Zetas leader 'El Lazca' killed in Matamoros | matamoros, sources, close - Brownsville Herald

Zetas leader 'El Lazca' killed in Matamoros | matamoros, sources, close - Brownsville Herald

© Copyright The Brownsville Herald 2011

Sources close to The Brownsville Herald have confirmed that Heriberto "El Lazca" Lazcano Lazcano, the leader of the Zetas, was killed today in Matamoros after a gruesome firefight with the Gulf Cartel.

Since shortly after 2 p.m., firefights broke out throughout the city as the two forces clashed. Sources claim Lazcano was killed near Avenida Del Niño and Lauro Villar.

This is the second firefight between the two cartels in as many days.

The following is commentary by El Gringo Viejo, and includes other information that has been garnered from other reliable sources.

      This is something of a bulletin and a matter with direct impact on the Gringo Viejo. This particular individual, Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, has been associated with the turn to the macabre by the Zeta cartel.    He is, or was, noted to purposefully choose incompetent foot soldiers because of the enjoyment he received in learning about their deaths. It made him think of himself as someone very important because so many people would willingly die for him. He is, or was, associated with the leadership of the San Fernando cell of the ZETA group. The Army chased down El Lazca's immediate lieutenant, Raul Edwardo Martinez Lugo in Escobedo, Nuevo Leon yesterday....along with two 14 year old "boyfriends" and another ZETA veteran in a motel, The Sunset (actually a nice place) on the old Laredo Highway, but still well within the metropolitan area adjacent to the northern sections of Monterrey. Those four were taken alive. The lieutenant was the fellow in charge of warehousing and other initiatives of violence in the county where our little adobe house is located. He and his boss, La Lazca, are implicated with certainty in the assassination of the gubernatorial candidate of the PRI party last year....just days before the election which would have resulted, beyond any doubt, in the candidate's election. His brother served as a stand-in candidate, for instance, and won with 70% of the vote in a three-way race.

The lieutenant is also implicated in the assassination of the Presidente Municipal of the county where our place is.....and many other very serious crimes, both in Mexico and in Texas. La Lazca himself is, or was, wanted for questioning in various matters that have taken place in Texas over the past few months. These developments started with a tectonic rumble about five months ago, and with each passing day, the people have taken up the challenge and have begun to make more and more "anonymous denunciations" on the military's equivilant of the 911 emergency line.

Two weeks ago, the two cartels of interest began a firefight in Matamoros which proceeded up the Rio Grande to a place called Lucio Blanco. There the Gulf Cartel gunmen shredded up the bulk of a group of about 40 Zetas, while taking significant casualties at the same time.
     The Mexican Army had taken up positions near where they figured the two cartels would shoot it out, and towards the end of the engagement, the military came in and assaulted both bands of delinquents. According to the locals the number of dead and seriously wounded among the cartel people was "staggering"....perhaps as many as 60 dead with all engagements included. Most of the damage was inflicted by the Army.

Remnants re-initiated hostilities inside of Matamoros again yesterday, and the Army duplicated their tactic of moving in to engage both sets of gunmen and hit the jackpot with the killing of La Lazca and several of his closest buddies.

All of this has pretty much followed the time-line that the Old Gringo was anticipating. The effort is far from over, but the battle is well joined and the Mexican Armed Forces are excelling at every stage.


Thanks for your attention!   This story will be up-dated during the night as additional details become available.
El Gringo Viejo

Forwarded from a Combat Veteran/ Viet Nam to a non-combat Veteran/ Viet Nam Era

The Old Gringo's best friend, then as now, sent this screed from a soldier who must be some kind of grandson of Marquis de LaFayette.....a symbol of everything fine about French People.....who is serving and actually exposed to front-line combat situations in Afghanistan.    The Froggy watches the Yank and writes down his observations.    It becomes clear that Froggy is not Kermit, nor is he arrogant nor is he predictable in his views.    He is blunt.    For those with combat and/or close support experience, you will all know that Froggy is a true, professional soldier.   He is also a good and fair man.   See his words and share them....

       The Old Gringo runs this so that OROGs can show family members with frontliners and forward support people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

French view of American Military 
by Jean-Marc Liotier 
 
American troops in Afghanistan through the eyes of a French OMLT infantryman 
 
The US often hears echoes of worldwide hostility against the application of its foreign policy, but seldom are they reached by the voices of  people who experience first hand how close we are to the USA. 
 
In spite of contextual political differences and conflicting interests that generate friction, we do share the same fundamental values - and  when push comes to shove that is what really counts. 
 
Through the eyes of that French OMLT (Operational Mentoring Liaison Teams) infantryman you can see how strong the bond is on the ground. In contrast with the Americans, the French soldiers don't seem to write much online - or maybe the proportion is the same but we just have fewer people deployed. Whatever the reason, this is a rare and moving testimony which is why I decided to translate it into English, so that American people can catch a glimpse of the way European soldiers see them. Not much high philosophy here, just the first hand impressions of a soldier in contact - but that only makes it more authentic. 
 
Here is link to the original French if you want to double check. Article,http://omlt3-kdk3.over-blog.com/article-22935665.html_ <http://omlt3-kdk3.over-blog.com/article-22935665.html_> 
(http://omlt3-kdk3.over-blog.com/article-22935665.html <http://omlt3-kdk3.over-blog.com/article-22935665.html> ) and here is English translation : 
 
"We have shared our daily life with two US units for quite a while - they are the first and fourth companies of a prestigious infantry battalion whose name I will withhold for the sake of military secrecy. 
 
To the common man it is a unit just like any other. But we live with them and got to know them, and we henceforth know that we have the honor to live with one of the most renowned units of the US Army - one that the movies brought to the public as series showing "ordinary soldiers thrust into extraordinary events". Who are they, those soldiers from abroad, how is their daily life, and what support do they bring to the men of our OMLT every day? Few of them belong to the Easy Company, the one the TV series focuses on. This one nowadays is named Echo Company, and it has become the support company. 
 
They have a very strong American accent - the language they speak seems to be not even English. How many times did I have to write down what I wanted to say rather than waste precious minutes trying various pronunciations of a seemingly common word? Whatever state they are from, no two accents are alike and they themselves admit that in some crisis situations they have difficulties understanding each other. 
 
Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins at places like Waffle House and McDonalds - they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and their muscles remind us of Rambo. Our frames are amusingly skinny to them - even the strongest of us - and because of that they often mistake us for Afghans. 
 
Here we discover America as it is often depicted: their values are taken to their paroxysm, often amplified by the loneliness of this outpost in the middle of that Afghan valley. Honor, motherland - everything here reminds of that: the American flag floating in the wind above the outpost, just like the one on the postage parcels. Even if recruits often originate from the heart of American cities and gang territory, no one here has any goal other than to hold high and proud the star spangled banner. 
 
Each man knows he can count on the support of their whole people who provide them through the mail all the things that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location: books, chewing gums, razorblades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. 
 
Every man is aware of how much the American people backs him in his difficult mission. And that is a first shock to our preconceptions: the American soldier is no individualist. The team, the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention. 
 
And they are impressive warriors! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how. Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seems to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest. 
 
On the one square meter tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight focused in the directions of likely danger. No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days. At night, all movements are performed in the dark - only a handful of subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence of a soldier on the move. Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered - everything happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump. 
 
And combat? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all - always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay. That is one of their tricks: they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes. Arriving in contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting: they just charge! They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later - which cuts any pussyfooting short. 
 
(This is the main area where I'd like to comment. Anyone with a passing knowledge of Kipling knows the lines from Chant Pagan: 'If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white/remember its ruin to run from a fight.  /So take open order, lie down, sit tight/And wait for supports like a soldier./ This, in fact, is the basic philosophy of both British and Continental soldiers. 'In the absence of orders, take a defensive position.' Indeed, virtually every army in the world. 
 
The American soldier and Marine, however, are imbued from early in their training with the ethos: In the Absence of Orders: Attack! Where other forces, for good or ill, will wait for precise orders and plans to respond to an attack or any other 'incident', the American force will simply go counting on firepower and SOP to carry the day. 
 
This is one of the great strengths of the American force in combat and it is something that even our closest allies, such as the Brits and Aussies (that latter being closer by the way) find repeatedly surprising. No wonder it surprises the hell out of our enemies!) 
 
We seldom hear any harsh word, and from 5 AM onwards the camp chores are performed in beautiful order and always with excellent spirit. A passing American helicopter stops near a stranded vehicle just to check that everything is alright; an American combat team will rush to support ours before even knowing how dangerous the mission is - from what we have been given to witness, the American soldier is a beautiful and worthy heir to those who liberated France and Europe. 
 To those who bestow us with the honor of sharing their combat outposts and who everyday give proof of their military excellence, to those who pay the daily tribute of America's army's deployment on Afghan soil, to those we owed this article, ourselves hoping that we will always remain worthy of them and to always continue hearing them say that we are all the same band of brothers". 
 

      We have to remember that, when the Old Timers would go back to Normandy and travel through the countryside and small towns of the province of Brittany it was difficult for them to receive and accept all the free beer, food, back-slapping, tears of gratitude, kisses, hugs, wine, stories about interaction between the French people of that area and the GI's, etc.      The response of those people to the American presence and contribution seems to be genetically imprinted in perpetuity.

      It's a good day to be the Old Gringo, honorably discharged, USArmy  (even if the Yankees think they won the war).
 Thank everyone for their time and attention.

Observations from OROGs

Every now and then we review comments, emails, and other communications from OROGs and others.   It helps keep the lid screwed on.   This time we ran across the letter of a left-handed, right-brained Ph.D. who is one of the "reasonable" people.  This individual was involved with the Old Gringo and with his family back in the days when he was a juvenile deliquent in training, mixed with a bit of a know-it-all preppy and all around "cool guy"  (read: arrogant, self-centered, spoiled, conceited narcissist).   The Old Gringo was...after all...the only "cool guy" in McAllen with a new Kharmann Ghia Volkswagen, and even Playboy Magazine declared that automobile to be the quintessential "Cool Guy" ride.

     In any regard, the comments sent by this individual, who is a tenured professor at Texas's premier public university....the one in College Station - Bryan.....confided some opinions about my political orientation.    The same individual also revealed (confessed) "extreme moderate" views guided that contributor's political leanings.     My response  (once again...everything is about the Old Gringo still) was telling and worth sharing with other OROGs so that you all will know how I try to divy-up the servings on this blog.   We try to keep it interesting and pointed without over-dosing on Lite-mayonaise and low cholesterol rice-cakes.    We recognize that many folks....some of our "followers"....review this screed to gain a bit of insight into a slightly pro-Mexican rightwing vintage.     So, the entry below is an only slightly redacted response to the OROG from the prestigious University.

• Thanks for your message,  You are a Trojan for putting up with my rightwing rants....I think you can see my softer edges even in the sputtering and spluttering ..but I appreciate your not jumping on what is left of my bones.   Your environment is a bit different and your point view is certainly filtered by great intelligence, so it is best that we leave political sleeping dogs lie between us as we drift on to the horizon.
• I normally try to do 1/3 rightwing meltdown, 1/3 Mexico geography, good, bad, history, politics, archeology, anthropology, sociology, demographics, weather & climate, business and commerce, and 1/3 personal history, activities, and life in a rural area in a homemade, handmade adobe home on a beautiful River in front of the beautiful mountains.
• Later
• Thanks for making the coffee
• The Old Gringo

       You all will notice my guiding formula.....rather much like mixing up the pitches in baseball.   Hope you all enjoy this "kinder and gentler" look at the Old Gringo.  Now, back to the Wars.....
El Viejo Gringo Vengador

El Gringo Viejo Plays the Role of Grandfather

We try to avoid showing ourselves around too much during these times , but all Anglos look pretty much alike, I presume.  The little one in the pink gown (made up by her "Grammy" as a special gift) on the left is part English/Welsh mongrel, Prussian/Saxon mongrel, and Spanish colonial mongrel.    I guess that makes her a pure-bred Texan.....and an American to boot.   She really is a little beauty, even judging without a curve.    She is also sharp as a tack and very adept at controlling "big people".
      Her "big sister", equally a knock-out and "quick as a whip" as my mother used to say,  is over on the right with a purple and green "Mermaid Dress" made up for special events by her "Grammy".  Her ancestry is exactly the same, of course.   We have difficulty telling which is whom in solo shots when they are at the same age....remember to label such photographs before memories dim.

      This is a picture taken somewhere,  designed to convince the OROG community that my succeeding generations will vindicate my worth.     My daughter and son-in-law have done wonders with both their girls.  It is amazing what selfless investment by simultaneous paternal and maternal influences, guided by a proven catechism, can accomplish.

Thanks for your time and attention.

El Gringo Viejo

Where? Oh! Where? Fast and Furious?? Really??

     These were the days that tired men's souls.
    It is very difficult to engineer a computer application when one understands naught about any of it.   In any regard, our problem is that the URL used in the reformation of our website could not be adapted to the page.   Another URL appeared during the final reconstruction.   The old URL would only access the old webpage that looked like  Fred and Barney  had done it in the garage.    Now the Old Gringo has one that is modernized to the point that it looks like Mrs. Cleaver did it while cooking her famous casserole.    But, it cannot be accessed by the old URL.   So....welcome to North Conundrum.

        After considerable pursuit by Pharaoh's chariots and cavalry, and repeated assaults by Pickett's delayed Brigade, the Old Gringo finally developed a way to essentially hand-change the URL everywhere the webpage is normally accessed.  This will delay the time that new business cards have to be ordered and paid for.    At this time we are requesting that OROGs advise their friends and families to log onto the webpage through the blogsite.  We have three radioactive links placed in the first two paragraphs welcoming the world to  ''A Gringo in Rural Mexico".

               So, after great, nearly incomprehensible effort El Gringo Viejo finally managed to do something that might appear to be miraculous.   But, it might actually have been all luck.   At least there is a predictable channel for OROGs to find the website and the new little tweaking and attachments that have been placed there.    And just imagine, you all don't even have to get your feet wet.   You all enjoy the cyber scenery and the Old Gringo will take care of Pharaoh's men.


FAST AND FURIOUS??
       With special reference to the "Fast and Furious" program conducted by the ATF.....inserting automatic weapons into Mexico in order to trace the path those weapons take into the hands of demonic sacks of garbage born with no souls.....this is another reason  why this Old Gringo has always been suspicious of the FBI, and especially the ATF.   This might make me sound like one of the anti-government nut-cases, but the ATF has a record replete with disastrous outcomes.   The FBI, with the approval and prodding of Hillary Clinton and Janet Reno and the Hero of the Battle of Mount Carmel, Gen. Wesley Clark, did manage to kill 42 children because their parents happened to have fewer guns per adult-in-residence than the average Texas household.  It was deemed to be permissible because Hillary Clinton had to be the most intelligent woman on the Planet....nay! the most intelligent human....She took care of her part in the matter later by saying she had nothing to do with it.
         It would have behooved the ATF et. al. to have read the Old Gringo's blog and learned that 90% of the arms and ammunition used by the cartel people come from sources including but not limited to Red China, Viet Nam, Russia, Cuba, Serbia, and Venezuela.  Those are the ones who are deep into the illegal and extra-legal armaments trade.  
         It is lamentable to report that there have been more than a few AR-16 .223 automatic assault rifles (redundant?) that have been purloined by civilian and military personnel on American military installations.  Various National Guard facilities have lost such weapons and ammunition over the years, as well.  some of the losses have been "considerable", although the total number of weapons is very small compared to those imported from the off-shore providers.
         One of the reasons there is so much armament going into Mexico is because the cartel people do not care for their weapons, or care for them correctly.   The Chinese ones, in particular, are knock-offs of the AK-47 and AR-16.    The generally last for about 40 to 50 rounds before becoming useless.
Much is captured by the Mexican armed forces.   There is always a need to be re-supplied and the off-shore dealers do their best to address the demand.    
         The Old Gringo will guard his words.   Oddly, it is for fear of retaliation by the police agencies of the United States of America.    The Old Gringo has to go back and forth across the bridges as a matter of the course of his life.   It is urged however that all readers who might care search the web for the daily stories about what is actually going on within the ranks of those sworn to defend the Nation and its Constitution.    As you all go through the website listings on your various search engines, throw out the Timothy McVeigh anti-government nuts, the anti-Negro nuts, the "nobody is illegal just because he is here" nuts, and the anti-America, communist and national socialist hate America first, push the Jews into the sea nuts........There are various places where reasonable, sworn testimony before Congress and other forums can be retrieved that will curl everyone's hair.  Look it up yourselves, please.


      These things are remembered.     Poor, chubby, Security Guard Richard Jewell who was the hero of the Atlanta Olypics plaza explosion.   His running towards a suspicious package and shouting for people to "Move away!  Get Back!" probably saved 30 or 40 people.   Three were killed or seriously wounded.   His compensation for this was to be hounded by the FBI for the next 20 months as a suspect until the stress finally indirectly, but certainly, caused his premature death.   His attorney indicated that the FBI would repeatedly ransack his mother's home and garage....always waiting until they knew everything had been put back in place, beds remade, drawers re-filled, kitchen and table ware picked up off the floor, nails and tools collected from the garage floor.....as many as 2o times in 20 months.    Jewell was admonished that the "on-site investigations" by the FBI and ATF agents would stop when Jewell "would finally come clean".     Later, of course, the real bomber was found, primarily by police work done by local Jethros and Bubbas working for Red Neck County Constable's Office in Rebel Yell, Georgia.


    It is truly remarkable when an American has to guard his words in America, except for those whose speech is intended only to destroy this great Nation.


More later....
El Gringo Viejo 

About Things in General

     Days continue to pass at our little place and yet nothing really happens.   No bad things anyway.   That life continues, the cats and dogs come round and by for their feedings and attention....seeking their favourite cool spots to hide from the effusions of gamma and beta soakings sent down from an angry Tropical Sun.   The bigger trees continue to do well, in spite of the lack of rain, because they are still soaked  at the roots due to last wet season's heavy soakings and inundations.

       The main problem we are all watching out for is the fire issue.   There is just so much Johnson grass and other low growing "yerba" (green undergrowth, among the various interpretations....everything depends upon context with the word.    It can even mean marijuana or mint).    At the moment all the previous fires have run their course.    Real damage anywhere around us is minimal, because the fires have been incidental, like roadside situations.   Strategically, a case could be made that we might be in an advantageous situation because so much has been burned we are found in a doughnut hole of green, surrounded by already blackened areas.     These blackened areas are important because they are the ones with the dense grass that is most likely to flare up and invade the really thick tropical forests at the foot of the mountains' skirts.


      We simply wait for rain.   The hurricane season is upon us, and we are willing.....very willing.....to trade a medium hurricane for what we have now. 


          While the normal OROG is tired of me responding to this question, it continues to be asked.  I shall be brief.   To this point I still have not seen or been involved in any "situation of risk" in terms of the on-going wars between the traffickers and the efforts by the military and police to eliminate the plague that besets almost every country in the New World at this time.     It should be pointed out that every time the President has declared increased troop commitment into this State, he has complied.    The military has complied, and their efforts have paid off with steadily improving social climate here and elsewhere in the State.
            The war is assymetrical, so it takes a thousand well-trained military people to eliminate 10 cockroaches per week.  We have 60,000 naval infantry and soldiers in the two adjacent States of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon now.    It is expensive.   It is necessary.  The alternative is to have Detroit or any other such  major American city's central urban situation  as the new norm and constant.


       That is my brief up-date and response to a few questions recently posed by reasonable people who are asking reasonable questions based upon what information is available to them.


More Later,
El Gringo Viejo