Border violence continues (Mexico)

Valley Morning Star ^ | 6-15-05 | MIRIAM RAMIREZ

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Shootings rock Nuevo Progreso

NUEVO PROGRESO — Tourists sipped on frozen margaritas and cold beer while walking the downtown streets Tuesday afternoon, most of whom said they were unaffected by the recent violence in the border town.

"I’d rather be here (in Nuevo Progreso) than any other place," said Randy Branson of Oklahoma City. "Great place to shop and enjoy the heat."

While taking cover from the heat under a shaded food vendor, Branson, 63, says he doesn’t pay much attention to what happens in other areas of Mexico but he calls Nuevo Progreso a "safe haven."

"There’s plenty of people around and it’s just one downtown area I stick to. Actually, anything can happen in any city," he said.

The downtown area, composed of hundreds of street vendors and odds and ends shops still welcomed a steady flow of traffic, even after gunfire erupted Monday evening several miles from the main tourist road.

About 7 p.m. Monday, a gray truck with four men inside stopped alongside a group of three men walking down Olvido Gonzalez Street, a colonia at the intersection of Calle Durango and Laredo, according to officials from the Ministerio Publico de Nuevo Progreso.

After a brief verbal exchange, the driver of the truck got out and opened fire on the group of men, said Ruben Arredondo, spokesman from the Ministerio Publico.

"One of the men in the truck asked them, ‘What are you looking at?’" Arredondo said. "That’s when he got off and shot them."

Two of the walking men, Guadalupe Muñoz Lara, 54, and Jaime Enrique De La Mora, 37, were injured. The third man in the group managed to run away.

Reynaldo Oziel Resendez, 23, ran to a nearby relative’s home for help. The gunmen caught up to Resendez, killing him and another man, 73-year-old Juventino Guerra Navarro, who was sitting outside the home, officials said. Resendez was shot once in the face and once on the left side. Navarro received a fatal gunshot wound to the torso. The men injured in the shooting were taken to Hospital General de Reynosa where they are listed in grave condition.

"The investigation continues, but that’s all we can say right now," Arredondo said. Although investigators have no motive in the case, Arredondo said the shooting is an isolated incident in the otherwise quiet town.

"We have a tourist environment and any place is capable of the unfortunate happening," he said. "There is no reason for tourists to be alarmed."

Some tourists are concerned with any violence across the border despite the fairly low risk found in Nuevo Progreso. However, the violence in other border cities is at a steady climb, especially in Nuevo Laredo, just across the Rio Grande from Laredo.

One week ago, Nuevo Laredo’s newly elected chief of police, Alejandro Dominguez, was shot down by a group of gunmen hours after taking office. More than 60 people have been killed in that city since the first of the year.

Just last month, a federal officer and three others were gunned down by a group of masked men.

So far this year, more than 160 people have been killed in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

"We just have to be careful all the time, but it is scary when something like a shooting happens," said 35-year-old Mary Martinez of Edinburg. "I don’t like hearing about stuff like that when it does happen. But I don’t think I will stop coming across."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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"We have a tourist environment and any place is capable of the unfortunate happening," he said. "There is no reason for tourists to be alarmed."

Move along.

[Iron Matron]

Branson, 63, says he doesn’t pay much attention to what happens in other areas of Mexico but he calls Nuevo Progreso a "safe haven."

So is ARUBA, don't ya know.

BTW, If Mexico is so great, why aren't they making enough money on tourism to SUPPORT THEMSELVES???!!!!

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