The Old Gringo arrived into the Magic Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas early this afternoon. Long drive....uneventful. A narrative in this same blogspace will build over the next several hours and days concerning our little adventures and general comings and goings. Questions and observations are being received, of course. So feel free to forward your OROG official communiques.
More later.....after thoughts are collected and processed.
Update 1
My son wrote a greeting and an observation of the news that a major break had been made in the cases surrounding the horrible San Fernando, Tamaulipas incidents. Over the past year and a fraction almost 200 people have been discovered either buried or strewn in a small area just outside of the town of San Fernando, Tamaulipas. This is a place about mid-way between McAllen and Ciudad Victoria. About half of these folks were hapless travellers coming from other places in Mexico and Central America up to the United States.....people who were taken off of public transportation, encountered in small towns and wayside places on their trek to the north, and other chance meetings. They were offered the chance to carry drugs or participate in violent drive-by type shoot-ups of public buildings and/or un-co-operative police or military....and then shot when giving a refusal to participate. Some were held alive long enough to be used to extort money from relatives in other parts of Mexico or Central America.
Since the gangs who pull off these vile shake-downs are made up of members who are frequently either drunk and/or stoned, extremely violent responses can be provoked by refusals of these simple, rustic victims to become involved in the plans of the gangs. Another half of those who were found dead and/or buried during this lamentable period were mainly casualties of other drug-trafficking gangs and/or casualties of the gang which was holding sway in the area....and who had brought some of their fallen away from encounters elsewhere.
In any regard, during the past few weeks military and civilian authority has rounded up 73 individuals.....some of the arrests have been reported here.....remember the picture of the 15 year old girl who was holding the 1,000,000 pesos in cash in her two hands, for instance. Several ranking people in the gangs .....loosely lumped into the category of ZETAS.....were arrested and then finally some pinnacle players were taken down within the last 72 hours. Of importance is that the extension of the "cuarentena"....the legal ability to hold somebody for 40 days without charges if said persons are thought to be involved in a crime of violence....took place without delay. This is an important legal hurdle....and sometimes one which lazy judges (and corrupt judges) frequently have used to allow really bad actors to be released. These people who have been detained have been moved into the more heavily secured "real prisons" in various places within the Republic. All are now considered to be "presumed responsible of involvement" or "guilty". Some may be being prepared for extradition to the United States for crimes committed in our country...perhaps as many as six or seven. About an equal number are thought to be American citizens of some type or another.
The number one leader of this group is now in prison in Vera Cruz state. He had the appropriate alias of "El Kilo".....We need to await the appearance of his replacement.
Much more later.....things that are a bit more pleasant.
Update 2
The other small point that we wish to continue to develop is that the notion that firearms of all kinds are pouring over the border into Mexico from the United States is an invention of convenience by the anti-gun forces in the United States. They claim that the guns used by the drug cartels and organized crime in Mexico are sold to illegal purchasers who then take the firearms into Mexico. To date about 30,000 firearms of various types have been taken into the possession of police and/or military authority in Mexico that have been traced back to being originally purchased or stolen in the United States. It is estimated that there may be an equal number of such firearms still in circulation among those involved in "organized delinquency".
Most military people in Mexico who are willing to speak at all about the matter quickly admit that the automatic weaponry they face on a daily basis from the "organized delinquency" is derived from arms traders in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. The origination of those arms are from stockpiles once associated with Warsaw Pact countries (Soviet Union - Eastern European Alliance), from Red Chinese semi-official arms sales of stockpiles, and from the Peoples' Republic of Viet Nam who sell war materiel from the captured stocks of the Army of the Republic of South Viet Nam. Much of the M-16 rifle supply for the cartels originates from this source and is sold through Cuba, for instance.
It is thought that the "organized delinquency" loses, destroys by bad maintenance, and has confiscated by the Mexican military 200,000 "assault style weapons" annually. The "organized delinquency" is notoriously poor in terms of correct operation, cleaning, and maintenance of semi-automatic and automatic weaponry. Last week a cache of 2,000 rifles was found buried in sands outside of Torreon, Coahuila.....which is okay, I guess, except that the rifles had not been coated and covered. They were simply interred, completely exposed.
In any regard....enough of all of this. There are things to do so the Old Gringo needs to shave and try to put socks on. More later. Thanks for your time and attention.
Update 1
My son wrote a greeting and an observation of the news that a major break had been made in the cases surrounding the horrible San Fernando, Tamaulipas incidents. Over the past year and a fraction almost 200 people have been discovered either buried or strewn in a small area just outside of the town of San Fernando, Tamaulipas. This is a place about mid-way between McAllen and Ciudad Victoria. About half of these folks were hapless travellers coming from other places in Mexico and Central America up to the United States.....people who were taken off of public transportation, encountered in small towns and wayside places on their trek to the north, and other chance meetings. They were offered the chance to carry drugs or participate in violent drive-by type shoot-ups of public buildings and/or un-co-operative police or military....and then shot when giving a refusal to participate. Some were held alive long enough to be used to extort money from relatives in other parts of Mexico or Central America.
Since the gangs who pull off these vile shake-downs are made up of members who are frequently either drunk and/or stoned, extremely violent responses can be provoked by refusals of these simple, rustic victims to become involved in the plans of the gangs. Another half of those who were found dead and/or buried during this lamentable period were mainly casualties of other drug-trafficking gangs and/or casualties of the gang which was holding sway in the area....and who had brought some of their fallen away from encounters elsewhere.
In any regard, during the past few weeks military and civilian authority has rounded up 73 individuals.....some of the arrests have been reported here.....remember the picture of the 15 year old girl who was holding the 1,000,000 pesos in cash in her two hands, for instance. Several ranking people in the gangs .....loosely lumped into the category of ZETAS.....were arrested and then finally some pinnacle players were taken down within the last 72 hours. Of importance is that the extension of the "cuarentena"....the legal ability to hold somebody for 40 days without charges if said persons are thought to be involved in a crime of violence....took place without delay. This is an important legal hurdle....and sometimes one which lazy judges (and corrupt judges) frequently have used to allow really bad actors to be released. These people who have been detained have been moved into the more heavily secured "real prisons" in various places within the Republic. All are now considered to be "presumed responsible of involvement" or "guilty". Some may be being prepared for extradition to the United States for crimes committed in our country...perhaps as many as six or seven. About an equal number are thought to be American citizens of some type or another.
The number one leader of this group is now in prison in Vera Cruz state. He had the appropriate alias of "El Kilo".....We need to await the appearance of his replacement.
Much more later.....things that are a bit more pleasant.
Update 2
The other small point that we wish to continue to develop is that the notion that firearms of all kinds are pouring over the border into Mexico from the United States is an invention of convenience by the anti-gun forces in the United States. They claim that the guns used by the drug cartels and organized crime in Mexico are sold to illegal purchasers who then take the firearms into Mexico. To date about 30,000 firearms of various types have been taken into the possession of police and/or military authority in Mexico that have been traced back to being originally purchased or stolen in the United States. It is estimated that there may be an equal number of such firearms still in circulation among those involved in "organized delinquency".
Most military people in Mexico who are willing to speak at all about the matter quickly admit that the automatic weaponry they face on a daily basis from the "organized delinquency" is derived from arms traders in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. The origination of those arms are from stockpiles once associated with Warsaw Pact countries (Soviet Union - Eastern European Alliance), from Red Chinese semi-official arms sales of stockpiles, and from the Peoples' Republic of Viet Nam who sell war materiel from the captured stocks of the Army of the Republic of South Viet Nam. Much of the M-16 rifle supply for the cartels originates from this source and is sold through Cuba, for instance.
It is thought that the "organized delinquency" loses, destroys by bad maintenance, and has confiscated by the Mexican military 200,000 "assault style weapons" annually. The "organized delinquency" is notoriously poor in terms of correct operation, cleaning, and maintenance of semi-automatic and automatic weaponry. Last week a cache of 2,000 rifles was found buried in sands outside of Torreon, Coahuila.....which is okay, I guess, except that the rifles had not been coated and covered. They were simply interred, completely exposed.
In any regard....enough of all of this. There are things to do so the Old Gringo needs to shave and try to put socks on. More later. Thanks for your time and attention.
