a helicopter.
Como resultado de trabajos de inteligencia militar de @Defensamx, Fuerzas Especiales del Ejército Mexicano y de la @GN_MEXICO_ detuvieron en Matamoros, Tamaulipas, a dos personas, entre ellas Axel Alfredo “N”, alias “Axel”, identificado como segundo al mando de la célula delictiva “Ciclones”.
Axel Alfredo “N” está relacionado con homicidios, secuestro, extorsión y tráfico de drogas, armas y personas hacia Estados Unidos. También es señalado como responsable de la agresión contra integrantes de @SSPCMexico, ocurrida el pasado 17 de mayo, en la que lamentablemente perdió la vida un compañero y varios más resultaron heridos. Su memoria y el compromiso de quienes arriesgan la vida para proteger a la ciudadanía nos obligan a continuar las investigaciones hasta detener a todos los responsables. No permitiremos que esta agresión quede impune.
Durante la acción se aseguraron armas, cargadores, cartuchos, droga y un vehículo. Ambos detenidos fueron trasladados por la @FuerzaAereaMx a la Ciudad de México.
— Omar H Garcia Harfuch (@OHarfuch) October 29, 2026
Alleged cartel members set up roadblocks in Matamoros and other parts of Tamaulipas last Thursday after federal forces detained Axel Alfredo Cárdenas Rodríguez, allegedly second-in-command of the Cyclones faction of the Gulf Cartel, and another unidentified man.
In addition to roadblocks, gunfire was reported in Matamoros — a border city opposite Brownsville, Texas — and other parts of Tamaulipas, where criminals clashed with security forces.
Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal said in a statement on Saturday that six people died during the violence. Villarreal said that five of those people were killed in two accidents when cars in which they were traveling crashed into vehicles that had been set on fire to create roadblocks. He said that a seven-year-old girl, a U.S. citizen identified as Aranza Adailini in media reports, died after she was shot “in an incident in which her mother was injured.”
Villareal said that authorities were investigating whether she was shot by officers in a state police helicopter that was responding to the violence last Thursday. “The death of a girl deeply pains us and what happened must be clarified,” he said.
Aranza was reportedly shot in the head while she was traveling with relatives in an SUV near Matamoros. Fox News San Antonio reported that according to the child’s uncle, “relatives inside the SUV claim Mexican security forces fired at them from a helicopter.”
In a statement issued last Friday, the federal Security Cabinet acknowledged that highway blockades were set up at “various points” in Tamaulipas, but didn’t mention the deaths of the seven-year-old girl or the people who died when their cars slammed into fiery roadblocks. The Security Cabinet said the roadblocks had been removed through “coordinated actions” carried out by authorities of all three levels of government.
“It should be noted that to uphold the rule of law and ensure the safety of the area’s residents, the Ministry of National Defense deployed 450 troops and two helicopters to Matamoros and other municipalities in the region as part of efforts to reinforce its operational presence, expand surveillance efforts, and strengthen the authorities’ response capacity,” the Security Cabinet said.
“This deployment will allow for increased security patrols and better coordination between federal agencies and local authorities, with the aim of preventing criminal activity and ensuring the peace and safety of Tamaulipas families,” the Security Cabinet said.
Who is Axel Alfredo Cárdenas Rodríguez?
Cárdenas Rodríguez is the son of José Alfredo Cárdenas Martínez, a man known as “El Contador” (The Accountant) who is alleged to be the leader of the Cyclones faction of the Gulf Cartel, one of eight Mexican criminal groups that the U.S. government has designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
Defensa said in a statement that Cárdenas Rodríguez is “considered the second-in-command of the Cyclones faction of the Gulf Cartel.
“… He is the son of José Alfredo N., aka ‘El Contador,’ boss of the Cyclones faction, and nephew of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, aka ‘El Mata Amigos’ [The Friend-Killer], ex-boss of the Gulf Cartel, currently in prison in the Federal Social Rehabilitation Center ‘El Altiplano’ in México state,” the Defense Ministry said.
Defensa said that Cárdenas Rodríguez was previously arrested in May 2023, but was released in January 2024 while legal proceedings against him continued.
“He is linked to attacks, homicides, kidnappings, extortion, fuel theft and the trafficking of drugs, weapons and people between Mexico and the United States,” the ministry said.
“He is accused of being responsible for an attack on May 17, 2026, against federal protection agents of the federal Security Ministry, in which one police officer lost his life and several others were injured,” Defensa said.
The ministry said that security forces seized firearms, ammunition, magazines, drugs and a vehicle from Cárdenas Rodríguez and the other unidentified man arrested last Thursday. It said the two suspects were transferred by a Mexican Air Force plane to Mexico City, where they were turned over to the organized crime division of the Federal Attorney General’s Office.
