Rancho Ebanos Airport

The primary reason for the airport's closure is believed to be its use as a clandestine airstrip ('narcopista') for drug trafficking operations. The Mexican military, specifically the Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), has a long-standing policy of identifying and disabling unauthorized airfields used by cartels. Satellite imagery of the site shows clear evidence of deliberate incapacitation, such as large trenches dug across the runway at regular intervals, a common method used by authorities to make a runway permanently unusable for aircraft.

The site is completely abandoned and non-operational as an airport. The dirt/gravel runway, approximately 1,100 meters (3,600 feet) long, remains clearly visible from the air but is unusable due to the aforementioned trenches and significant overgrowth of vegetation. The land has effectively reverted to being part of the surrounding ranch property, with no remaining aviation infrastructure or activity.

Rancho Ebanos Airport was never a commercial or major public airport. It was a private aerodrome, or 'aeropista', originally intended to serve the agricultural and logistical needs of the large ranch it was named after. Operations would have included general aviation for the ranch owners, transportation of personnel or high-value goods, and potentially agricultural aviation like crop dusting. Its significance shifted as the security situation in Tamaulipas deteriorated, and like many remote airstrips in the region, it became a strategic asset for cartels to move drugs, weapons, and cash, ultimately leading to its forced closure by the government.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Rancho Ebanos Airport. Given that it was intentionally disabled by the military as part of a counter-narcotics operation, receiving official permission to restore and operate it would be virtually impossible. The ongoing security challenges in the state of Tamaulipas also make any investment in private aviation infrastructure in such a remote location extremely unlikely and high-risk.