Posted on 12/05/2009 8:56:04 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY — A pair of shootouts between troops and gunmen in northern Mexico have killed 13 people, including a bystander and a drug trafficker linked to the killing of a retired army officer.
Navy spokesman Adm. Jose Luis Vergara said troops were searching a villa Friday in a suburb of Monterrey named Juarez when they were ambushed by a group of heavily armed men. Eight gunmen were killed and nine more were arrested in the initial shootout, Vergara said.
Television images showed a garden littered with bloodied corpses. Several handcuffed men sat on the ground with shirts pulled over their heads and a line of automatic rifles nearby.
Vergara said soldiers had gone to the villa to check an intelligence report that suspected drug trafficker Ricardo Almanza Morales was there. He said one soldier was wounded and is in stable condition.
Almanza Morales, killed in the attack, was accused of working for the Zetas, drug traffickers who also serve as enforcers for the Mexican Gulf cartel, and of killing army Brig. Gen. Juan Arturo Esparza and his four bodyguards in a November attack.
Esparza was killed shortly after he was named police chief in the Monterrey suburb of Garcia. Five Garcia police officers were among 10 people arrested in Esparza's killing.
Nuevo Leon state Attorney General Alejandro Garza y Garza said in Monterrey that a second shootout that left five people dead ensued when gunmen in at least 10 Sport Utility Vehicles heading to the villa, presumably to rescue those detained, ran into a military convoy.
During that shootout, one of the gunmen's cars burst into flames. Three people inside died, Garza y Garza said. Television images showed three charred bodies, two of them with their hands tied behind their backs.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Ping!
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Never a good idea to be a bystander at a shootout.
Yikes, my brother was just there for training. He brought back a nasty colon virus. I swear, nothing good comes from that country lately.
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During that shootout, one of the gunmen's cars burst into flames. Three people inside died, Garza y Garza said. Television images showed three charred bodies, two of them with their hands tied behind their backs."
I hope these were hostages. I'd hate to think that the Mexican military was starting to take things into their own hands, especially to ensure proper revenge. As much as I hate the narcoterrorists, I don't want a military coup just south of the border.
This was big news here in Saltillo.
It seems to get worse and worse every day down there.
Another one from NAFBPO today:
Nuclear matters: Security questions raised by Cuban migrants landing at Turkey Point nuclear plant
Published 1 December 2009
Thirty Cubans fleeing Cuba landed near the off-limits cooling canals for the Turkey Point nuclear power plant; the migrants stayed — undetected — in the high-security area for about six hours; Florida Power & Light learned the Cubans had landed on its property only when a member of the group phoned the plant’s control room hours after the group’s arrival
A pair of smugglers on a speedboat entered off-limits cooling canals for the Turkey Point nuclear power plant early Thanksgiving Day to drop off more than thirty Cubans who remained there undetected for several hours. The Cubans were six miles from the nearest generating unit, and the power plant in southern Miami-Dade County “was not affected in any way,” a Florida Power & Light spokesman wrote in an e-mail Thursday.
Andres Viglucci writes in the the Miami Herald that FPL, which boasts of tight security in the area, did not address why its security personnel apparently did not become aware of the Cubans’ presence on Turkey Point for up to eight hours.
FPL learned the Cubans had landed on its property only when a member of the group phoned the plant’s control room hours after the group’s arrival. FPL has call boxes in the area for use by maintenance workers, a company spokesman said.
Nuclear power plants were directed to sharpen security after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. FPL maintains round-the-clock security teams immediately around the Turkey Point plant buildings, which are also protected by several layers of fencing.
The buildings are surrounded by miles of twisting, mangrove-lined canals where hot water discharged from the plant cools as it circulates. The canals connect out to lower Biscayne Bay.
The Cubans told federal immigration agents they were picked up east of Havana by two men in a 30-foot, triple-engine speedboat.
The Cubans were detained 100 feet from the spot where they were dropped, said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Elee Erice. Typically, Cubans detained after reaching U.S. shores are processed and released.
The precise number of Cubans could not be determined. The NRC put the number at 33, but a Miami-Dade police report had it at 34. The group included four children.
Security at the plant has been managed by Wackenhut Corp., but FPL did not respond to an e-mailed question asking whether the company still does. FPL also did not say who, if anyone, is responsible for safeguarding the canal system.
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