[Mexico:]Nuevo León gets year's 100th hit

Express-News Mexico Correspondent ^ | 11/10/2007 | Sean Mattson

[SwinneySwitch]

MONTERREY, Mexico — A man driving a late model Dodge Charger was shot dead outside a neighborhood of posh hotels and high-rises Friday morning, bringing gangland style killings to triple digits this year in the Texas-Mexico border state of Nuevo León.

The rush-hour killing was the 100th "execution" in the state in 2007, according to El Norte newspaper, which keeps the more conservative of two unofficial media tallies.

Victims have included more than two dozen police officers and a state lawmaker, most of them killed in or around Monterrey, an industrial metropolis of 3.5 million people a two-hour drive south of Laredo.

A police source identified Friday's victim as Ernesto Martínez, a bodyguard for Juan José Rojas Cardona, a local casino owner who was also in the vehicle. Rojas was hospitalized, and a taxi driver in a separate vehicle was also hurt.

Police said they were investigating the casino's activities as a possible motive for the attack.

At least one man toting an AR-15 assault rifle carried out the shooting on the busy Lázaro Cárdenas thoroughfare at about 8:30 a.m. He fled in a Jeep Cherokee without license plates, police said.

A massive police presence, including helicopters, quickly mobilized at the scene. Authorities reported no arrests.

In spite of the daylight hours and public locations of many of the 100 slayings, attackers have displayed an uncanny knack for escape — and for evading investigators. Few, if any, have been arrested.

Nuevo León is among the hardest hit states in a countrywide drug cartel feud that has killed more than 2,000 people this year, a tally that already equals a record for narcotics-related bloodshed last year.

The Sinaloa and Gulf cartels appear to be in a shaky ceasefire in their two-year struggle for control of Monterrey. The city is key transshipment turf for northbound narcotics loads and is an increasingly lucrative local distribution market.

The killings hit a crescendo in the first half of the year but have tapered off in recent months amid rumors of a truce.

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mattson.sean@gmail.com

[SwinneySwitch]

"Few, if any, have been arrested."

[goldstategop]

Mexico is corrupt. Mafioso literally run the country and if you value your life, you go on the take and keep your mouth shut.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[ECM]

Mexicans killing the Mexicans Americans don’t want to.

/s

[John Jorsett]

Nuevo Laredo is also in a state of anarchy due to drug gangs. I think the last 3 chiefs of police were assassinated. Basically, stay out of any Mexican town whose name starts with ‘Nuevo’. Or better yet, stay out of Mexico entirely.

[goldstategop]

I'd stay out. La Mordida rules so bring along plenty of cash to lubricate the governmental wheels there.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[SwinneySwitch]

Ping!

If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Glen Beck had a Texas border sheriff on his show the other night. The sheriff, a guy named West, said the Mexican Army at times places squads of troops as far as 15 miles into U.S. territory. He said these soldiers are there to protect a drug corridor that runs up to Dallas. He said his deputies chased some of these guys back across the border and they were fired at by Mexican troops with 50-caliber sniper rifles. He said the feds were nowhere on this problem.

[mtbopfuyn]

At least they’re keeping it on that side of the border.... oh, never mind.

[goldstategop]

Mexican violence is an excellent reason to build a fence the entire length of the border. I'd rather their problems weren't easily exported here.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[umgud]

If we solved the illegal immigration problem tomorrow and didn’t include the fence, criminals and possibly terrorists would still be coming accross the the fenceless border.

[SwinneySwitch]

Another Texas Sheriff:

Congressman vs. Sheriff[South Texas fallout from Glenn Beck Show]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1923817/posts

Click on zetas in Keywords, Brad.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Thanks.

One way to silence the sheriff is for Rep. Cuellar’s brother to replace him as sheriff.

[dufekin]

...criminals and possibly terrorists would still be coming accross the the fenceless border.

And that's exactly why we need a fence on the Southwestern border. We complain too much with the illegal immigrants who come simply for a decent-paying job and a better life for their families, but those with less benign motivations pose more some serious problems.

[FlyVet]

One of my main worries with mass illegal immigration is that this level of corruption will drift northward into our politics and law enforcement, as if our own guv isn’t corrupt enough already. Too bad so many of our short-sighted and self-serving pols can’t (or won’t) see it coming.