MIGUEL ALEMAN, Mexico, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Hundreds of families have fled the Mexican town of Ciudad Mier, fearing they will be killed by drug cartel thugs, officials said.
Approximately 300 people from Ciudad Mier in the state of Tamaulipas sought shelter in Miguel Aleman, the nearest city, the McAllen (Texas) Monitor reported Tuesday.
Following Friday's slaying in Matamoros of Antonio Ezequiel "Tony Tormenta" Cardenas Guillen, the head of the Gulf Cartel, members of Lost Zetas, the cartel that controls Mier, began shouting in the streets that they were going to kill everyone who stayed in the town. People began to flee, the newspaper said.
"Initially it was 30 people, but then went up to 60, 100 and now we have 300 that came here," Miguel Aleman Mayor Servando Lopez Moreno said.
"We are operating the shelter the same way the army trained us to operate the shelter during Hurricane Alex," he said. "We are supporting the people here and helping. They are running away from things we cannot fix".
Eugenio Hernandez Flores, the Tamaulipas state governor, sent supplies to evacuees Monday, but more help is needed, said Lopez Moreno.
UPI
