[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Watch: Mexico City Protest Against American Ex-Pat 'Invasion' Turns Viole Kazakhstan Just BETRAYED Russia - Takes gunpowder out of Putin’s Hands Why CNN & Fareed Zakaria are Wrong About Iran and Trump Something Is Going Deeply WRONG In Russia 329 Rivers in China Exceed Flood Warnings, With 75,000 Dams in Critical Condition Command Of Russian Army 'Undermined' After 16 Of Putin's Generals Killed At War, UK Says Rickards: Superintelligence Will Never Arrive Which Countries Invest In The US The Most? The History of Barbecue ‘Pathetic’: Joe Biden tells another ‘tall tale’ during rare public appearance Lawsuit Reveals CDC Has ZERO Evidence Proving Vaccines Don't Cause Autism Trumps DOJ Reportedly Quietly Looking Into Criminal Charges Against Election Officials Volcanic Risk and Phreatic (Groundwater) eruptions at Campi Flegrei in Italy Russia Upgrades AGS-17 Automatic Grenade Launcher! They told us the chickenpox vaccine was no big deal—just a routine jab to “protect” kids from a mild childhood illness Pentagon creates new military border zone in Arizona For over 200 years neurological damage from vaccines has been noted and documented The killing of cardiologist in Gaza must be Indonesia's wake-up call Marandi: Israel Prepares Proxies for Next War with Iran? "Hitler Survived WW2 And I Brought Proof" Norman Ohler STUNS Joe Rogan CIA Finally Admits a Pyschological Warfare Agent from the Agency “Came into Contact” with Lee Harvey Oswald before JFK’s Assassination CNN Stunned As Majority Of Americans Back Trump's Mass Deportation Plan Israeli VS Palestinian Connections to the Land of Israel-Palestine Israel Just Lost Billions - Haifa and IMEC This Is The Income A Family Needs To Be Middle Class, By State One Big Beautiful Bubble": Hartnett Warns US Debt Will Exceed $50 Trillion By 2032 These Are The Most Stolen Cars In Every US State Earth Changes Summary - June 2025: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, China’s Tofu-Dreg High-Speed Rail Station Ceiling Suddenly Floods, Steel Bars Snap Russia Moves to Nationalize Country's Third Largest Gold Mining Firm

Immigration
See other Immigration Articles

Title: “Mexican Pirates Attack American Fishermen”
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://mexican-pirates-attack-american-fishermen
Published: May 19, 2010
Author: Lynn Brezosky
Post Date: 2010-05-19 19:06:54 by Horse
Keywords: None
Views: 169
Comments: 3

McALLEN — Heavily armed Mexican freshwater pirates have been shaking down U.S. boaters on Falcon Lake, a reservoir and bass fishing haven that straddles the Rio Grande.

At least three such incidents have been reported since April 30, the latest on Sunday, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety warning issued Tuesday that linked the muggings to northern Mexico’s increasing lawlessness.

According to descriptions of the incidents, the robbers — in at least one case posing as Mexican federal law enforcement officers — searched fishermen’s boats for guns and drugs, then demanded cash at gunpoint.

One of the incidents reportedly occurred on the U.S. side of the lake.

“The robbers are believed to be members of a drug trafficking organization or members of an enforcer group linked to a drug trafficking organization who are … using AK-47s or AR-15 rifles to threaten their victims,” the DPS statement said. “They appear to be using local Mexican fishermen to operate the boats to get close to American fishermen.”

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.

#2. To: Horse (#0)

ZAPATA — Texas authorities warn boaters to stay on the U.S. side of Falcon Lake after three recent confrontations between fishermen and suspected drug cartel members.

No injuries were reported in connection with any of the three recent incidents. During each of the encounters, groups of men armed with assault rifles confronted boaters, looking for drugs and money, troopers said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety issued a bulletin Tuesday that outlined the three confrontations. The most recent occurred Sunday on the U.S. side of the lake, which spans the state’s border with Mexico, authorities said.

“We suggest they stay on this side and not go into Mexico for their own safety,” said Capt. Fernando Cervantes with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Service in Zapata. “If anything happens in Mexico, we cannot go over to Mexico.”

The first incident occurred April 30 when five people in two boats were fishing on the lake and visited Old Guerrero, a Mexican city abandoned when the reservoir was created in the 1950s. The group was taking pictures of the church and other submerged buildings at the site when four heavily tattooed men appeared in boats and climbed aboard the fishermen’s vessels. The intruders claimed they were “Federales” — Mexican federal police — but had no uniforms, troopers said.

The men boarded the boats, demanded cash and asked for drugs. The fishermen handed over $200 to the pirates, who followed the two boats back toward U.S. waters but did not cross the border.

Tom Bendele, owner of Falcon Lake Tackle in Zapata, said he met with the fishermen after the confrontation. The men told him the confrontation lasted nearly 40 minutes and that one of the pirates had Zs tattooed around his neck — a typical identifier of the Zetas, one of the two dominant cartels in northeast Mexico.

The pirates let the group go “pretty much unvarnished” after the fishermen offered the cash, but the gunmen took the memory card from their digital camera, Bendele said.

“It’s really a shame, too, because I like the other side better,” Bendele said. “There’s a bunch of good structures over there to fish.”

During the second reported incident, May 6, three fishermen were about a quarter of a mile from Marker 14 on the north side of Salado Island, above some submerged ruins, troopers said. As they were fishing, two men in a boat quickly approached and pointed AR-15 assault rifles toward the anglers. One of the gunmen boarded the boat, looking for cash, drugs and firearms.

One of the attackers chambered a round in his assault rifle and said he would shoot the men if they did not give him money.

The marauders stole about $400 during that incident, Bendele said.

“That was more of a robbery to me than the first one,” he said.

And on Sunday, law enforcement officers received a report that a vessel carrying five armed men had approached some boaters. Investigators have not found the boaters to obtain details about the incident, which apparently occurred on the U.S. side of the lake.

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo “Sigi” Gonzalez said the first suspected cartel pirate hijacking he heard of occurred about six weeks ago, when a group of fishermen had their boat stolen and were left naked on the Mexican side with only a cell phone to call for help.

“Falcon Lake is considered one of the best bass fishing lakes in the nation,” the sheriff said. “It’s a shame this is happening.”

The lake is a popular destination — especially among Rio Grande Valley anglers — for fishing for largemouth bass and other freshwater fish. Several bass fishing tournaments are scheduled in the coming weeks, and DPS officials said they worry anglers could be in danger if they cross to Mexican waters, which are largely unpatrolled and unregulated.

Fishing guides and bait shop owners in Zapata said the attacks could hurt their business if they continue into the fall.

Summer is the slow season for fishing on the lake, with anglers typically preferring the cooler temperatures and calmer winds of the fall and winter months, said Bendele, who has owned the bait shop for the past three years. One upcoming tournament has already relocated after organizers heard about the attacks.

“It’s definitely not going to be good for business,” Bendele said. “I’m glad this didn’t happen in our heyday.”

Robert Amaya has owned and operated Robert’s Fish and Tackle in Zapata the past six years, he said. Besides selling bait, Amaya guides fishermen on the lake for $400 per day.

But since February, when cartel violence began to heat up south of the border, he has been taking anglers only on the U.S. side of the lake, he said.

“Hopefully it doesn’t get worse,” Amaya said. “This is all we have, how we make a living. It’s kind of a tough deal.”

"Family values don't stop at the Rio Grande" ~Jorge Boosh

hondo68  posted on  2010-05-19   20:55:18 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

        There are no replies to Comment # 2.

End Trace Mode for Comment # 2.

Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest

[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]