Posted on 03/06/2009 7:34:41 AM PST by AuntB
The drug violence in Mexico has gotten so bad that booming numbers of Mexican and American professionals are having their cars fitted with armor plates, bulletproof glass and James Bond-style gadgets such as electrified door handles and push-button smokescreens.
Until recently, it was mostly movie stars, business moguls and politicians who took such precautions. But now, industry officials say, the customers include factory owners, doctors, newspaper publishers and others who have business on both sides of the border...
One San Antonio company said it expects a 50 percent increase in business this year.
The modifications typically cost $80,000 to $100,000, and they are being done not just on limousines, but on Toyotas, Hondas, pickup trucks and SUVs.
"I feel we need to be in a cocoon that is impenetrable," said a businessman who runs factories in Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico..... saying he fears for his family's safety after one of his sons was the victim of a kidnapping attempt.
Last year, Juarez alone had more than 1,100 slayings. The cartels have killed police, military officers and civilians from Cancun to Tijuana as they battle for control of drug-trafficking corridors.
Customers get not only armor plating but tires that will run when flat and bulletproof glass, which bursts into a spider web pattern but won't break, even when shot with an AR-15 assault rifle, a weapon of choice among drug smugglers.
Other customers buy a package that will turn a Ford F-150 pickup or SUV into something out of a Batman movie...
Nowadays, the danger is far greater, he said, noting that many kidnappings are happening in public places.
"The main streets in Ciudad Juarez have assassinations in the middle of the day," said Valencia....
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
* Texas Armoring Corp.: http://www.texasarmoring.com * International Armoring Corp.: http://www.armormax.com
Looks weird parked on green grass with tall, leafy trees behind it. ;-)
Yeah, kinda like a yuppie truck or sumfin’.
“Nowadays, the danger is far greater, he said, noting that many kidnappings are happening in public places.
“The main streets in Ciudad Juarez have assassinations in the middle of the day,” said Valencia....”
War next door Ping!
I learned how to bulletproof my car using phone books by watching “Burn Notice”.
Coming soon to an Amexican barrio near you.
Silver lining ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Nice Defender Class Mercedes for me thank you .........:o)
oh Lord.....when are they going to wake up, open their eyes and see what is happening to our country? When are Texas rule makers going to take the bull by the horns and start taking care of business. When we have been killed by the cartels?
Ping!
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