A Survey of Autopsies of an Event…After much ado about something…the bad guys wound up in last place, again…Does a turn towards normalcy await…? (Amended - 16:05 hours, Wednesday, 20 November 2019)

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THE GREAT PYRAMID OF THE SUN CAN BE SEEN

TO THE UPPER - LEFT OF THE ABOVE SCENE

This is an unadulterated image of the Archeological Site of Teotihuecan.

  It is so ancient that it scared the be-jillies out of the people who came to be

 known as the "AZTECS" who wandered down from around the Arizona area

 of to-day.   The Aztecs (aka - Nahua) arrived in the Valley of Mexico around 1345

 and were overthrown by the Spanish and their Indian allies in 1521. This

 arrangementwas attributed to the Toltec Nation which occupied a California

sized area for 1,000 years, leaving for the East around 600 A.D. to meld and

inter-relate with the Northern  Maya.

   The architecture above influenced the Aztecs greatly.  

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      The following is a bit of reporting by a brave journalist for the Laredo Morning Times.   While the Obsolete media ignores, does not analyse, and generally refuses to report anything that does not forward the Obsolete Media's notion of what the American culture should be as a Peoples' Socialist Democracy with (Sir Edmund) Hillary Rodham and the Chappaqua - Hyannis Port nexus  and  so as to reflect the formation of a society that was predicted in Orwell's 1984 tome.

    The journalist Cesar Rodriquez exposed himself to considerable risk to report the good, the bad, and the ugly.   He was the reporter of record for the Laredo (Texas)  Morning Times who produced much of this narrative.  It follows…. 

     Five "suspected" gunmen died Tuesday night in a firefight with armed forces in northwest Nuevo Laredo, adding the death toll to 12 in the last couple days in the city, according to Tamaulipas authorities.   

READ MORE:
     A government official said gunmen attacked the Mexican army regiment in Nuevo Laredo. Soldiers returned fire, killing five people. Authorities said the suspected gunmen were dressed in military uniforms and were armed with high-powered rifles. They were on board of an armored pickup, authorities said.

     Prior to this firefight, gunmen ambushed state police officers at a gasoline station in Nuevo Laredo. Two cops sustained non life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

     At about 10 p.m., more than 100 people, including children, arrived at the Colón Plaza hotel on Avenida César López de Lara and Paseo Colón, where state police officers are housed.   The group protested "police abuse." They too tried to prevent the entrance and exit of police units.   Authorities dispersed the crowd with tear gas and used a tactical unit to crash into parked vehicles blocking the pathway, Mexican media reported.   (These people are frequently drawn from those who are trying to gain entry into the United States although they have no documents, papers,  or anything such stuff,  much less a visitor's visa or entrance visa.   The cucarachas essentially use these people under threat of death or beatings and/or the sale of children ostensibly belonging to parents who form part of the human tidal wave of unqualified entry people.)   It is well that the authorities used tear gas and "wrecker" type vehicles from the Army that can do a lot of damage to autos being thrown around the "protesters" forming a "corral" of humanity.   

     Earlier in the day Tuesday, seven gunmen died in a clash with Tamaulipas state police officers in West Nuevo Laredo.

READ MORE:
     Personnel of the Special Operations Group of the Tamaulipas Analysis, Information, and Studies Center said they returned fire after gunmen attacked them near the airport by Colonia 150 Aniversario.   This group is almost Brittanic and ever-dry, emotionless Joe Friday combination…"Just the facts, ma'am"
   "Holmes!!!  I'm giving you fair warning…this is Her Majesty's case and not yours!!!"

      Friday's, '' Just the facts, ma'am" is becoming the new procedural approach of the Mexican Military's and the Constabulary's analysis of events pertaining to these encounters.   What choices we must make, and what risks we must take, in order to move Mexico to the point where it should be.

RETURNING TO THE ISSUE AT HAND:
     Those cucaracha suspects were also wearing imitation military uniforms, authorities said.
     In total, authorities said 12 sicarios (bad guys) died in the gun battles. Those gunmen are suspected to be part of the "Tropa del Inferno" (Troop from Hell).     That group allegedly carried out the recent attacks of police officer's setting up an inspection point on the Nuevo Laredo - Piedras Negras Highway and shooting up another hotel on the edge of Nuevo Laredo, where a state cop died. 
     Late Tuesday (12 October, 2019), Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca tweeted that he sent a letter to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

It read:
       "I am requesting an appointment with President (López Obrador). I do not see the support from federal security forces to face organized crime in Tamaulipas. It is the state police who are fighting them," Cabeza de Vaca said on Twitter.
   This urgent message was sent from the Governor of the State of Tamaulipas, the above-mentioned Francisco Javier Garcia Cabeza de Vaca.   He further stated in the letter,
   "We are observing with concern recent violent incursions that aim to take control of routes and plazas (important social and commercial zones). The cases of the municipalities (counties) of Miguel Aleman and Nuevo Laredo are a direct challenge to the three levels of government. This is the evidence that criminals will take advantage of any gap or void left by authorities."

READ MORE:
      Seven gunmen dead, and several cartel "soldiers" were wounded and/or arrested by  after attacking Tamaulipas police near Nuevo Laredo airport .   It is essentially a major victory in a local sense because among the police officers, only one was slightly wounded…this is the report of everyone…citizens, doctors at the Muguerza Hospital (one of several very fine hospitals in Nuevo Laredo, it is a private / Roman Catholic / with a wealthy family's endowment), the police, and the despaduchines (ruffians) who were arrested and put into the "Gran Hotel Los Rechezados".  (Deluxe Hotel of the Refuse, {State/Federal Prison}).
   And yes, Virginia, I have great confidence in the word of Cesar G. Rodriguez…he is a true  "worker bee".  

     Our point is…we are having the same problems in Texas and the United States.   The deaths and wounded, on a per capita basis, are roughly the same, one to the other, in terms of Texas and/or the United States as compared to Mexico.   As I contemplated the message this screed was going to render up to an ever expanding audience.
     I thought,…There are those who think that we need to strip everyone of their guns…because..."they are like little boys playing "Cowboys and Indians".
     The fact is, we need more people who have catechism, a moral bearing, who can bear arms with discernment and good judgement, especially in Mexico.    

     César G. Rodriguez is a reporter for the Laredo, Texas Morning Times.   I have great confidence in his accounts and casualty reports that show that the bad guys really cannot stand up to even the common policemen when the people back up the cops…long known  to have slight armaments, almost nothing automatic, and almost nothing in terms of offensive weapons…pistols, revolvers, semi-automatic 40s and 45s.   The Army and Naval Infantry of the Mexican military   
     The nice thing is that the cucarachas (cockroaches) have fancy guns, but they do not maintain them…and any rifle or pistol user knows that the life and the usefulness of a good firearm depends upon the holder to keep it "fed, bedded, and wedded".

This is a small detachment of Mexican Army Infantry.  Bullets

bounce off of the tires, the soldiers are well-trained and disciplined.

The Comunis Populis does not flee from the Army or Naval Infantry
but rather,  if there are no detonations, they tend to feel as though
their "tax dollars at work" are pesos are  actually working and they
seek closeness to the Military and Cops they know from experience
who are "Okay"….
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     The Mexican Army performed bravely and effectively on this occasion.      Such a response is not uncommon at all.  In this matter, one soldier was lost.  A couple were wounded, but not seriously.   The final count of sicarios (unlawful ones)…who burned two busses, two transport trucks, and various motorcars of the common populace (rich, poor, middle)…some snazzy and up-scale, others "still running" , amounting to, as best I can tell, eight such privately held vehicles was nearly 22 dead, and 19 seriously wounded and imprisoned and 20 taken directly to arraignment and "incarcelacion" (imprisonment to await a judge).
   And, after all was said and done, other responsible analysts declared that 18 cucarachas had been killed, and nineteen were slurping up Pesos of public funds (money) while being given plasma, blood, medical services, fluids, food, communication to mommy, while the Mexicans and the tourists pay the freight.  It was of interest to this observer that there was so much coverage and precision…and that the numbers of dead, wounded, and so forth carried though without much deviation.   It is becoming something more akin to the television programmes about Forensics, and process, and investigations.  

THE AMERICAN COUNSEL:
     Useless.
   "Four days ago there was an incident in which there…..blah, blah, blah….therefore we are issuing travel-warning…..blah, blah, blah…" although from Reynosa (for instance), every day, over 250 busses leave the terminal from Reynosa to Mexico City, Poza Rica (VeraCruz), Monterrey, Mazatlan, San Luis Potosi…and scores of other destinations, every day with 25 or 35 or more passengers per departure, etc.
  Many millions of passenger miles are logged from just that one departure point…and 99.99999999999% of the people who ride the bus…quite nice busses….survive and arrive at their destinations after having had decent rest-stops…much improved servicios sanitarios  (rest-rooms)…and even edible, tasty food and cold soft drinks and beer.   There are even departures with the fancy Mexican Autobusses  that depart from McAllen.
     We recommend for long trips, the service ETN.  Folks…do not believe any negative or positive news from the American Embassy or Counsel, or from the Obsolete Press.  Even if their reporting is somewhat accurate, it is frequently really, really out of date.  If not out of date, the Obsolete Press, the various counsels and the Embassy-issued "warnings" and "advisories" that are oblique, opaque, foggy, wrong, and impossible to interpret.
     We are not condemning the English, but the context which frequently would serve for someone trying to use the instructions to go to Bangladesh by way of the Moon in a hot-air balloon.  

BREAKING NEWS:(less than 12 hours ago)

   GASOLINE CONVOY LIBERATED BY  MEXICAN ARMY TROOPS FROM THE HANDS OF CUCARACHAS WHO HAD COMMANDEERED A LONG CONVOY OF GASOLINE TANKER TRUCKS!!

   Mexican Army "neutralises" forty sicarios (thugs)…4,000,000 Dollar theft of regular and supreme fuel…"interrupted"!!!   Cartel gunmen in "military style" uniforms all captured, wounded, with several killed.

   (We separate the mentions of the two wounded because we do not wish to include their names or presence in the same paragraph as those who are sicarios).  Two Mexican Army soldiers were wounded and are recovering.

     This event occurred in an unreleased location in Northern Mexico.   The gasoline had been bought and paid for from a large PEMEX (Petroleos Mexicanos) operation that has accommodations for tanker trucks.  The tanker trucks were carrying gasoline to a zone of mines in an area that is famous for gold, silver, and copper.  There are also large deposits of other valuable minerals used in industry throughout North America and Texas. it was a moment of celebration…guarded…but a celebration in many homes, saloons, restaurants,  beauty parlours, schools, etc.etc.etc.

     It would appear, based upon these announcements, radio and television interruptions for a "news update", and the sudden quickening of the pulse of the organised classes of Mexicans who have some or considerable catechism and patriotism,  we might be awakening from the "Abrazos y no Balazos" (hugs and not slugs - bullets).
    Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) might ought to be considering a re-thinking about bullets and hugs, perhaps taking a long vacation in Cancun, and letting the better elements of the Mexican Army and Naval infantry take charge for 24 months with an imposition of martial administration.   It is my sincerest hope.

     Your humble servant and his Consuegro are trapped in this corner of reality.   We watch blips, pieces, and clips about stories dealing with the violence in Mexico…which is terribly real.  BUT, the overstatements, the analysis from the ignorant fog up the American and the world-wide understanding about what is going on.   It is both simple and complex.  Some day…hopefully soon…my Consuegro and I will be able to explain the simplicity and complexity of Mexico.

More later,
EL GRINGO VIEJO

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Direct Thoughts Direct from My Fellow Consuegro (Father-in-Law) and then El Gringo Viejo's Commentary

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An opportune message concerning the movement of people around the terrestrial, oceanic, and frontal cold entries that normally float around here in late November.   A few words from my fellow Consuegro…(father-in-law) are always a good way to open a topic.    Frankly and truthfully, I owe something like 9% - 12% to my "Consuegro" concerning the industrial  stumbling and reaching objectives…for instance with the folks who run PEMEX (Petroleos Mexicanos)

ABOUT MEXICO:

Your history lesson was "right on ". 

     I was in Mexico before, during, and after Fox. I must say that I was "caught up" in his John Wayne style. Looked good but he fell into the trap of corruption even if he, himself, was clean.

     His condo in Houston was one block away from Neosa's. Sometimes we saw Fox and his "people" in restaurants ....interesting times but I never met him in a formal way....when he entered a room he "was the center of attention.

     Given what came after I think he was OK. He just had too many advisors "feathering their own nests."

  

      I must say that I prospered greatly during the Fox years. Not because of him...I was just in the right place at the right time.

      I have no idea what can be done to the cartels except wipe them out ...wholesale. No trials, just wipe them out. 

    We're anticipating that the weather is going to get bad this week. COLD ! Not my kind of weather.   I'll check in later!!

El Consuegro

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   The above piece of information and opinion transfer comes from a classic self-made man who was and is an analytical genius in matters pertaining to the movement and storage of gas, oil, diesel fuel and gasoline.   He has many other attributes and, among things, he's tougher than an old boot.   Thankfully he is my Consuegro and not someone else's.

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     Please allow this following note before we wade into a complex and important analysis for the OROGs and visitors:   There is a bit of confusion about AMLO and what that means.   It is simply the initials of his four legally registered names from the time of his registry on the Registro Civil.  Another point is that his name is not Mr. Obrador or Señor Obrador…because the listing of surnames in the Mexican tradition is that the father's surname goes first and the mother's second.  Lopez (a classical Hebraic / Spanish name) then…and as in the entire Republic of Mexico, is the Mother's surname.   If one would wish to refer to the President in a private but still semi-formal setting one would say,"Señor Lopez, Usted si difruta del salud de un joven, verdad?"   (Mr. Lopez, you truly enjoy the health of a young man, true?"  And yes, the "you" starts with a capital U)

     He is famous for cutting to the chase…such as his statement,"…I have no idea what can be done to the cartels, except to wipe them out…wholesale.   No trials, just wipe them out."   And this leads to the point that a lot of folks begin to put together, unworkable or pessimistic scenarios…in their own minds.
    The problem for them is that my Consuegro and I are absolutely correct…Mexico has the resources in its military to effectively destroy the cartels and the semi-organised banditry that has brought so much ill upon Mexico.   The Army and Naval Infantry are more than willing and more than capable of taking out the entire underworld of cockroaches that plagues Mexico at this time.   And yes, they are very willing…but only on the condition that they are released from impertinent conditions of engagement.
     This would mean that anyone resisting the Military would sacrifice instantly the concept of judicial process and legal prescriptions.   They would be shot and immolated or buried, and the survivors would be taken to a concentration detention facility, and there to remain forever.  We could transfer some of them to Guantanamo, among other alternatives, especially when coupled with the Islas Tres Marias off the west coast of Mexico.   I would line their cells with the photographs of the children and other people in Mexico and Texas and the United States who were slaughtered, either intentionally or for no good reason of any kind.

    This chain of islands, an extension of the western Mexican State of Nayarit, has the classical name of Las Tres Marias, although there are actually nine islands, counting the minor, unpopulated portions.

Jose Revueltas

An anarchist at the age of 14…from a high-level

 upper-middle class Mexican family, totally dedicated

 to  "progressive" and leftist causes among and

 during his early years, although he was booted

 out of both the Communist Party (1928) and the

 Socialist Peoples' Party (1944) due to his

 obstinance during arguments concerning political

and social dogma.

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  (from Wikipedia) "The Islas Marías Federal Prison was constructed in 1905. One of its more notable prisoners was the Mexican progressive writer Jose Revueltas (b. 1914 -d. 1974) who wrote his first book "Los Muros de Agua" (The Walls of Water, published - 1941) while incarcerated there.

       Mexico's newly-elected president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced on February 18, 2019 that his administration will close the Islas Marías Federal Prison, replacing it with a new cultural centre that will be named for Jose Revueltas."

        Suffice to say that Jose Revueltas was an anarchist cum communist cum socialist until his dying day.  Suffice to say that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, at one time was an ardent communist…then socialist…and now a "political mechanic" just trying to help Mexico and Mexicans to a better life…according to AMLObrador.   With reference to his literary efforts, suffice it to say that it was tedious reading in my estimation…whether read  in English or Spanish.

     This notion of closing the prison on the Big Island of the Islas Marias is an example of a fool trying to make a fool's paradise. The facts concerning Jose Revueltas and his lacklustre philosophical effort "Los Muros de Agua" tome are that he was a malcontent and an early member of the Movemiento Anarquista (Anarchist Movement).

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Isla Maria (Grande)The total population of the nine islands only three
are large enough to accommodate a sustainable presence and economy.
There are fewer  than 2,500.  It has almost always cool nights and warm
days, 365 days per year.
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Capital of The Islas Marias

The State of Nayarit, which is very, very complex in terms of the Indian,

Mestizo, and White mix of people and a very impressive geography like

 the beautiful beaches, towering jungle and hardwood-forest covered

 volcanically birthed mountains.   Forward looking business interests

 and scientific people have always wanted to place a Maritime Studies

campus of the University of Nayarit,

 There are many American, Mexican and worldwide Universities wanting

to establish study, analysis, and investigation once the transfer of the last

 prisoners to the mainland is done.  It may already have been completed.

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     (1)    The first point is simply that AMLObrador was a fool to declare "Abrazos en ves de Balazo (Hugs instead of Slugs)". This business of gathering up 10,000 coloured balloons and 1,000 white doves and flinging them into the sky and hoping that the Saints and Angels take note is ridiculous.   The idea that committing to overriding natural law so that the children do not have toothaches is not a good plan in terms of confronting the necessity of intervening against the cartels and criminals who contaminate a beautiful place such as Mexico and who lure the children and young men off into               

      (2)      We, and I speak for myself as well, with my fellow consuegro when we point out certain known facts.  To begin, American and foreign observers (California, Obsolete American Press, leftist Euro "journalists", New York,  and the like) seem to love to sound off with phrases like, "Well, the cartels have more firepower…and they control everything.  Nobody can do anything in Mexico unless the cartels give them permission."

     Statements like, "There are no laws in Mexico.  The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, that is why they join the cartels." are commonly nodded over the table full of dominoes and beer bottles, perhaps.  That is certainly the case among the "journalist set" of the avant garde and properly progressive thinkers who are much wiser than the rest of us who have dirty hands and holes in the soles of our boots.

       (3)       Facts be known, the military complex in Mexico is actually quite advanced.   The Army and the Naval Infantry are definitely quadruple - AAAA minor league…(and yes, I know that the minors only go to triple - A).  But, all that notwithstanding, there are elements of the Special Forces that are very, very advanced.   American, British, Israeli training.  The regular forces are valiant, pretty well fed and dressed out, with family allotments, continuous training, and hope for rank advancement, etc. etc.   It is very similar to the atmosphere and morale that one might associate with an American unit.

     Fairly recently, the command chief of the Secretariat of Defense for Mexico groused about how his Army was not designed to be a police force…but rather it was made to defend Mexico from all enemies, foreign and domestic.  The Navy has a lot of good rebuilt and brand-new, state of the art war boats…big ones.   And the Quesos Grandes (big cheeses) of that military branch would just love to go out and grapple Red Chinese submarines and "freighters" laden with all manner of addictive death chemicals, (also from Red China).

     And as we like to point out to the Gringos and, at times, to the Mexicans…when guffaws go up about El Chapo escaping from two prisons, the saloon becomes quiet when El Gringo Viejo responds, ''Caballeros, caballeros, Gentlemen…it is true that El Chapo Guzman escaped two times from prison."   Si!! Si!! Yes, by all means!!! "But, is it not also true that he has been recaptured three times…by the Mexican military…and is now on a prepaid permanent vacation at the Garbage Dump Penitentiary in New York City?   And, to repeat, it was the Mexican military who captured him three times?"

Crickets...in the background…listen

carefully and you will hear them,

 if not now, then during the night in

 your dreams…

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     And then the next level of insanity..."Well, you have to admit, that El Chapo and people like him are admired and hailed by the common people in Mexico.   It's only reasonable…the people have nothing…and the rich have everything, and El Chapo gives people things to make their lives better."

TOTAL BUFFALO SNOT….
     The people of the lower-middle class (a recent cultural development in Mexico…during the past 30 or 40 years) and the people of the "upper middle-class", do not, in their vast majority, admire El Chapo or his similars.   Most Americans still have the idea that "everybody in Mexico are either rich billionaires with the rest being poor peon slobs of the lower class." but such was never totally true is no longer the case…it is now 57 shades of green, red, blue, white, etc. of classes, predilections, blue-collar brilliance, and white collar snootiness, and wealthy people doing what they do….among the latter…such as investing in medium, small, and huge business ventures.  

Back in the late 1970s through the 1995 period, Mexico had
 scores of trains of all possible classes, lots of what would
 have to be described as of the neo-antique genre at the
 Buenavista Station in downtown Mexico City.
One hundred thousand people would pour in and out with
 Holiday Periods being double that number.   We carried
 thousands of clients on our excursions in those times
Mexico is still almost definable…but still not quite.

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     The people in their very, very broad majority would celebrate the total elimination of the organised crime people…including even El Tepito…the 60 block area in the middle of Mexico City associated with organised crime and the "remarketting" of stolen goods.   We ran many excursions that utilised the Nacionales de Mexico Passenger Rail Service.   It was always a puzzle to me why the authorities allowed such a large swath of the main city of Mexico could be allowed to be adjacent to the passenger rail yards and main station.

   The above piece of information and opinion transfer comes from a classic self-made man who was and is an analytical genius in matters pertaining to the movement and storage of gas, oil, diesel fuel and gasoline.   He has many other attributes and, among things, he's tougher than an old boot.

     But that was the way it was.  Now, at least, there are no trains coming and going to and from the fabled Buenavista Station.   During the Partido de Accion Nacional (PAN) presidencies, Tepito district was cleaned up significantly…but not totally.   There is still so much to be done.

     El Gringo Viejo spoke with the Mexican people on those trains…and he speaks and listens to them during these very days.   All of the points that have made above continue to be made during these times.   The trains no longer run…but daily folks come by our place, and on a daily manner, we find ourselves explaining American quirks and peculiarities while listening to the local folks lament or celebrate oddities, strengths, and weaknesses of their own culture.

     It is certain that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is steadily sliding down the greased fire-escape, because folks in Mexico do not want the Cucarachas (cockroaches) of the Cartels to be invited into common correct civil Mexican culture.   They want them (the cockroaches) to be shot into the outer reaches of the Universe, never to return.   If it were to take 10 years of martial administration, it is my firm belief that the Vox Populi Mexicanus would declare an emergency and, following a plebiscite, vote overwhelmingly for a period of martial law.

     This would be especially accepted if the Americans would take an on-the-ground, integrated presence while armed, to back up, analyse, participate in destruction and capture operations with the permission and collaboration of the Mexican High Command.

     It would be a huge pill to swallow for the Mexican Ego…but they could be made to sincerely understand...if we would simply point out that we have failed Mexico and Mexico has failed us in many ways…while the Mexicans have helped and aided us and We certainly have helped and aided Mexico during past turbulent years, we have always managed to come to a win-win solution.
    I am of the opinion that the American and Mexican actives of their militaries can reduce these poseurs such as Pablo Escobar…now dead by the hand of the Colombian Military (it can be done), and Manuel (El Chapo) Guzman now rotting in a miserable prison…eating prison food…thanks to the Gringos and the Mexican military.

IT CAN BE DONE!!!

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Our efforts can be made to be "Un Golpe Terrible" in the way that Doroteo Arango (Pancho Villa) dealt with the tyrant politicos!!  He won most of those battles…but his childishness caused the "stabilisation" of the various waves and "awakenings" on the battle-front and, finally…to his own demise.  

(a)     UNLEASH THE MEXICAN MILITARY…BACK THEM UP IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY, AIR FORCE, AND NAVY, INCLUDING CO-ORDINATION.   Yes, military co-ordination.

(b)     AND WITH INTEGRATION SUCH AS THE BRIT-YANK STYLE DURING WORLD WAR II,  we could certainly corner and destroy the cartels' slugs and thugs in northern Central Mexico.   IF WE COULD WIN A WAR WITH TWO ARROGANT SO-AND-SO'S LIKE MONTGOMERY AND PATTON AND SEVERAL OTHER OBSTINATE ENEMY GENERALS (ROMMEL), WE CAN CERTAINLY WIN A CLEANSING OF MEXICO AND THE CONTAMINATED PLACES IN TEXAS AND THE UNITED STATES WITH THE MEXICAN ARMY AT THE HEAD OF OUR COLUMNS WHERE NEEDED AND AMERICAN MILITARY WHERE THOSE COLUMNS ARE NEEDED. 

(c)     WITHOUT SACRIFICE OF SOVEREIGNTY…each of the entities can and should maintain a continuing vigil…and those who commit to the importation of drugs and/or drug ingredients from Red China or any other place upon this Globe should be eliminated by judicial - penal measures or summary execution.  This admonition should extend protection to the injury or killing of people who have no fault or who are coerced exceedingly.   Kidnapping for ransom, for  example should and must be, summary execution.   This is a North American Issue…Mexico, Texas, the United States, and every Province of Canada.   Each of these North American nations must maintain their integrity as independent nations, but who co-ordinate with one another in every way possible to abolish this horrid matter of illegal drug trade slavery.

     I am so tired of it.  I am old.  I know and understand things that the politicians and public personalities know but do not understand.   Posturing and ''understanding" and "empathy" are no longer valid brushes with which to paint the canvas]

EL GRINGO VIEJO

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MONITOR SUBMISSION - LIBERAL PAPER WILL NOT PUBLISH THIS

A note concerning Jack Ayoub

    We review the letters to the Editor with some frequency.  By far and away the best contributor on your page is Mr. Jack Ayoub.   This is not to diminish seven or eight other contributors, but Mr. Ayoub is a different star in the constellation.

    I, as he, have been an addict to matters that mix the Spanish / Mexican points of view during the period from 1824 through 1850 as it involved Texas.   The later history accounts either diminished or outright cancelled the Latin element from the development of Texas as a potential Empire among Nations.   It is readily agreed by this student the past that the person of Juan Sequin should have an 18k gold coin struck in his honour.  Without Sequin, the Battle of San Jacinto would have had a much different outcome.

     Somerville, and lamentably Houston, did not win the battle.  Somerville did not crow and strut.  Houston…?  That discussion is for another day.  
      
     But the ones who gained the day at San Jacinto were two men, Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar…who came into the area, travelled Mexico, developed a disdain for Mexicans of all classes and races…and who knew little or nothing about combat and military deployment.

     Likewise, Juan Sequin could speak English only haltingly, had never gone beyond the reading of a few books on military tactics and strategy.  BUT,  Sequin had established a justifiable reputation for being an Indian fighter, an Ambassador to Indians who could listen to reason, and as a reputable lawman, National Guardsman, frontier patrol commander, and finally the Chief of Cavalry at San Jacinto.

     Some say few, others say ''quite a few" mounts and riders were deployed under Sequin's command before the early morning attack that day…21 April 1836.   Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar…a brigadier by convenience because he was so literate…counselled with Sequin several times, but especially on that frosty morn.  Lamar's distaste for the Latin element had evaporated by that time and he had become, gee-whiz Sergeant Carter, a Texian!!!

   Sequin also developed an instinctive trust in his "commander".  Most of the Texian "cavalry" was composed of Latins of various stripes and types…but all who were bitterly opposed to Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna…generalissimo and _______ President of Mexico…who happened to lie to the front of the Texian forces…less than three miles ahead.

     Lamar and Sequin, not Houston and Somerville, brought the wrath upon the "Invincible Army".  And please understand…this was not a comic-opera army.   It was a polished, capable, and very effective army, headed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Republic of Mexico.  But, come the sundown of that day of Liberty for the Republic of Texas, the "Ejercito Invincible" was totally and absolutely destroyed.
    Seven hundred motley ethnics, differing ages, and even languages literally destroyed the Mexican Empire…where 2,000 of Mexico's best were beaten by Anglo and Latin hayseed ruralists.

     There were seven Mexican general officers in the broad field that day (all over southern Texas).  Six were competent.  Two were dead and one, after capture, was staring at the noose as his probable reward after fleeing in private's uniform during the battle.  The reader has three guesses about the name of that soldier.
     Old General-Mayor Manuel Fernandez Castrillon…a noble Mexican officer and person…died in place, shouting that he was too old to run.   Various Texian Latins and Anglos called for his sparing but it was too late.   And this writer asks, "Why Castrillon and not Lopez de Santa Anna?"

     Lamentably, it would be only six or seven years later that Sam Houston's buddies would have manoeuvred property documents around and forced Juan Sequin and his cadre to release a competent control in the governance of San Antonio to speculators who were taking advantage of the relative peace provided by the dead of the Texian revolt and such brave parties as Sequin and his range-riders and the brilliant, but not military, Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar.

     Sequin,  after having been driven out of San Antonio by the speculators 1842 (who had the ear of Houston, but not Somerville), wound up in Mexican Laredo.  The very competent General Ampudia immediately put him under a "convenient arrest" and made him swear to defend against "foreign aggression".  True enough, Sequin would direct the cavalry at the Battle of Mier during Christmastide, 1842.  The invaders, as all know, lost.
   General Ampudia would also receive the American assault five years later, when General Taylor would arrive to begin the Mexican - American War.  When all the dust settled,  the Sequin family had actually regained much of their smaller properties in Texas, no thanks to Houston.   And Sequin did have a lot of respect from Texians of all stripes and types…including mine…which carries forth to this day.

     My mission in all of this is to complement Jack Ayoub because he knows this as well and / or better than do I.   His works are worthy of all men and women to be received, and we give the Monitor our gratitude for allowing him to publish on your pages.

Sincerely,
David Chistian Newton 
EL GRINGO VIEJO