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 Activity in parts of Reynosa, a city across the Rio Grande from
McAllen, Texas, ground to a halt on Friday afternoon after vehicles
were torched and shooting began, authorities said.
Earlier in the day, federal police and marines captured "El Gafe," a
leader of the Gulf Cartel, said a spokesman for police in Reynosa, a
city of more than 600,000 people in the northeastern state of
Tamaulipas.
A federal government security official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, identified "El Gafe" as Jose Hugo Rodriguez Sanchez.
The official had earlier named the cartel boss as Jose Tiburcio
Hernandez Fuentes. Later, he clarified that Hernandez was a
different suspected gang member also captured.
 Three suspected assailants were killed, and two state police were
injured, the Tamaulipas state government said in a statement. The
Reynosa police spokesman said two bystanders were apparently killed,
but this was not confirmed.
El Gafe was taken to Mexico City, he added.
Reynosa has been one of the most violent cities in Mexico over the
past year, racked by turf wars among the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas,
two drug gangs fighting for control of border smuggling routes and
crime rackets.
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"The city is completely out of control," said Francisco Garcia
Cabeza de Vaca, an opposition senator and former mayor of Reynosa.
More than 100,000 people have died in gang-related violence in
Mexico over the past eight years. President Enrique Pena Nieto
pledged to restore order when he took office in 2012, but although
the homicide count has fallen, parts of the country remain mired in
violence.
(Reporting by Dave Graham and Anahi Rama; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
and Ken Wills)
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