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With a bit of humility, and especially for the new readers who join us with increasing frequency, we would urge that the OROG, new or veteran, review the previous ten or so entries so as to become accustomed to El Gringo Viejo's sardonic nature, his satire, his humour, and his quirks. At times the passing reader is taken aback because there still exists one last knuckle-dragging Neanderthal who has not agreed to be an politically correct, eunuch drone....who also has a bit of a sense of humour. We know that we have many pearls of wisdom to render but also that we have to deal people who feel strongly, but think weakly.
So, with that said, we think that the preceding ten or so entries give the readers a bit of the eclectic nature of this commentator. It is a bit unfair because much of the time we speak with humour in mind. And, the humour can be a bit dry and sharp. We also know that our writing, as it seeks precision, can be dreadfully tedious for the eyes and mind. This is especially when we are trying to be serious and contemplative. The word being sought is probably .....boring. But! Boring can be fun too. So let's get right to it.
The Wisdom of El Gringo Viejo:
For perhaps four months we have been pointing out that the corner had been turned against the rampant impositions by the cartel people of their will upon the populace. Capricious, vicious, animalistic behaviour could erupt at any time and at any place. Rich, poor, and in the middle....children, middle-aged, and the elderly....everybody was running a risk at any time of being caught up in a fire-fight. Small and Large businesses....from a million pesos per year or a million pesos per hour in sales might be "taxed" at any time by a sub-human slug who would "collateralise" the payments by the businessman/woman's daughter's survival. He would also be good enough to arrive every other month or so with an impressive accompaniment of gorilla-thugs with gold-handled p-38os or 45 semi-automatic showing in the waistband or belt. He was also good enough to take his payments in cash.
The constant application of military resources, repeatedly applied, in the midst of all uncertainty gradually began to have a largely un-anticipated positive effect. Mexicans can endure almost anything. But, beyond the Virgin of Guadalupe (Saint Mary of Tepeyac) Mexicans are fatefully pessimistic and sceptical. This affects almost all Mexicans, regardless of class, mixture or lack thereof of bloodlines, or geographical placement. So, when the clouds began to part, and real, live public safety improvements began to occur, it was like when no one wants to handle the fine crystal in the antique shop for fear of breaking it.
But, it became more and more evident that, when confronted by the Mexican Army or the Mexican Naval Infantry the "invincible" cartel ''soldiers'' were in no wise a match for the military. After several hundred major skirmishes, and several thousand significant armed contacts the scorecard reads 99.6% military and 0.4% cockroaches.
Two things have been presented to the present reality in various places in Mexico, including the totality of the States of Tamaulipas.
(1) People are moving around almost exactly as they had before the inter-cartel and intra-cartel wars. It is not yet a perfect recovery, if anything be truly perfect. But it is a palpable thing.
(2) The underpinning reason for the flood of Centroamericanos coming up to Reynosa is never mentioned. One reason is because the people who know everything are unaware, apparently of the fact the El Gringo Viejo will fill in now; the Centroamericanos understand that the State of Tamaulipas has been essentially placed under martial law and that there are four geographical divisions within the State, each with thousands of heavy infantry and support personnel. That is why the Centroamericanos have chosen to come "up the pipe" through an area that they had been avoiding due to the very, very rough treatment parcelled out to the Centroamericanos, especially by Zeta Cartel people.
Reinforcing this is the fact that the Centroamericanos are in the main arriving without "benefit of coyote" into Reynosa, and by following previously related experiences from friends and family are all but "landing" on the banks of the Rio Grande. They then manage to cross with "jitney" river-taxis....inner-tubes, children's swimming pool blow-up "boats" , jet-skis, inner-tubes tied to a couple of 3 X 5 plywood sheets....it's das Wunderland of free enterprise.
The many fewer coyotes than there used to be tried in the beginning to "receive" the Centroamericanos and regimentalise them into certain jeapordy of debt and perhaps even kidnapping, extortion, and/or sexual predation but there were too many people. And then the various little factions and groupings of the coyotes began to be seriously distracted about six to eight weeks ago by matters very far beyond their control. To wit:
On Tuesday last, 21 July 2014 a pursuit began with six gang members that pertained to what used to be the Cartel del Golfo chasing down a fellow member from Reynosa to Rio Bravo to the east and then to the edge of the famous Gringo Tourist Mecca and still popular Nuevo Progresso community on the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo). The lone individual was killed by the six gang members who then began to return to Reynosa. In their haste, some of their friends had gone out and commandeer a couple of freight trucks, parked them to block traffic on the four-lane and then went out to meet their buds coming back from Rio Bravo. Shortly they encountered a mobile machine gun platoon of Mexican Army. This is a group of 18 fellows with armoured pickups mounted with a belt-fed machine gun. All the personnel is armed with automatic rifles and accoutrements one associates with a professional soldier. The soldiers confronted the gang members and demanded that they stand down, but were met with shots and menacing posturing and deployment for cover. In less than one minute there were six dead gang members and three wounded and under arrest.
During the rest of the afternoon and evening encounters occurred in Padilla about 30 miles from our adobe hut. Results were similar, with another six dead. Then, in Mier, up near Falcon Lake on the Rio Grande 8 gang members were confronted and they surrendered. They had just arrived from San Luis Potosi State, fleeing Army patrols. There were active wants and warrants on the eight of them, so they were cuffed and transferred to a detention on the edge of Monterrey. Then near San Fernando, another Army patrol encountered five boys and one girl, also with wants and warrants, but this group did not desist and surrender. Within one minute, they were all dead. At about the same time four more gang members were fleeing towards the Rio Grande from the community of Valadeces, not far from our home in Mission but obviously on the other side of the Rio Grande. These four were then engaged in a frontal and rear attack, and failing to desist and surrender, they became one with the Cosmos. All in all there were 16 killed when all was said and done, 9 arrested, and 6 or so wounded enough to be hospitalised. The Army suffered two with minor wounds to the extremities.
Of further interest is that the authorities announced that the leader of the 'insurrection' was "El Aleman Comandante (the German Commander) Miquel Angel Salinas who is neither smart nor experienced was captured by the military a week ago, and his underlings....mainly 18 - 20 year old nobodies designed an "insurrection" that wound up getting ten or twenty per cent of the remaining cartel troops killed or sent off to major time. "El Aleman" supposedly styled himself as the New Comandante of the Reynosa Cartel del Golfo chief...having replaced a previous "comandante" who was killed. Glory was fleeting.
The military is working on the snake pit of the underworld of Tampico - Madero in the far, southeasternmost corner of the State of Tamaulipas, once again with some success, albeit slower. It is apparent, in any regard, that the patient was badly injured, but is making a vigorous recovery.
These are just a few of the happenings. The cartel gangsters are killing each other and attempting to fight the Army and Naval Infantry. All's right with the world.
El Gringo Viejo
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| El Gringo Viejo granting an interview during a recent formal portrait session before his speech before the combined Arian Nations, Ku Klux Klan and Tea Party Convention somewhere in rural Mississippi. |
So, with that said, we think that the preceding ten or so entries give the readers a bit of the eclectic nature of this commentator. It is a bit unfair because much of the time we speak with humour in mind. And, the humour can be a bit dry and sharp. We also know that our writing, as it seeks precision, can be dreadfully tedious for the eyes and mind. This is especially when we are trying to be serious and contemplative. The word being sought is probably .....boring. But! Boring can be fun too. So let's get right to it.
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The Wisdom of El Gringo Viejo:
For perhaps four months we have been pointing out that the corner had been turned against the rampant impositions by the cartel people of their will upon the populace. Capricious, vicious, animalistic behaviour could erupt at any time and at any place. Rich, poor, and in the middle....children, middle-aged, and the elderly....everybody was running a risk at any time of being caught up in a fire-fight. Small and Large businesses....from a million pesos per year or a million pesos per hour in sales might be "taxed" at any time by a sub-human slug who would "collateralise" the payments by the businessman/woman's daughter's survival. He would also be good enough to arrive every other month or so with an impressive accompaniment of gorilla-thugs with gold-handled p-38os or 45 semi-automatic showing in the waistband or belt. He was also good enough to take his payments in cash.
The constant application of military resources, repeatedly applied, in the midst of all uncertainty gradually began to have a largely un-anticipated positive effect. Mexicans can endure almost anything. But, beyond the Virgin of Guadalupe (Saint Mary of Tepeyac) Mexicans are fatefully pessimistic and sceptical. This affects almost all Mexicans, regardless of class, mixture or lack thereof of bloodlines, or geographical placement. So, when the clouds began to part, and real, live public safety improvements began to occur, it was like when no one wants to handle the fine crystal in the antique shop for fear of breaking it.
But, it became more and more evident that, when confronted by the Mexican Army or the Mexican Naval Infantry the "invincible" cartel ''soldiers'' were in no wise a match for the military. After several hundred major skirmishes, and several thousand significant armed contacts the scorecard reads 99.6% military and 0.4% cockroaches.
Two things have been presented to the present reality in various places in Mexico, including the totality of the States of Tamaulipas.
(1) People are moving around almost exactly as they had before the inter-cartel and intra-cartel wars. It is not yet a perfect recovery, if anything be truly perfect. But it is a palpable thing.
(2) The underpinning reason for the flood of Centroamericanos coming up to Reynosa is never mentioned. One reason is because the people who know everything are unaware, apparently of the fact the El Gringo Viejo will fill in now; the Centroamericanos understand that the State of Tamaulipas has been essentially placed under martial law and that there are four geographical divisions within the State, each with thousands of heavy infantry and support personnel. That is why the Centroamericanos have chosen to come "up the pipe" through an area that they had been avoiding due to the very, very rough treatment parcelled out to the Centroamericanos, especially by Zeta Cartel people.
Reinforcing this is the fact that the Centroamericanos are in the main arriving without "benefit of coyote" into Reynosa, and by following previously related experiences from friends and family are all but "landing" on the banks of the Rio Grande. They then manage to cross with "jitney" river-taxis....inner-tubes, children's swimming pool blow-up "boats" , jet-skis, inner-tubes tied to a couple of 3 X 5 plywood sheets....it's das Wunderland of free enterprise.
The many fewer coyotes than there used to be tried in the beginning to "receive" the Centroamericanos and regimentalise them into certain jeapordy of debt and perhaps even kidnapping, extortion, and/or sexual predation but there were too many people. And then the various little factions and groupings of the coyotes began to be seriously distracted about six to eight weeks ago by matters very far beyond their control. To wit:
On Tuesday last, 21 July 2014 a pursuit began with six gang members that pertained to what used to be the Cartel del Golfo chasing down a fellow member from Reynosa to Rio Bravo to the east and then to the edge of the famous Gringo Tourist Mecca and still popular Nuevo Progresso community on the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo). The lone individual was killed by the six gang members who then began to return to Reynosa. In their haste, some of their friends had gone out and commandeer a couple of freight trucks, parked them to block traffic on the four-lane and then went out to meet their buds coming back from Rio Bravo. Shortly they encountered a mobile machine gun platoon of Mexican Army. This is a group of 18 fellows with armoured pickups mounted with a belt-fed machine gun. All the personnel is armed with automatic rifles and accoutrements one associates with a professional soldier. The soldiers confronted the gang members and demanded that they stand down, but were met with shots and menacing posturing and deployment for cover. In less than one minute there were six dead gang members and three wounded and under arrest.
During the rest of the afternoon and evening encounters occurred in Padilla about 30 miles from our adobe hut. Results were similar, with another six dead. Then, in Mier, up near Falcon Lake on the Rio Grande 8 gang members were confronted and they surrendered. They had just arrived from San Luis Potosi State, fleeing Army patrols. There were active wants and warrants on the eight of them, so they were cuffed and transferred to a detention on the edge of Monterrey. Then near San Fernando, another Army patrol encountered five boys and one girl, also with wants and warrants, but this group did not desist and surrender. Within one minute, they were all dead. At about the same time four more gang members were fleeing towards the Rio Grande from the community of Valadeces, not far from our home in Mission but obviously on the other side of the Rio Grande. These four were then engaged in a frontal and rear attack, and failing to desist and surrender, they became one with the Cosmos. All in all there were 16 killed when all was said and done, 9 arrested, and 6 or so wounded enough to be hospitalised. The Army suffered two with minor wounds to the extremities.
Of further interest is that the authorities announced that the leader of the 'insurrection' was "El Aleman Comandante (the German Commander) Miquel Angel Salinas who is neither smart nor experienced was captured by the military a week ago, and his underlings....mainly 18 - 20 year old nobodies designed an "insurrection" that wound up getting ten or twenty per cent of the remaining cartel troops killed or sent off to major time. "El Aleman" supposedly styled himself as the New Comandante of the Reynosa Cartel del Golfo chief...having replaced a previous "comandante" who was killed. Glory was fleeting.
The military is working on the snake pit of the underworld of Tampico - Madero in the far, southeasternmost corner of the State of Tamaulipas, once again with some success, albeit slower. It is apparent, in any regard, that the patient was badly injured, but is making a vigorous recovery.
These are just a few of the happenings. The cartel gangsters are killing each other and attempting to fight the Army and Naval Infantry. All's right with the world.
El Gringo Viejo
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