Posted on 11/24/2010 4:31:06 AM PST by marktwain
When Mexican Marines arrived at the San Jose Ranch, 15 kilometers from Victoria, Tamaulipas, the scene was bleak: The austere main house was practically destroyed by grenades and heavy gunfire.
Outside of the home, they found four bodies. Cautiously, and with their weapons drawn, the troops continued inspecting the exterior and found two more gunmen, wounded and unconscious, but alive.
Inside the house only one body was found, riddled with bullets and with two weapons by it's side. The body was identified as Don Alejo Garza Tamez, the owner of the ranch and a highly respected businessman in Nuevo Leon.
Upon further inspection of the interior, marines found weapons and ammunition at every window and door. This allowed them to reconstruct how, just hours prior, the battle had played out.
Marines searched for more bodies inside the house, but none were to be found. It seemed hard to believe that one person, armed only with hunting rifles, had caused so many casualties on the attackers.
Dozens of spent shells and the smell of gunpowder gave proof of the tenacity of the man who fought to the end in defense, of not only his ranch, but his dignity.
In the end, it was deduced the man had created his own defense strategy to fight alone, placing weapons at every door and window.
The story began in the morning of Saturday November 13, when a group of armed gunmen went to deliver an ultimatum to Don Alejo Garza Tamez: He had 24 hours to turn over his property or suffer the consequences.
Using the diplomacy he had acquired over nearly eight decades of life, Don Alejo flatly announced that not only would he not be surrendering his property, but that he'd be waiting for them.
When the men had left, Don Alejo gathered his workers and ordered them to take Sunday off, he wanted to be alone.
He dedicated the rest of Saturday to taking stock of his weapons and ammunition and creating a military fortress style defense strategy for his home.
The night of Saturday the thirteenth was long and restless, much like his past hunting adventures; Don Alejo woke early. Shortly after 4 a.m. the motors of various trucks could be heard entering the property from a distance.
Marines who investigated the scene could only imagine how it was that morning: armed men, their impunity secured, confident they'd soon be owners of yet another property. Nobody, or almost no one, could hold out against a group of heavily armed gunmen. Only Don Alejo.
The trucks entered the ranch and took up positions surrounding the house. The gunmen got out of their trucks, fired shots in the air, and announced they came to take possession of the ranch. They were expecting the terrified occupants to run out, begging for mercy with their hands in the air.
But things didn't go as expected. Don Alejo welcomed them with bullets; the entire army of gunmen returned fire. Don Alejo seemed to multiply, he seemed to be everywhere. The minutes would have seemed endless to those who had seen him as easy prey. Various gunmen were killed on sight. The others, in rage and frustration, intensified the attack by swapping out their assault rifles for grenades.
When everything finally fell silent, the air was left heavy with gunpowder. The holes left in the walls and the windows attested to the violence of the attack. When they went in search of what they had assumed was a large contingent, they were surprised to find only one man, Don Alejo.
The surviving gunmen did not take over the ranch. Thinking the military would arrive at any moment, they decided to run. They left behind what they thought were six corpses, but two of their gunmen had survived.
Shortly after, the Marines arrived and methodically reconstructed the events. A lone rancher, a man who worked a lifetime to be able to enjoy the fruits of his labor such as his ranch, had defended it to his death.
In the last hunt of his life, Don Alejo surprised the group of assassins who wanted to impose the same law on his ranch that they had on the State, the law of the jungle.
The marines who were present will never forget the scene: a 77 year old man, who before death, took out four gunmen, fighting the same as the best soldiers: with dignity, courage, and honor.
Rest in Peace Don Alejo Garza Tamez
A Man of His Word
- Don Alejo Garza was a proud Norteño. He was born in Allende, Nuevo leon in 1933. He childhood was spent in the most wooded areas of the state.
-Allende, located 50 miles south of Monterrey, is crossed by National Highway 85 that leads to Ciudad Victoria, Tampico and Veracruz. This community is located at the base of the Sierra Madre Oriental.
-His father owned a sawmill, and he learned early in his youth, along with his older brothers, how to work, saw, and sell wood. Driven by this activity he eventually founded the timber supply store El Salto in Monterrey, taking the name from the place where they bought the product.
- As a young man he had to travel constantly to Parral, Chihuahua, and El Salto, Durango, to buy the wood which would then be sold in Monterrey. His family was successful in this field and opened branches in Allende, his hometown, and Montemorelos.
- Don Alejo began fishing and hunting as a child. As a young man he began to collect weapons. Among his friends and associates he was known as an excellent shooter who, in the company of his friends, hunted deer, geese and pigeons.
- Don Alejo Garza Tamez was one of the founding members of the "Dr. Maria Manuel Silva" Hunting, Shooting and Fishing Club, located in Allende, Nuevo León.
- He and his brother, Rodolfo, bought the San Jose Ranch in Tamaulipas and divided it between them. Don Alejo's half bordered with the Padilla Lake and Rodolfo's with the Coronoa river.
- Don Alejo was known for keeping his word. To all those who knew him, his word was as good as any legal contract.
Don Alejo seems to have been a man for all seasons; Thank God there are still a few around like him. I suspect he’s relaxing at a very nice ranch right now and the bullying thugs and thieves that tried to steal his land and got a nice surprise instead are in a very hot and uncomfortable place.
Hell of a guy. R.I.P. hero.
I suspect if Mexico had not disarmed its citizens, they would not have the cartel thug problems that are destroying their country.
More Mexicans like this and they would have a country they could live in ,without sending their dregs to ours.
Of course in the end the criminals will seize the property.
Mexican authorities have two of them alive, I hope they are smart enough to waterboard them and get all the information out of them needed to round up the rest of the thugs, but of course that is wishful thinking.
More than likely those two are already out having dinner with their friends.
The solo title “Marine” (other countries had the word “marine” as PART of the description of their sea going soldiers) was first given to elite amphibious infantry men of the Royal Navy and then to the USN’s “Marine Corps.”
Not dissing the RN but only ONE outfit has the hard won heritage to call themselves “Marines.”
The largest special forces on earth.
If Mexico could find 10,000 Don Alejo’s it would be a country again.
More here
http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2010/11/23/the-dead-of-the-night/
Comments are usually pretty interesting
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
There is also a lesson in this story for those wise enough to glean it.
That was the purpose of disarming the citizenry.
Marines are not Special Forces. They neither have, nor recruit, nor train nor have the institutional temperament. They are and have been what is called ‘assault troops’.
MT, thanks for the link to Borderland Beat, great site for this type of information.
Rangers,SEALS,Green Berets etc— all special forces.
The good Mexicans remaining in that country have a martyr to rally around and take back their country from the corrupt politicians. Will they do it?
Rangers too are assault troops. Not SF.
Where do the Marines go to get their training, and their weapons, long after the Army develops,fields, maintains and worked outs tactics and implementation? More often then not, the Army.
So, how does that make a smaller, behind the curve equipped, issued, experienced force superior? I know the Marines are propagandized to believe so, but that doesn’t make it so.
Units vs the whole of the Marines, vis a vis, esprit? 10th, 82nd, 101st...
There’s not a whole lot of benefit to Army vs. Marine Corps spats, but the Army doesn’t have an equivalnet to a Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Gladiator “Don Alejo” ... We salute you !
Gladiator “Don Alejo” ... We salute you !
Don Alejo's story reminded me of the last line in Solzhenitsyn's story "Matryona's House."
"We had all lived cheek by jowl with Matryona and not understood that she was that upright person without whom, according to the proverb, no village can endure. Nor any city. Nor our whole land."
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