page_title: 1999 Matamoros standoff
section_title: Manhunt
hierarchical_section_title: 1999 Matamoros standoff / Manhunt
caption_attribution_description: English: FBI Wanted Poster of Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas Guillen.
context_page_description: On 9 November 1999, two agents from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation were threatened at gunpoint and nearly killed in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, by gunmen of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in the area. The two agents traveled to Matamoros with an informant to gather intelligence on the operations of the Gulf Cartel. As they cruised through one of the properties owned by the criminal group, they noticed several vehicles following them. The agents were forced to a stop and were corralled by a convoy of eight vehicles, from which fifteen gunmen emerged and surrounded the agents' car. Some of them wore uniforms of the local police. Among the gunmen was the former kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, who recognized the informant and ordered the three of them to get out of their vehicle.
  Fearing torture and interrogation, the agents agreed they would not allow the Gulf Cartel to take them alive. They decided their best chance of survival was to talk their way out of the incident.
context_section_description: After the standoff, the U.S. government increased its law enforcement efforts to crack down on the leadership of the Gulf Cartel and made significant efforts to apprehend Cárdenas Guillén. Prior to the incident, he was a not regarded as a key player in the organized crime scene but his involvement in the standoff increased his notability. He was eventually placed on the list of the FBI and the DEA ten most-wanted list, and was accused of international drug trafficking and assault. The DEA called the standoff one of the "most serious" incidents in Mexico since the murder of Camarena, and highlighted the vulnerabilities U.S. officials face in Mexico while on duty. They drew similarities with Camarena's murder because several policemen were also believed to have been involved in the standoff. Mexican officials stated that the involvement of the police in the standoff was not confirmed but that they were investigating the incident exhaustively. The DEA stated it was worried about the safety of its agents in Mexico and confirmed the Mexican government was working closely with it to apprehend the perpetrators. Days after the standoff, the DEA purchased several armored vehicles in the U.S. and sent them to Mexico for its agents stationed there.
  The U.S. government also pressured Mexico to intensify its efforts to apprehend Cárdenas Guillén. Because the agents were nearly killed, the incident created tensions in Mexico–United States relations. Mexico's attorney general Jorge Madrazo Cuéllar and PGR anti-drug chief Mariano Herrán Salvatti met with the U.S. presidential cabinet hours later and discussed the incident. They did not recognize Cárdenas Guillén's name and asked another PGR anti-drug chief, José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, for reports on his background. The records they retrieved stated he was a low-level criminal. President Ernesto Zedillo (1994–2000) acted on the U.S.'s request and sent the Mexican Armed Forces to Tamaulipas to apprehend Cárdenas Guillén. They carried out operations in Matamoros, Reynosa, and Nuevo Laredo. Cárdenas Guillén, however, had abandoned Tamaulipas and relocated in the state of Nuevo León with several of his henchmen. He hid in a ranch known as Las Amarrillas in China, Nuevo León. He bought from ranch from Humberto García Ábrego via his lawyer Juan Jesús Guerrero Chapa.
  U.S. authorities interviewed Cárdenas Guillén's father, one of his uncles, and his brother Homero Cárdenas Guillén, who they did not suspect was involved in organized crime activities. They eventually were able to wiretap several phone conversations between Cárdenas Guillén and his wife Celia Salinas Aguilar. They concluded in these conversations that Cárdenas Guillén was hiding in Monterrey with his wife and two children: Celia Marlén and Osiel Jr. As the investigation tightened, they discovered his family travelled in a Jetta, BMW, and an X Terra, and identified the schools their kids attended. In their conversations, Cárdenas Guillén warned his wife that the phones they were using were probably wiretapped, and asked her to communicate with him through other lines. U.S. agents also researched Cárdenas Guillén's lovers and discovered that he had an affinity towards Colombian women. They interviewed a Colombian national who was dating him, Andrea Posadas Williamson. She confirmed the drug lord's whereabouts in Mexico City in September 2000.
  A week after the standoff, the U.S. government gave Mexico several addresses that were linked to the Gulf Cartel. Mexican authorities carried out several raids in these properties but the information was outdated and the operations did not further the investigation. As the government increased its presence in Tamaulipas, several of Cárdenas Guillén's accomplices went for vacations in several resort areas. On 31 December 1999, Cárdenas Guillén hosted a party in Cancún with several of his henchmen. By the start of 2000, he refused to visit Matamoros under fear of being arrested. He preferred to stay in Mexico City and made only sporadic trips to Tamaulipas that year. Cárdenas Guillén stayed at
caption: Wanted poster of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén offering a US$2 million bounty
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