Continuing Tug of War

This public announcement is appearing, well-printed on large canvas sheets with brass rivets, hanging off of bridges and other structures in areas of high pedestrian and/or vehicular traffic in the two States of the Republic mentioned below.   First in Spanish and  then below, I have rendered an humble attempt to translate the matter into the English language.

"Los ciudadanos sabemos quiénes son Los Zetas. No se molesten en colocar mantas justificando sus acciones cobardes, en las que quieren hacer creer que sus emociones son diferentes. Los ciudadanos sabemos quiénes son los del CDG y quiénes son Los Zetas. Nos queda claro que si Los Zetas matan a sus propios amigos, que esperamos nosotros como ciudadanos de Nuevo León y Tamaulipas. No se molesten Lazcano y Z 40 en justificar sus acciones. Atte. Ciudadanos Unidos"

"The citizens, we know whoso are the Zetas.    Do not bother yourselves by hanging (placing) announcement banners justifiying your cowardly actions, in which you wish to make us believe that your emotions (reasonings) are different from what they are.   The citizens, we know whoso are the Cartel del Golfo and whoso are The Zetas.     It remains clear to us that if The Zetas kill their own friends, then what do we hope for as plain citizens of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas States?    Do not bother yourselves Lazcano (leader in the Cartel del Golfo) y Z 40  (fortieth leader of the Zeta Cartel)  to justify your actions.

Attentively,

United Citizens

      These are the new "hangings" being placed in public view throughout the two adjacent States above named.   It would seem that the increased effectiveness of the military and the stiffening of resolve by the common man is beginning to solder a steel force.   These are a bit larger than small steps that are helping to move us on to a brighter day.   Very encouraging.

          The Old Gringo has been surprized during  the past few days to actually see "the other side of the story" about the actual situation in Mexico.   Even in some cases a couple of transmissions have been a bit too "Pollyanna", quite frankly.   The thing is that some dumboe reporter (I know, it's redundant all over again) will go to some place in the Yucatan or in Guanajuato or in the Baja or in various of  many places in the vast majority of the square mileage of what is the Republic of Mexico and say something like "So there you have it, Marguarita Onnice and her live-in Boyfriend SpungeBill Beerblotter have lived here in San Miquel de Allende for fifteen years and aren't leaving.   There is no crime here and every day is mid-Spring and the Corona half/liters cost the equivalent of 19 American cents." 

       Once again all of that is pretty much true, but the beer costs 31 cents, especially with the weaker dollar, there is a bit of crime here and there....but nothing serious in terms of amount or severity, especially against Gringos....every day might or might not have a monster thunderstorm with hail and lightning knocking out the electrical service for 12 hours (increasingly rare)....in short, no place is a perfect facsimile of Heaven.   Many places are truly almost idyllic....if one prepares himself, has a little money, expects little, appreciates the incredible Mexican civilities, and likes lots of different kinds of good food & libation, different people coming and going,  good food & libations, and has a decent place to hide when he really does not wish to be bothered.   I forgot to mention the good food and libations.

       It helps to have SKY-TV.....even the basic-plus is excellent for the price.   A list of things to make it so you really do not want to leave would be something like the following:

A good auto mechanic  (best if his neighbours, compadres, brothers-in-law, and close friends are auto repair specialists in air-conditioning, suspension, tune-up, window replacement, etc. etc. etc.)(relatively abundant)
o

A good tire repairman (abundant)
o 

           A good small appliance repairman(abundant)
o

           A good large appliance repairman(abundant)
o 

           An exceptionally good mayordomo (somewhat rare)
o

           An exceptionally good ama de llaves (chambermaid/cook)(common)
o

            Excellent to tolerable neighbours (common)
o

           A really decent bar with no drunks, with a good sports/news tele (common)
o

      A good old-fashioned assortment of chaotic Mexican bazaar-type markets for kitchen and meal preparation notions (abundant)
o

A really nice Gringo-style grocery store, like Soriana, HEB, Gran-D (common)
o

A confidable shrimp, oyster, & seafood purveyor (common)
o

Two each of an excellent 2nd class diner, a 1st class restaurant, and a couple of high-end  hootsy-tootsy deluxe places, for every now and then (abundant)
o

For the veterans, two or three of the sidewalk taco stands once they are recommended by friends or reliable locals.   Stunning quality food, cheap.   Many are very clean and everything is done in front of the client.
ooooo

     All of these thoughts come from various recent and and even long-past  meetings and encounters with Gringos/as who live in Mexico on a full-time or significant part-time basis.     I have been searching for quite a while for  the common denominator that would explain our nuttiness.   All of the above are mentioned, almost always.   Each Gringo/a has to provide the theatre's stage.....beach area, mountains, archaeological site abundance, historical imperatives, art centers, sixteen bars adjacent to one another requirement.... or whatever else.    It might surprize even Fox News people, that the most common Mexophile tends to vote Republican.....about 60 - 40.


This will finish it for to-day, probably.   More will effuse should there be an earthquake or if a flying saucer crashes nearby, otherwise, you all are safe from me for a while.  
Thank you for your attention, as always.
El Gringo Viejo,
Director de Operaciones
OROG

A Little More Celebration - editted and improved/ editted and improved again

     New news from the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre is going to encourage everyone who follows this screed....especially those who have spent time as guests  with us.       The big, repeatedly stressed and tortured avocado tree that sits off of the south end of the "long west-facing corridor" has really done yeoman's service in producing a considerable harvest.    Barring some kind of a windstorm or an attack by Superpossum....we should have a middling crop of avocados that appear to be of high quality.   None of this will be cup-to-lip until late June at the earliest (more probably mid-July), but it is some small but significant thing for the Old Gringo....(aka: Gringo Viejo).

      Two other things....one about public schooling (please remember that the Gringo Viejo and all his family are public school products, have many degrees, and have taught in public schools, both at secondary and University level), and the other about chisme (gossip).

     The easy one is chisme....one of the great Mexican national sports.   On the 2nd of May, there was another of the stupid public national holidays...the Day of the Child.     All these "holidays" are simply commercialization of things that should be practiced daily, hourly, and by the minute by all people who have even the most basic catechism.   In any regard, there were Children's Fiestas arranged by labour unions, State and local governments, fraternal orders, etc. all around the country.   In our locale there were two held, one in our own little "ejido" (rural community).   The word went out towards the end of the day....after the children and families had availed themselves of the little mechanical car rides, the food and drinks, and the general party atmospherics, that all the goodies had been provided by your friendly local drug cartel bosses.

      This news was received with a bit of a shudder by those of us who try to keep up with such things.    But then, a little checking, and guess what?   It turned out that some young punks who think of themselves as gang-members spread the word as a joke.....something akin to spiking the punch in American terms.    The girlfriend of one of the punks, escorted by her mother and father, turned him in by telling the six or seven official Gossipers Committee members, who promptly began to employ the telewoman communication system that functions so well in the Ejido Francisco I. Madero.  

       The Old Gringo knows that this is true because one of the senior members of the Sindicato  de Chismonas de la Republica Mexicana, Local No. 11545   
(National Gossipers' Union of the Mexican Republic, Local 11545), is Alvaro's sister.   He and she do not mix well at all, so if he is giving her some consideration as a source, it is very probable that everything being written here is true. 

      That was (1).   The next topic,  (2) is also about unions ...but this time real unions.   El Sindicato de Trabajadores en la Educacion Publica de la Republica Mexicana, Estado de Tamaulipas, STEPRM has been in one long drawn-out dispute with consituted authority since its incorporation as an active part of the "Institutional Revolution" of the old PRI sixty years ago.  

      Those of us who deal with matters Mexican used to have to smile wryly when "authorities", both left and right, in the United States would point to the fact that "Mexico has no labour unions or protections for the working people".     The fact was and is that one of the biggest contributors to the mis-treatment of the Mexican labouring class was and still is to an extent, the incredibly powerful and corrupt labour unions.     All labour unions in Mexico stem from their foundation in the Workers of the World movement....a marxist group from the late 1890's.   The infamous Flores Magon brothers  were vanguards of the Bolshevik-inspired labour movement.   They anchored much of what was  then radical social thought and their followers inserted their initiatives into the intellectual leadership of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 - 1917.
      Much of the intent of the communist element in the post-revolutionary was embodied in the Constitution of 1917, which required that all labour eventually be folded into the governing party....the Partido Revolucionario Institutional.    The central of three pillars of the PRI was the Confederacion de Trabajadores Mexicanos (CTM) which for years demagogued labour issues and also siphoned billions and billions of dollars worth of union dues and tax money into local labour union leaders'  personal private foreign accounts.
      Other related but semi-independent nation-wide unions, like the Petroleum Workers, Stevedores, and Teachers Unions were equally politicized and corrupt.    The arrogance and level of their corruption is legendary and demogoguic to almost supernatural levels.      
        Huge industrial bulwarks in Mexico trembled at the merest flick of a finger of local, corrupt union bosses everywhere in Mexico for three score years before the establishment,  finally in the 1980's,  of competing, non-Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI) integrant unions.  The new labour organizations, as well as company sponsored independent "white unions"   were allowed to exist, by means of a ruling of the Corte Supremo de la Nacion.     Since that time there has been significant improvement in labour - management relations. 

      In any regard, the locals of the  Tamaulipas State's teachers' union are always having "slowdowns"...."special teachers' conference days", marches, demonstrations, letter writing campaigns, etc.   The teachers have thousands of complaints....most of them detailed and very personal in nature.    Of course, the scores of the primaries and secondaries which for years had been much higher than Texas schools at a similar grade....steadily went into the septic tank, especially during the past four years.   All public schools, primary, secondary, preparatory, rural, urban....all of them went to the devil.      This, of course, after a doubling in the last three years of the budget (with a strong peso, to boot).     The number of Guercos (urchins) in the schools is diminishing slowly, due to the ever slowing production of new, replacement Mexicans.....so the increase in expenditures-per-urchin is even more intense....but to no avail.   Less than half of the urchins are performing at level.    In the 1950's it was 90 per cent performed at or above grade level.....when they were pouring over 90 dollars a year per student into the effort,   (In  Mexico City it was 113 dollars).  The previous sentence is a bit of combined sarcasm and sardonic commentary skillfully blended together as only a professional blowhard can.

        It is pretty clear that Tamaulipas is falling dreadfully behind everyone....other public systems, all private schools, in other words, a disaster.  The only exception in Tamaulipas is their   University system where there are numerous students who "almost qualified" for places in the prestige universities (Monterrey Tech, University of Nuevo Leon, etc.) and over-educated professors who arrived from various big cities around the world to escape urban life.

      One of the things  uninvolved observers point out is that the other States, save Oaxaca (totally communist university environment ....and I mean hammer and sickle communist), have less, little, or none in terms of Union stridency and anguish.

     So, the governor of the State of Tamaulipas has made it his number two priority (Number one is the security issue) to reduce the influence of the  Teachers' Union and to re-instate the teaching and accomplishment method....with the old discipline....and to forget about union politics and "teaching to the tests".   There is a movement to return to the old idea that the only test that counts is the semester grade after averaging each six-weeks and the final exam.     Fred Flintstone and I agree with this approach.

      Anyway....that is what is going on around these precincts.    We shall await comments and questions, as usual and respond to everyone....although my schedule is a little less predictable during the next few days.    We are in our last days of our exposure to Jury Call and we have a university graduation to attend in Central Texas.....lots of driving around.    Send gasoline.     And thanks for your interest and involvement.    

El Gringo Viejo      

Some Cause to Celebrate

    The Usama bin Ladin thing is pretty much big news south of the border.   Among the things bringing it up to the top half of the front page is the fact that about 100 Mexican citizens were killed at the twin tower disaster.   Another several were killed in the other two airplanes that went down.   There was a bit of karma, therefore, when a boy born of parents from Guajajuato, Guanajuato, was one of those who stormed the compound in Pakistan and participated in removing one of the stalking disciples of Satan from this life.

His parents, who were legal immigrants into the United States, had quite a scare yesterday, however. This is their conversation with a Mexican news service from this morning.

       En esa acción participó, el soldado Rubén Mejía, nacido en Estados Unidos, sus padres son originarios de Guanajuato, México. El joven fue ascendido a sargento gracias al operativo realizado contra Bin Laden y solo presentó algunos golpes, además ya recibió felicitaciones por parte de Barack Obama, quien espera reunirse muy pronto con los 20 nuevos héroes.       "Hace unas horas mi familia fue estremecida cuando vieron llegar a una decena de oficiales del ejército a nuestra casa, y cuando tocaron la puerta nuestra familia se estremeció y empezaron a llorar porque ya se creía en malas noticias. Los soldados nos traían una bandera de Estados Unidos doblada y cuando vieron que empezábamos a llorar nos aclararon que era un reconocimiento y un honor el traernos la bandera porque nuestro hijo había cumplido una gran misión por la nación”, mencionó Martín Mejía, padre de Rubén.

      

      "In this action the soldier Ruben Mejia, born in the United States of parents who are from Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico* participated.     The young man was promoted to sergeant today due to his participation in the operation against bin Ladin, and furthermore he only suffered a few bruises, and as well he received personal felicitations from the President Barak Obama, who declared that he hoped to meet very soon with the 20 (?) new heroes.

     "Just a few hours ago,   my family really stressed out when they saw a ten-count  of uniformed military officers come to the door and were knocking ....the family really stressed-out, some started crying because at that point they thought they were receiving bad news.     The soldiers were bringing us an American Flag all folded,  and when they saw that we had all started crying, they clarified everything by stating that they had brought the flag as a recognition and an honor because our son had complied in a grand mission for the Nation." mentioned Martin Mejia, the father of Ruben.
*(further research finds that Ruben's parents are legal immigrants to the United States)

     The article was accompanied by the obligatory pictures of UbL with his head blown apart....and a peculiarly dark beard again.     Such images will be spared you all.

Tomorrow, some ideas about how to cure all the problems again.
The Old Gringo 

It couldn't have happened to a vicer guy.....

THIS MAN KNEW NO GOD....WORSHIPPED ONLY DEATH AND HE, HIMSELF

    There are all kinds of horrid, terrible things that could be said.   A philosophical question might be, "Can a man who has no soul be killed ?"    One of the characteristics of being human, according to almost all religions on Earth....and most of the life-guiding philosophies....is that humans have an inner force, a soul.
                                 

      Date of Death....1 May 1945 Adolph Hitler,    1May 2011....Usama bin Laden,  1 May....day of the labourer in the marxist/socialist world.....this year with the lowest turnout in the past 20 years, worldwide.


More later.    Let us celebrate now, and remain vigilant.
The Old Gringo  

Slogging on ...Sad Things...and Good Things....

    We have had a couple of episodes of moderate rain finally.     It has not been enough to really break the Winter drought, but any moisture falling from the sky is welcomed, at this point.    The blessings we have for being close to the  Tropic of Cancer and close to the mountains is a fairly dependable 50 inches of rain per year.   But, as we have stated before and as is discussed on our website,  90% of this rain is bunched into late April through early July and then again late August through the first days of November.      So, what we are receiving is about on schedule. 

      Where it has been raining a little more heavily and on an almost daily basis is the Cerro Pen~a Nevada about 30 miles to our west.    During these rainy spells there are times that the higher points of the mountain's peaks will cover up with snow during the wet Summer episodes....and it makes for an interesting conversation starter.   So far, there has not been any snow, however.

    We are picking up lots of returning birds, nesters, and all the regular gang of our feathered friends.   The hummingbirds have been especially numerous, both as individuals and in terms of the number of sub-species.   The rain has helped the flowering things and this brings more of the whole bird and butterfly thing, of course.    We have finally been picking up a good number of Monarch butterflies heading north, and using the Quinta as a generational stop and/or a fueling station.

     In the previous post, I was writing to transfer a bit of information that is kind of an open secret.     Sometimes though, while writing  I forget my point, especially when there is a knock on the door and someone needs a bit of help with an auto with a dead  battery.    So, after helping a neighbour jump his battery back to life, I forgot to return to my soliloquy's script.

      One point was that I had learned that Mexican soldiers who are planning on an extended tour of duty or a career in the military, and who want to serve in the area of infantry or special tactical forces, are being given advanced infantry and combat training by sergeants who are drawn, intentionally from the American, British, and Israeli military.   These foreign military men serve as private consultants....unattached to any government.     Supposedly they are retired from active duty, and are receiving concessions and salaries from Mexico's normal military training budget.

       Certain of those completing advanced infantry training are sent to Fort Benning and someplace in Cornwall for other training...especially that which deals with the computer technology that pervades all matters in advanced militaries to-day.    Ominous clouds gather around that fact because the original Zetas were composed of a renegade group of highly trained combat sergeants who had trained at Fort Benning in Georgia.

       Once back they served well enough in active deployments in Mexico, primarily with concerns about communist guerrillas infiltrating the lower Yucatan and working to join an axis of their area with "sub-comandante Marcos" in Chiapas.    That action was won, and the communists were badly tattered much to Rigoberta's dismay, but the abovementioned sergeants became bored apparently with garrison life .....and things they called "school crossing duty".

     Some of the sergeants resigned from the military and "went private" (into civilian life).   Others even went and volunteered into the American Army and served in the second Iraq War.   But, about 30 of them went renegade and simply deserted.    These 30 offered their services as "bodyguards" to the cabos of the Gulf Cartel which operated between Colombia, Venezuela, and northeastern Mexico.    Of the original 30 or so, all have either been killed or in some few cases imprisoned in Mexico or the United States.

      The dead and imprisoned were replaced with others who were, in turn, killed and or imprisoned in Mexico or the United States, or in some cases Europe or Colombia.  Since then, the "leaders" have become younger and younger, less and less militarized, less disciplined, less intelligent, and because of their spontaneousness and undisciplined nature, almost impossible to understand.     Many security consultants caution their clients and the American public with the "advanced firepower, communications, night-vision capacity"  and so forth.    They are compared to our Green Berets, to the Taliban, or the Al Qaeda as exemplars of military prowess.

        To me, and to what few Mexican military contacts the Old Gringo might have directly or indirectly, the younger "pseudo-zetas"  seem  more like over-armed "Pandillas" (neighbourhood gangs), fighting with other drug trafficking cells in other neighbourhoods, nearby towns, and doing little to store wealth, be cunning, or even to choose their battles with the Mexican Military.     The rule still holds.....Every time they go up against the Military, the Zetas or associates always lose and lose badly.

        The Zetas and the older Cartel groups have spent much of their energy fighting each other......much blood and many resources.     The drug trafficking has become head-scratchingly strange.    Last week, Mexican military sources informed the Texas constabulary that they had learned of three stash house locations along the border on the Texas side.    Anonymous Informants had told the Military that the houses were at such-and-such addresses.    Various State and local police agencies went and checked out the places and, lo & behold, over nine (9) tons of cannabis, all nicely packaged, was recovered for evidence rooms and incinerators.

       A couple of weeks ago, the Mexican military complained to local police agencies in Texas that their Naval Infantry helicopter pilots were being "laser beamed" by dumboes in an upper income subdivision in the far south part of Mission, Texas.    A State of Texas Department of Public Safety patrol helicopter went on standard Rio Grande back-up patrol....keeping an eye out for the Mexican Naval Infantry's information about the locale of the "phantom laser"....and, lo and behold...the helicopter FLIR'd the dumboes intentionally "shooting" the Texas DPS chopper pilots with the blinding laser beam.     It was coming from the back yard of a lower-range mansion.....which was visited in short order, and both dumboes were presented for charges and arraignment the next day.   Unfortunately, it is only a misdemeanor, but if they can be linked to something more nefarious, then the charges could be up-graded.    In that they had lawyers representing them in a misdemeanor case, it could be assumed that they are involved in something a bit heavier than "playing with toys for big boys."

      Another sad part of the deal is that these "new, modern Zetas"....the elderly ones who are 23 to 34 years of age spend their time drinking whisky, Miller-lite, smoking dope, and driving around in very expensive, very showy stolen autos....they play games like asking a subordinate to steal an Escalade and bring it over for 2,000 dollars.   The subordinate, eager to please, steals an Escalade, brings it to the "Zeta Leader" who promptly shoots the "little Zeta", while bragging to his 12 year old girlfriend....,.(sometimes they are elderly, up to 13 or 15)...."I just saved 2,000 dollars!!!"   Hahahaha!"

This child is a fifteen year old, recent graduate of secondary (which ends at 9th

grade in Mexico).    She is holding, in cash, one million pesos (80.000 dollars).

Her boyfriend, (aged 34) was a major player in the Zeta organization.   He

 recently aprehended and imprisoned by the Army.     Her mother contacted

 the Army shortly thereafter and said that her daughter wanted to pay for her crimes.

   She turned herself in to military authority the next day.This was the result

 of the increasing phenomena of the "anonymous  denunciation".

     Anyway,   there are more things, and more pleasant things to be talking about, which we shall. But, these things, while messy, speak to what I genuinely feel is going on.....A steadily improving civil situation....that in many ways was never as bad as what has been being reported .....and in other ways...was much worse.

Thank all of you as usual for your continued interest and especially for your questions and comments.

El Gringo

Questions Folks Ask Nowadays

Folks ask if I feel obliged to say nice things about the Mexican military and / or the newly formed national uniformed civilian police agency.    They would like to know if there is an unspoken requirement that is imposed by suggestion by one or another authority.    The answer is no.   

     The actual fact, simply stated, is that the Military in Mexico has had over the years the highest level of confidence among the general populace, holding first place over all institutions in the Republic.    All churches, all governments, all government agencies, most private companies and agencies and labour unions, rank below to well-below the Army and Navy.

      It is pointed out that the main offence of Mexican military personnel is that the enlisted tend to become a bit rough in the bars they frequent...sometimes.  It is also pointed out that when there is an offense in or by the military, a court martial is the normal outcome, and hard time is the normal punishment.

        The single biggest complaint against the military is...."Why can they not just stay here in our (colonia)(neighbourhood)(village)(wide spot in the road)(city) en force....why do they have to leave?"

         My answer to that is that there are obviously not enough Army troops or Naval Infantry to cover a country three time the size of Texas, with a geography ten times more complicated.   Besides, I remind the folks, even relatives begin to smell like dead fish after three days.   BUT, ever quick of mind, a very good helper..who works as a gasoline dispenser/mechanic's aide at a PEMEX station that I frequent, responded to me once...."Yes, but I would rather smell dead fish that live cucarachas anytime".  

       Still to this day we have not had an incident at or around our place.   We have been where things happened a few days ago, and where things happened after we went by.    But at or near our place, nothing.    I have not had an incident on the road.   The vast majority of people have had no direct impact from the disorders....and there is a feeling, away from the news media people,   that the upper hand was being gained by the "good guys" starting about 7 or 8  months ago.    That was when the Michoacan group was splintered and pretty much totally trashed by the Military.   It was since replaced by a group of survivors who named their organization "The Knights Templar"....which pretty much gives a person an idea of their intellectual ability.    They have, as one might suspect, been very poor operators of a crime syndicate, to this point.

       Also, more and more local and State authorities  have begun to take faith that there would really, really, really be serious backing from Mexico City to take on the plague.   MORE THAN ANYTHING, WHEN THE COMMON JOSE GARCIA AND MARIA GONZALEZ BEGAN TO SEE THAT '' DENUNCIA ANONIMA' (anonymous informant information) LINES WERE ACTUALLY BEING ANSWERED BY LIVE MILITARY NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS WITH AUTHORITY TO PROVOKE HEAVILY ARMED MILITARY RESPONSE.   THE FLOOD BEGAN AT THAT POINT. 

      For instance, in the past two weeks there have been, just in Reynosa, Tamaulipas the liberation of 150 kidnapped young men....mainly from Central America....some even from Red China....who were being held for ransom by cucarachas.   This was in three separate actions.   Just in Reynosa,  all from tip-line calls.

      Fire-fight, by fire-fight the problem will be solved....but it will still be at least 18 months to 2 years before we can be back to where we were in 2005.   But it will happen.....and the new product will be even better that the old one.

Thanks for your questions.....all questions, comments, and informational tid-bits are sincerely appreciated.

El Gringo Viejo