Los Zetas’ Turf and Bribes: the Allende Massacre Remains Unpunished

Mario Alfonso Cuéllar was the head of operations for smuggling drugs for Los Zetas through the border town of Piedras Negras. He himself revealed the bribes paid by drug lords to obtain impunity. He did so in a trial in Austin, Texas, in April 2013, against José Treviño Morales, who laundered his profits in the United States by buying Quarter Horse racehorses.

The US court documents state that the prosecutor, Douglas W. Gardner, questioned Poncho Cuéllar, then 46 years old, and asked him to explain to the jury what a “plaza” meant for organized crime in Mexico.

“A plaza is a city, something like Piedras Negras, where control is established over the municipal police, the federal police, and other law enforcement officers, where a monthly fee is paid to engage in drug trafficking or any other crime one wants to commit […] in order to make money and operate like a cartel,” he replied.

“Do you know why the Z40 and Z42 brothers have never been arrested?”

“They have bribed all the Mexican police, the army, and powerful people,” he said.

“Now, you mentioned that they were crossing 500 kilos [of cocaine]. How much would you receive from the United States for those 500?” the prosecutor asked.

“The amount of money?” Cuéllar replied.

“Yes, sir. The amount.”

“Fifteen million dollars,” Cuéllar stated.

Part of those profits was used to bribe local, federal, and military authorities. The Allende massacre, the most heinous criminal tragedy in contemporary Mexico, remained hidden for almost two years thanks to the bribes paid by Los Zetas. The total number of victims kidnapped, killed, or disappeared in northern Coahuila amounts to around 300, according to the testimonies of their families. When the crimes were reported by the families, the State’s response was delayed and inadequate.

More than 14 years later, the victims’ families still haven’t received justice or the comprehensive reparations promised by the State. Not a single peso of compensation has been paid, nor has any property been restored, leaving the families of Allende and Piedras Negras, and other municipalities affected by Los Zetas, mired in the same impunity. 

El Z40’s Revenge in Allende, Coahuila

The tragedy that befell Allende began on March 18, 2011, when some 200 gunmen stormed the Coahuila municipality and neighboring communities. The following events were recounted by members and collaborators of Los Zetas at the trial held in Austin. Cuéllar and others appeared as prosecution witnesses to testify against José Treviño Morales, who was the older brother of Miguel Ángel and Omar, Z40 and Z42 respectively.

The testimonies specified that the Zetas arrived in Coahuila at the end of 2005 as an advance force for the Gulf Cartel to take control of Piedras Negras, where several small groups of drug traffickers operated independently of any cartel.

In that strategic city, they recruited several drug traffickers who were operating on their own. Among them were Alfonso Cuéllar and three other young drug traffickers from wealthy families in Allende: Héctor Moreno Villanueva, alias El Negro, José Luis Garza Gaytán Guichina, and his friend José Vázquez El Diablo, who operated in Dallas, Texas, distributing drugs throughout the United States from there.

These four independent drug traffickers were put in charge of their drug trafficking operations by the Treviño Morales brothers. When the Zetas separated from the Gulf Cartel and formed their own cartel in 2010, leaders Z40 and Z42 went into hiding in Allende, a small town that at the time had 22,000 inhabitants. From that region, they coordinated their cocaine and marijuana smuggling operations into the United States, crossing the border through the international bridges of Piedras Negras. The drugs were loaded onto 18-wheeler trucks owned by relatives of Héctor Moreno, El Negro.

José Vazquez’s efficiency in selling the drugs to all kinds of gangs in the United States allowed the Zetas to smuggle an average of 500 kilos of cocaine per month and a similar amount of marijuana. The confession of José Vázquez, El Diablo, at the Austin trial, and those of the other drug lords, highlighted that during the almost three years they were operating, they obtained profits of around one billion dollars, which went directly into the pockets of the Zetas.

The testimonies of Cuéllar, Moreno, and Vázquez indicated that the DEA identified El Diablo as the head of the organization’s distribution network in the United States. When he realized he was being watched, he also fled to Allende, but his family remained in Dallas, Texas. The anti-narcotics agency was able to locate him and requested that, in exchange for not imprisoning his family, he cooperate and provide the cell phone numbers of the main leaders: Miguel Ángel, his brother Omar, as well as Heriberto Lazcano and others. José Vázquez discussed the DEA’s request with his friend Héctor Moreno, and they agreed to send them the cell phone numbers.

When the DEA received this information, they sent it to their “trusted” men in Mexico: the Sensitive Operations Unit of the Federal Police, so they could apprehend them. But the information was leaked from that unit to Z40, who learned that someone had betrayed them.

Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales immediately suspected that some of his operatives were responsible. So, starting in February 2011, he unleashed his pack of hitmen in Piedras Negras, Allende, and throughout northern Coahuila to hunt them down. But those involved—Alfonso Cuéllar, Héctor Moreno, José Luis Garza Gaytán, and José Vázquez—had already crossed the border.  Therefore, the Zetas’ revenge focused on their families, friends, and employees.

The account of the surviving families in Allende

The families who lost relatives in the massacre recounted the events: at approximately 5:00 PM on March 18, 2011, 42 pickup trucks carrying hitmen arrived in Allende, escorted by four municipal police patrol cars. The Zetas had 40 local police officers on their payroll.

Several of these officers assisted them, led by a female officer, La Lupe, who was “very enthusiastic” about guiding the hitmen to the residences of the victims they intended to capture. Because their targets had already fled the country, the gunmen focused on kidnapping their relatives, friends, business associates, and domestic employees. They destroyed houses and burned properties, leaving only empty shells.

The Garza Gaytán family was the largest and suffered the highest number of deaths and disappearances. That day, 80 victims, including women, the elderly, and minors, were taken to Rancho Los Garza, on the outskirts of Allende, where, according to firefighters’ testimonies, they were killed and their bodies burned.

In Piedras Negras, hitmen captured 40 friends of Poncho Cuéllar, who were murdered on an abandoned property on the city limits. The operation to capture friends or relatives of the fugitives included Ciudad Acuña, Sabinas, Monclova, Guerrero, and Villa Unión. The total number of victims kidnapped, killed, or disappeared in all the towns of northern Coahuila amounts to approximately 300, according to family testimonies.

Reparation for the harm that hasn’t arrived in Coahuila

The Allende case symbolizes the institutional failure of the State in matters of truth and justice. More than 14 years after the tragedy in Coahuila, the victims’ families still haven’t received the justice or comprehensive reparation promised by the State.

Since 2019, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) issued Recommendation 10VG/2018, ordering various authorities – including the Coahuila government, the then Attorney General’s Office, the Allende municipal government, and the Executive Commission for Victim Assistance (CEAV) – to provide comprehensive assistance to the families. But five years later, not a single peso of compensation has been paid, nor has any property been restored.

Collectives such as Familias Unidas and others have highlighted that this CNDH recommendation hasn’t been fulfilled, specifically regarding comprehensive reparation for the harm suffered. According to the General Victims Law, approved during Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration, the State must guarantee reparation within a reasonable timeframe, which must include: economic compensation, restitution of property, psychological support, and guarantees of non-repetition. None of this has been fulfilled. 

Today, the bureaucracy continues to stall, failing to provide justice for the victims. The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the Executive Commission for Victim Assistance (CEAV), and the Attorney General’s Office are all passing the buck. And the families of Allende, Piedras Negras, remain mired in the same impunity that has persisted for more than a decade.

Due to the lack of follow-up by the CNDH itself, the victims of the Allende Massacre had to file a writ of amparo (constitutional protection) to compel the CEAV to provide reparations, which the CEAV refuses, arguing that it is the responsibility of the state of Coahuila, an argument that contradicts what is stipulated in the General Law on Victims.

Given the lack of response from the institutions, the victims’ lawyer, Jesús González Schmal, informed DOMINGA that they filed the writ of amparo in December 2022 and ratified it on March 21 of the following year, 2023. It was registered under number 440/2023, before Sandra de Jesús Zúñiga, District Judge of the Federal Court of Fiscal and Administrative Justice.

Judge Zúñiga refused to include the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) in the injunction but instructed the Executive Commission for Victim Assistance (CEAV) to submit a report on the procedure within a deadline that has already passed. The lawyer emphasized that in August 2024, the judge ruled in favor of the families and ordered the reparations to be carried out within ten days. However, the Commission itself appealed the ruling, further prolonging the ordeal.

“At the end of August 2024, the judge granted the injunction to the victims and set a 10-day deadline for the CEAV to implement the resolution and pay for the reparations,” González Schmall explained. “However, Commission officials filed an appeal for a postponement, using absurd and invalid arguments to save their own skin,” the lawyer added.

“It is a disgrace that the CNDH is not acting to ensure that its recommendations are followed. Even more so when it involves the largest number of victims in contemporary Mexican history. In Allende alone, approximately 60 families have registered with the CEAV,” González Schmall concluded.

The appeal would be analyzed in the second instance by a panel of three magistrates. But with the Judicial Reform, the new judges now need new deadlines to review and address the Allende Massacre case.

The CNDH exonerates the Attorney General’s Office in the Allende case

The collectives also denounced that the CNDH, headed by Rosario Ibarra, recently declared that the Attorney General’s Office “has already complied” with the recommendations addressed to it regarding the case, despite the continued impunity of those who perpetrated and protected the massacre. Victims’ groups and their lawyers denounced that on September 17, 2025, the Commission decreed that the Attorney General’s Office had already “complied” with its obligations to the victims and, consequently, agreed to end “the monitoring of the recommendations made to the FGR,” according to Official Letter No. CNDH/CGSRAJ/DSR-6/7725/2025.

The official document states that the FGR implemented the “necessary actions” to comply with Recommendation 10VG/2018, issued in 2019, stemming from the investigation into the serious human rights violations committed during those days in March 2011, when a Los Zetas criminal cell devastated dozens of families, properties, and lives in Allende, Piedras Negras, and other municipalities in northern Coahuila.

The main recommendation ordered the former Attorney General’s Office to: “open investigation files” regarding complaints filed by the victims.  It also mandated that the office collaborate with its own internal agencies to “follow up on complaints” and that it add copies of its recommendations to the victims’ files.

The CNDH’s official letter that determined to “conclude the monitoring” of the case is tantamount to closing the file at the federal level. However, the victims’ groups and their lawyers warn that this resolution is a sham that leaves those responsible within the institutions unpunished and revictimizes those who have waited more than a decade for justice.

Source: Milenio