Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mexican army secures Rio Bravo
Valley Morning Star/The Monitor ^ | December 1, 2007 | MARTHA LETICIA HERNANDEZ

Posted on 12/01/2007 9:57:24 PM PST by SwinneySwitch

Shooting outside downtown restaurant left 6 dead, 3 wounded

RIO BRAVO — The Mexican army cordoned off Rio Bravo early Friday, one day after a shooting outside a downtown restaurant left three hospitalized and six dead, including prominent political figure Juan Antonio Guajardo Anzalduá.

Soldiers searched vehicles leaving and entering the city, which sits in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas across the Rio Grande from Donna(Texas). Some residents of the city said the incident has frightened them, and the residents fear violence in the city could escalate. “We are afraid. We are very scared,” one Rio Bravo woman said in Spanish, requesting anonymity out of concern for her safety. “We think that something bigger could happen.”

Gunmen opened fire about 5:30 p.m. Thursday as Guajardo and his entourage left a restaurant on Madero Avenue. Guajardo was the former mayor of Rio Bravo, a two-term representative and a one-time senator. He was seeking re-election before he died Thursday, one day before his 49th birthday.

The spray of bullets ripped through Guajardo’s group and several bystanders.

Authorities identified the deceased as Gerardo Enrique Guzman Velásquez, Carlos Hugo Moncada Gonzalez, Jesús Mata García, and federal agents Gastón Miguel Cequeda Garcia and Israel Sanchez García. The federal agents have guarded Guajardo for months, after an assassination attempt on him earlier this year.

Tight lips

Law enforcement officials revealed little about the investigation, which will be led by Assistant District Attorney No. 3 Gerardo Treviño Martinez. Treviño’s office said he spent Friday in Reynosa, overseeing the delivery of the bodies and interviewing the three injured people, who were hospitalized in Reynosa.

One of the injured victims is a federal agent, who suffered a bullet wound to his abdomen.

A bullet grazed a woman’s chest, and a third woman’s leg broke when a bullet struck her.

So far, authorities have released no motive for the shooting. Earlier in the year, the Zetas organized crime syndicate had threatened Guajardo’s life, and he had also narrowly avoided an assassination attempt, prompting the government to assign bodyguards to him.

Reynosa will mourn him

Authorities returned Guajardo’s body to his family Thursday evening.

The Valle de la Paz funeral home in Reynosa will handle the arraignments, and there will be a visitation today at the Casa de la Cultura on Madero Avenue in Rio Bravo, between streets Juarez and 16 de septiembre.

As of late Friday, the Reynosa funeral home continued to prepare the body. On Sunday, a Mass will be celebrated in Guajardo’s honor at the San Jose Catholic Church on Argentina Street in Reynosa. He will be buried in that city at the Valle de la Paz cemetery.

Rio Bravo’s current mayor, Juan De Dios Cavazos Cardenas, has offered to have Guajardo lie in state outside City Hall to honor him for his public service. Guajardo was not running against Cavazos, because in Mexico mayors must wait a term before seeking re-election.

As of press deadline, it was unclear if Guajardo’s widow, Sofia de Guajardo, had accepted Cavazos’ offer.

“We feel overwhelmed,” Cavazos Cardenas said in Spanish during a brief interview at Rio Bravo City Hall.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Mexico
KEYWORDS: borderwar; cultureofcorruption; illegalimmigration; invasion; mexicantroops; mexico; organizedcrime; riobravo; terrorism; wod; zetas
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last
Guajardo was a strong critic of the infiltration of drug gangs in the November mayoral elections.
1 posted on 12/01/2007 9:57:26 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: bigjoesaddle; FryingPan101; AnimalLover; backtothestreets; Olephart; pulaskibush; ...

Zetas ping!

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


2 posted on 12/01/2007 10:02:07 PM PST by SwinneySwitch (US Constitution Article 4 Section 4..shall protect each of them against Invasion...domestic Violence)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SouthTexas

Get out now ST!!!!!


3 posted on 12/01/2007 10:05:38 PM PST by tubebender (The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SwinneySwitch

I thought this was a Mexican history thread!


4 posted on 12/01/2007 10:09:33 PM PST by RDTF ("Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear". Mark Twain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SwinneySwitch

Everyone knows The Duke secured Rio Bravo.

5 posted on 12/01/2007 10:31:39 PM PST by GATOR NAVY
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tubebender

Nothing major, just a typical Mexican election.


6 posted on 12/01/2007 11:53:53 PM PST by SouthTexas
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: GATOR NAVY

Rio Bravo = Rio Grande, from the Mexican side.


7 posted on 12/02/2007 12:06:49 AM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (All of this has happened before, and will happen again!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: GATOR NAVY

You beat me to it!


8 posted on 12/02/2007 12:25:47 AM PST by Huntress (The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility.--Admiral Sir John Arbuthnot Fisher)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SwinneySwitch
Guajardo was a strong critic of the infiltration of drug gangs in the November mayoral elections.

That took a lot of courage. It seems like anytime one hears about a Mexican public figure trying to do something about the drug gangs, the next thing you know, that person is assassinated. So people who could be good leaders and help Mexico develop are constantly being eliminated.

9 posted on 12/02/2007 12:56:50 AM PST by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wilhelm Tell
It was only a decade ago that Sicillian politicians and "il popoli" started to protest about La Cosa Nostra and the code of "Omerta." Let's hope that the folks in the border towns get some stones re the Narcotraficos.

A shame as northern Mexico away from the border is a relatively prosperous and peaceful area (see Monterrey, Durango, etc.). Juarez is the worst city north of DF.

10 posted on 12/02/2007 1:00:10 AM PST by Clemenza (Rudy Giuliani, like Pesto and Seattle, belongs in the scrap heap of '90s Culture)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: SwinneySwitch

Our good neighbor and ally Mexico.

Send us your unwashed, uneducated masses.
Narco mafia.


11 posted on 12/02/2007 2:06:07 AM PST by Joe Boucher (An enemy of Islam)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Joe Boucher
It's America's fault!!!!

No, really, it is.

Because American citizens are willing ,nay,eager, to buy and ingest illegall drugs in hope of "highs" and "better sex",plus those fine American businessmen and "farmers" who care only that the hired illegal immigrant labor is cheap,this nation is the culprit.

If U.S. of A. was not the place to make money selling illegal drugs and labor ,they would not be here.

12 posted on 12/02/2007 4:42:39 AM PST by hoosierham (Waddaya mean Freedom isn't free ?;will you take a creditcard?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: SwinneySwitch

I thought Rio Bravo was Mexican for the Rio Grande River, starting in Colorado, going through New Mexico and then forming the boundary between Texas and Mexico. Is there also a Mexican town called Rio Bravo?


13 posted on 12/02/2007 5:02:20 AM PST by BuffaloJack (Before the government can give you a dollar it must first take it from another American)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hoosierham

It may help if Mexico would try to provide jobs for their unwashed and uneducated.
Arizonas new law making it illegal to hire illegals is having wonderful effects.
Lots of illegals are leaving there.


14 posted on 12/02/2007 5:14:13 AM PST by Joe Boucher (An enemy of Islam)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: BuffaloJack
Rio Bravo, MX.
15 posted on 12/02/2007 5:19:43 AM PST by TLI ( ITINERIS IMPENDEO VALHALLA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: RDTF

Stay tuned for the Mexican Civil War.


16 posted on 12/02/2007 12:14:08 PM PST by SwinneySwitch (US Constitution Article 4 Section 4..shall protect each of them against Invasion...domestic Violence)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: BuffaloJack

Si. Rio Bravo is also a Texas colonia near Laerdo


17 posted on 12/02/2007 12:21:54 PM PST by SwinneySwitch (US Constitution Article 4 Section 4..shall protect each of them against Invasion...domestic Violence)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: SwinneySwitch

Laerdo = Laredo


18 posted on 12/02/2007 12:25:15 PM PST by SwinneySwitch (US Constitution Article 4 Section 4..shall protect each of them against Invasion...domestic Violence)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Clemenza

Not Monterrey for over a year now, Clemenza.

The Dangers Of Crossing The Border

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1928070/posts

Click on keyword Monterrey.


19 posted on 12/02/2007 12:31:40 PM PST by SwinneySwitch (US Constitution Article 4 Section 4..shall protect each of them against Invasion...domestic Violence)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: SwinneySwitch

Sorry to hear that. I found Monterrey to be a safe (and clean) place when I used to travel down there from 99-02.


20 posted on 12/02/2007 12:39:31 PM PST by Clemenza (Rudy Giuliani, like Pesto and Seattle, belongs in the scrap heap of '90s Culture)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson