Los Metros
Faction of a Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Gulf Cartel
title: "Los Metros" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["organizations-established-in-the-1990s", "1990s-establishments-in-mexico", "gangs-in-mexico", "gulf-cartel", "matamoros,-tamaulipas", "mexican-drug-war"] description: "Faction of a Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Gulf Cartel" topic_path: "geography/mexico" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Metros" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Faction of a Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Gulf Cartel ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox criminal organization"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Los Metros |
| image | Gulf Cartel factions in Tamaulipas (2021).jpg |
| caption | |
| founded | September 1988 by Osiel Cárdenas Guillén |
| founding_location | Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico |
| years_active | 1988–present |
| territory | Tamaulipas |
| ethnicity | Mexican |
| leaders | César Morfín Morfín |
| allies | Gulf Cartel |
| Los Zetas | |
| rivals | Los Rojos |
| Cártel del Noreste | |
| :: |
|name = Los Metros |image = Gulf Cartel factions in Tamaulipas (2021).jpg |caption = |image_size = |founded = September 1988 by Osiel Cárdenas Guillén |named after = |founding_location = Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico |years_active = 1988–present |territory = Tamaulipas |ethnicity = Mexican |membership = |leaders = César Morfín Morfín |activities = |allies = Gulf Cartel Los Zetas |rivals = Los Rojos Cártel del Noreste |notable_members =
Los Metros is a faction of a Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Gulf Cartel. The group was formed in the late 1980s during the reign of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the cartel, to provide security to the organization's leaders as the cartel's armed wing. The leader of Los Metros, Mario Ramirez Treviño, alias X-20, was arrested on 17 August 2013.
Fight with Los Rojos
Main article: Infighting in the Gulf Cartel
In the late 1990s, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the Gulf cartel, had other similar groups besides Los Zetas established in several cities in Tamaulipas. Each of these groups were identified by their radio codes: the Rojos were based in Reynosa; the Metros were headquartered in Matamoros; and the Lobos were established in Laredo. The infighting between the Metros and the Rojos of the Gulf cartel began in 2010, when Juan Mejía González, nicknamed El R-1, was overlooked as the candidate of the regional boss of Reynosa and was sent to the "Frontera Chica," an area that encompasses Miguel Alemán, Camargo and Ciudad Mier – directly across the U.S.–Mexico border from Starr County, Texas. The area that Mejía González wanted was given to Samuel Flores Borrego, suggesting that the Metros were above the Rojos.
Unconfirmed information released by The Monitor indicated that two leaders of the Rojos, Mejía González and Rafael Cárdenas Vela, teamed up to kill Flores Borrego.
InSight Crime explains that the fundamental disagreement between the Rojos and the Metros was over leadership. Those who were more loyal to the Cárdenas family stayed with the Rojos, while those loyal to Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, like Flores Borrego, defended the Metros.
Originally, the Gulf cartel was running smoothly, but the infighting between the two factions in the Gulf cartel triggered when Flores Borrego was killed on 2 September 2011.
References
References
- (17 August 2013). "Mario Ramirez-Trevino, Mexico's Gulf Cartel leader, in custody, law enforcement sources say". [[CBS News (USA).
- (29 October 2011). "Internal struggle in the Gulf Cartel could weaken the organization". [[The Monitor (Texas).
- (30 August 2011). "Mexico: Gulf Cartel lieutenant, his right-hand man captured". [[The Monitor (Texas).
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