INSIDE THE BEAST: IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK, QUACKS LIKE A DUCK...IT'S NOT WADDLING ANYMORE. IT'S ALREADY HERE

Special to El Rrun-Rrun
U.S. Dept. of Justice

A cursory glance at social media regarding the race for the Democratic party nomination for Cameron County Judge reveals numerous memes generated against incumbent Eddie Treviño by supporters of his main challenger, current Brownsville Navigation District chairman Steve Guerra.

Former Cameron County Sheriff Eric Garza is the other contender in the Democratic Party primary ballot.

Some of the cartoon creations charge a rattish-looking Treviño with selling Boca Chica Beach to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who is pictured holding him on a leash, holding on to bags of cash, and also of receiving money from the CDG (the Gulf Cartel). 

These are no amateurishly concocted creations, but pointed – and without confirmation – allegations. The goal, it would appear, is that if you hurl enough mud, something, anything, may stick.

But there is also something deeply disturbing that reminds one of the Q-Anon conspiracy where Trump MAGA supporters alleged that the Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, were operating a massive pedophile worldwide ring from a pizza restaurant in San Francisco that diverted public attention away from the real Jefferey Epstein pedophile ring associated with Trump and wealthy men of both parties. 

In other words, hinting that Musk and the cartel were paying off Treviño diverts attention from their candidate Guerra and his association with alleged cartel operatives. Treviño was but one of half a dozen politicians who unknowingly received contributions in Hidalgo and Cameron counties from a drug dealer, but all returned then once the contributor's identity was revealed. A slim hook, indeed.

 But some of the links between Guerra and the CDG and Juan N. Guerra have been confirmed as facts. Juan N., for example, founded the Gulf Cartel and ran it for 50 years and was Steve Guerra's grandfather, who has publicly acknowledged his familial ties. Juan N. was also the uncle of Juan Garcia Abrego, the successor of Juan N. as head of the cartel and who expanded the bootlegger beginnings and developed the organization into a drug cartel dedicated to the smuggling of cocaine and other drugs.

Juan N. died in 2001 and Garcia Abrego is currently serving 11 life sentences in a U.S. jail for his drug trafficking. (In the photo, Juan N. is wearing the white hat and Abrego Garcia is standing holding a cup.)

On the streets, the scuttlebutt is that the Cartel del Golfo manages the Port of Brownsville as a massive money laundering operation and point to Steve Guerra as the point man for the group on the U.S. side of the border. 

The Guerra family, the story goes, is the treasury arm of the Cartel and as such, delegate their power to other members of their extended family such as the Garcia, Cardenas, Guillen, and Salinas as fronts of the organization, which the public and media labels them "Capos" or ""Cartel Bosses." But they claim that this is mostly ceremonial for the Guerra family uses the cartel profits to payoff Mexican and American politicians, judges, and law enforcement to avoid any consequences whenever one of the their fronts become convicted.

Incidentally, Steve Guerra is also the cousin of Sandra Guerra, who was charged in a  federal indictment in the "Transmigrante" scandal at Los Indios Bridge with conspiracy to fix prices and allocate the market, conspiracy to monopolize, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion, and international money laundering. It has been reported that she has reached a plea bargain deal with federal prosecutors. One of the conspirators - Carlos Martinez, of Mission - was  sentenced to 11 years in a federal prison for his conviction in the case.

Meanwhile, Steve Guerra, the story goes, uses his administrative power to grant contracts to his extended family and Mexican allies such as Transportes Guerra, Grupo Salinas, and other Mexican trucking companies. Of course all of this is within the excuse of United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (NAFTA light).

There are also allegations that port commissioners Tito Lopez and the Ernesto Gutierrez family have established a monopoly on the dock cargo. As other readers of this blog have commented, if you lease a property on the port but you don't pay your dues you will be eventually forced out. Just ask Beto Torres, who dared to run against Gutierrez, much to the displeasure of Guerra, who feigned supporting Torres while promoting Gutierrez. https://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2026/02/at-port-of-brownsville-did-chairman.html

The Port Administration hires staff with close ties to Matamoros, most are dual citizens. These people view this arrangement as a normal way-of-life so they don't question it. A commenter to this blog stated that:

"Guerra talks about transparency. So let him explain why he, Port Director William Dietrich, and Gomez fired the Director of Engineering, Maintenance, HR, and the Deputy Director, who claims she retired but was actually fired. 

"Everyone knows that the port is Guerra's monopoly, but the problem is that if anyone speaks up, they lose their job and are even threatened. Only corrupt people use those tactics. Now he's pretending to be an angel and claiming to have done wonderful things. Como dice un dicho quieres saber quién es la persona. Empieza por su familia y te darás cuenta (Puro CDG)."

And: "The Guerra family and Gulf Cartel are doing to South Texas what they did to Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Veracruz after the fall of Garcia-Abrego. The Gulf Cartel and the Guerras infiltrated the local PRI party and became the politicians themselves which enabled Osiel Cardenas-Guillen to maintain power for so long."

A former law enforcement employee at the port wrote that "a lot of money is being made in the Port of Brownsville, but most of it is going south to Mexico. If the Port of Brownsville were to hire Texas companies this region would indeed flourish and be richer than south of San Antonio. But the Matamoros families do not let it happen. The Guerra family has not only infiltrated the Mexican side of the city, state, and federal governments, but are now entrenching themselves on the U.S. side with the Guerra candidacy for the county judgeship in tandem with Gutierrez at the port and Pedro Cardenas as a city commissioner." 

Another commenter said: 

Steve Guerra has all the Port of Brownsville. William Dietrich was married to Alejandra Rodriguez Guerra, and is related to Jose Luis Rodriguez Guerra. Grupo GRN, his cousin. Also, Arturo Gomez currently employed at the Port of Brownsville as “Deputy Port Director of Operations” was a formal PRI administrator who is friend of Jose de Jesus Tapia Fernandez former PRI representative indicted as a transmigrante price fixer and huachicol operative for the Gulf Cartel.

Guillermo Rico, also another PRI rat who continued communication with the "Grupo Mafre" and also Ernesto Gutierrez "el pajarito" is related to Oscar Luebbert. This (sic) are only a few that operate at the Port of Brownsville. Puros juniors!!

"What's crazy is the Coast Guard and Customs are right there and they don't do anything about it," the former investigator commented. "If a former local cop came to know this this they must know, too. But, hopefully the people of Cameron County learn the history of their politicians before they get them elected.

"Well, these have been the words of a retired 30+ year detective who was entrenched in this mess, but became disillusioned when their superiors turned a blind eye. I no longer live on the region but do get whispers here and there. I bid farewell to the hardworking people of Cameron County."