Posted on 08/15/2010 12:05:50 PM PDT by I still care
El Cercado is a sleepy village in the foothills of the Sierra Madre.
It is situated about half an hour's drive south of Monterrey, Mexico's third largest city. ...
Four years ago I was lucky enough to spend a little time in El Cercado.
My aunt Blanca and uncle Juan invited my mother and me to stay in their weekend retreat - a spacious old ranch, crammed with family bric-a-brac, with a terrace running the length of the house.
We would sit in rocking chairs listening to the birds and contemplating the view.
Each morning, before the sun was too high, we went for rambling walks along dirt tracks that criss-crossed the hills above the house, returning before the heat of the day to rest in the shade.
At night we would roast meat on the barbecue, and spend hours around the card table, a glass of tequila in hand.
Above all, that house was a place for family.
Living in fear
So when I returned to Monterrey this summer and learnt that Blanca and Juan's daughter was soon to be married, warm memories came flooding back.
"Will the wedding be held at El Cercado,?" I asked enthusiastically.
The gangsters set up roadblocks at night - they stop people, rob them, and sometimes kidnap them
My uncle looked both surprised and dismayed in equal measure.
Alarmed by his expression, I wondered if perhaps I had revealed some crass misapprehension of Mexican wedding protocol.
Perhaps the house was considered too "basic" a venue for a wedding reception.
I was unprepared for his response:
"Oh no, we don't go there any more. It's become far too dangerous," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Excuse me, close the borders and there won't be any problems.
If anyone starts whining on you on poor mexico, tell them why it is viciously exploitive of poor Mexicans that the border is so porous.
For a view of the mess that is Mexico from their news sources, check the NAFBPO daily report. Here’s some recent:
El Diario de Juarez (Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua) 8-10-10
Border insecurity a myth
Washington – The results of a poll taken among U.S. border residents released today concludes that border insecurity is a myth perpetrated by U.S. political conservatives in order to put troops on the border.
This myth is propagated by political personalities, such as Republican Governor Jan Brewer, who recently spoke of “murderers, chaos and terror” in the region, but “statistics show that the border region is among the most secure areas in the nation where there has been no demonstrable rise in crime in several years,” according to the pro-immigrant organization Border Network for Human Rights in poll results released today.
The poll was taken in July from more than 1200 border residents in California and Arizona.
The results were released to the U.S. House of Representatives which approved 600 million dollars to improve security along more than 3000 kilometers of U.S./Mexico border. The House also approved the deployment of 1200 National Guardsmen to Support the U.S. Border Patrol. Since the bill with be forwarded to the U.S. Senate in September, pro-immigrant groups have labeled this action a “deceptive” and “ineffective.”
http://www.diario.com.mx/nota.php?notaid=6fa77ef7f2dbcb5201c2b19093cc53dd
El Imparcial (Hermosillo, Sonora) 8-10-10
Calderón confirms gain
Mexico, D. F. – President Felipe Calderón says that contrary to popular belief, we are winning the war against organized crime.
“I understand perfectly that the general perception is that we are losing the war (against crime), but I also understand the general perception is that we are obligated to fight,” he said.
The number of dead reflects the disputes between the cartels and criminal groups and does not indicate that we are losing the war against criminal organizations, according to Calderón.
http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Nacional/10082010/
462713.aspx
Calderon lies
(An editorial)
El Diario – The triumphant statements of President Felipe Calderon that the government is winning the war on organized crime shows that the federal authority does not pay attention to the reality the country is living. The stubbornness of maintaining such a lie embarrasses our civil leaders, businessmen and lawyers here on the border.
Yesterday the Presidential address stated that, contrary to general opinion, we are winning the war against organized crime.
Journalists have confirmed that during the last two and a half years confrontations with criminal groups have resulted in more than 6,000 deaths on the border. The perception is that the government has failed to contain the violence.
Calderon assured leaders of political parties in Mexico City, “Despite the cowardly acts, like executions of soldiers and federal police officers, the truth is that in the great majority of confrontations between federal authorities and criminal groups, the government has won.”
Calderon asserted at the same time that the increase of violence is not an indicator of whether the strategy is working, although the number of homicides is spectacular, (according to CISEN, the number is 28,000) Calderon says the number is not a method to measure.
We, on a day to day basis, witness how crime is beating the government
http://www.diario.com.mx/nota.php?notaid=afc505954171cc47525e174387391107
Cambio de Michoacan (Morelia) 8-11-10
Cartels dispute the area of Colima
Colima – Two simultaneous attacks on Pubic Security forces in Manzanillo prompted the Governor of the state to convene an urgent meeting of State Pubic Security Police forces.
The State Attorney General (PGJE) said that three police officers lost their lives and another was seriously wounded in the attacks which prompted an intense response of several different police agencies in this port city.
In the first attack, henchmen armed with AK-47’s and AR-15’s fired upon uniformed officers who were patrolling in the tourist zone. In that attack, two policemen fell.
In the second attack near Salahua, one policeman died and another was wounded.
After those attacks, authorities deployed checkpoints around the city in an effort to catch the henchmen.
The port (of Manzanillo) is the principal point of commerce on the Mexican Pacific coast but has been turned into a Port of Entry for massive amounts of illicit chemicals and cocaine.
The size and intense commercial activity of Manzanillo facilitates the movement of illicit cargo to the east and eventually into the United States. This has aroused the intense interests, not only of big businessmen, but of the criminal organizations and cartels who move drugs. They are fighting for control of this transportation network bringing in products from Asia and South America. This fight has cost the lives of 31 people, and wounded 22 just this year. And, this fight has caused the kidnapping of 15 innocent people, the seizure of hundreds of munitions, arms, grenades, vehicles and narco-laboratories.
Authorities are afraid that in the coming days the fight for control of this area between Los Zetas, La Familia and others will escalate.
http://www.cambiodemichoacan.com.mx/vernota.php?id=131383
——————–
El Financiero (Mexico City) 8-11-10
Intimidation and corruption of judges a continuous concern
Mexico, D. F. – The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Mexico (SCJN), Guillermo Ortiz Mayagoitia, said that protecting judges from intimidation and corruption are the two major concerns that there are within the jurisdiction of Federal Judicial Power.
In addressing the security of the political body of the state with representatives of the judiciary, Ortiz said that the struggle against crime in the community and the judiciary must be with absolute adherence to the law and the rights of the state.
He said that in exercising judicial power, there must be no illegal action or obligation to outside influences and that all indictments must be fully investigated in his address to all 42 district judges and magistrates.
“The fight against organized crime must be conducted in absolute adherence to the law under effective prosecution while observing individual rights,” stated Judge Ortiz Mayagoitia.
Ortiz stated that the struggle against threats to the security of the Republic requires that all judges in the nation be on the same side which is the side of citizenship and democracy.
In respect to judicial power, he said that every person needs to be sure that every judge is doing his duty according to judicial standards in everything he does in conducting the business of the state.
——————–
El Diario de Juarez (Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua) 8-11-10
Gunmen kill two men in a medical clinic
Cd. Juarez – Two men, one of them already wounded, were shot down by hit men in a medical clinic as part of a violent journey yesterday that ended with 11 dead.
Early in the morning there were five dead, by noon there were six.
First there were two brothers killed by gunshots, then the police found dead bodies on the street, killed by gunfire. Later, a body of a woman was thrown onto the street from a vehicle by several men in an industrial park.
Earlier, two men appeared at a medical clinic where one sought treatment for a gunshot wound. Later an unknown man entered the hospital and shot both of them dead.
Finally, a man riding a bicycle was shot down and his companion was kidnapped.
http://www.diario.com.mx/nota.php?notaid=e1d12ac52eaa8f4df775fb20540ff881
El Universal (Mexico City) 8/12/10 20 police resign in Manzanillo After the assassination of three of their companions and because of the grenade attacks that security offices have suffered in the past few days in the port city of Manzanillo, Colima, around 20 officers of the police force have resigned their positions. The wave of violence by the war of organized criminals in their struggle for control of the port area is causing fear among the security forces. “We do not have sufficient equipment like firearms, patrol vehicles, protective vests and radio equipment,” the police charge. The Manzanillo city officials have remained silent about the resignations. —–
Armed encounter in Durango leaves 11 dead A gun battle between a group of organized criminals and the Mexican Army in the town of Santiago Papasquiaro, Durango, left 11 people dead and 3 soldiers wounded. —–
US Ambassador suggests anti-crime strategy US Ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual, proposes a security strategy in the border area that consists of Army vigilance perimeters that will gradually be increased to include complete residential areas. The plan includes a two way strategy where the US accepts as imperative the reduction of arms traffic. The ambassador recommended that police at the three levels of government, with the support of the Mexican Army, participate in a strategy of vigilance to make people feel more secure. ——————– El Financiero (Mexico City) 8/12/10
Anti-immigrant activities drive Latino bloc Los Angeles, California (Notimex) – Anti-immigrant activities are making US Latinos aware of the importance of participation and the necessity of finally creating a Latino bloc, asserted a union leader, Eliseo Medina. ”Measures like SB 1070 in Arizona and those of denying citizenship to children of undocumenteds are only awakening them,” he said. In California there is a total of 3.3 million Latino registered voters and some million and a half who can register to vote “and to this group we are going to focus,” he emphasized. ——————– -end of report-
http://m3report.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/cartels-fight-over-colima/
And Mexican officials make such a show when an illegal is abused or roughed up in the US. Yet they are totally impotent when it comes to stopping the wholesale slaughter in their country.
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