Page 39 - Inside Mexico News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> reporter: without any clear answers from mexico, the hartleys have turned to intelligence sources north of the border who can try to explain why the couple was targeted. former intelligence official fred burton has been studying a turf war in mexico between two drug cartels. a former band of military guards called the zetas and the more traditional gulf coast cartel. >> what most people don't realize when you're looking at the border is that there are certain portions that are not controlled by the mexican government. and the area of falcon lake was directly controlled by the zetas, and thi...

Hartley said they had stopped. >> this is the last place they came to at the old guerrero church. they took pictures on the front step, according to tiffany hartley. and they set down this channel to head back and it was able five minutes into their voyage when they were approached by the boats. in an instant, the man who told us this lake was safe was again speeding away from mexico 70 miles an hour. the same path the hartleys were on when tiffany says the attack began. >> there's a boat on our left and two on our right. on kind of towards the land, we're kind of in the middle of the lake. an...

Answers from mexico, the hartleys have turned to intelligence sources north of the border who can try to explain why the couple was targeted. former intelligence official fred burton has been studying a turf war in mexico between two drug cartels. a former band of military guards called the zetas and the more traditional gulf coast cartel. >> what most people don't realize when you're looking at the border is that there are certain portions that are not controlled by the mexican government. and the area of falcon lake was directly controlled by the zetas, and this was a very strong smuggling c...

Oil company. >> it was a blessing to us and our marriage. yeah. we were -- that's where we truly grew as a couple and had adventures. >> reporter: when the hartley's first arrive here this peaceful town was a perfect place for the young couple to live, but slowly it became more and more violent. there is a war in reynosa. two drug cartels battling for turf. the zetas, a rogue band of former military are trying to push out the gulf cartel which has smuggled drugs across the rio grande for decades. killings of constant. tiffany and david hartley learned firsthand. mexican police were not to be

Down. we had a plan is down in the river. >> they don't mind losing the truck into the river. at the end of the day if they can recover 2,000 pounds of narcotics with an estimated street value between 600 and 800,000 that's what they're going to do is protect that inventory. >> it's going under. suspect just about on my side. >> reporter: inside mexico, the army has visibly taken over much of the security in border towns. local mexican police who are not corrupted by the cartels are targets of them. thousands killed. and americans have been targets, too. >> you know, i almost think that we're ...