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Title: Gunfights leave 10 dead in Reynosa Groups of hundreds protest at Mexico border crossings
Source:
Houston Chronicle
URL Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6267456.html
Published: Feb 18, 2009
Author: DUDLEY ALTHAUS
Post Date: 2009-02-18 21:50:37 by Horse
Keywords: None
Views: 97
Comments: 1
MEXICO CITY — Running gunbattles between Mexican soldiers and gunmen flared in a quiet neighborhood in Reynosa near the Texas border Tuesday, leaving at least 10 people dead and 15 wounded, as protesters in border cities railed against the troops. The gunbattles, which are escalating in their intensity, and the protests, which are mounting against the federal government, are pitching Mexico, particularly the border regions, even deeper into turmoil. Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from McAllen, was the scene of both a protest and the firefights, which one local reporter said lasted nearly three hours. Other anti-military demonstrations erupted in the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Nuevo Laredo and in the industrial hub of Monterrey. All were peaceful. Yet the protests, involving several hundred people in each city, suggested a popular discontent against President Felipe Calderon’s 25-month war on Mexico’s drug syndicates. At least 9,000 people have been killed in the violence, mainly between rival drug gangs and security forces and between the gangs themselves. Local media in Reynosa reported that Tuesday’s dead included five federal policemen and five gunmen. However, two of the dead were middle school students killed running across a park to safety, according to unconfirmed reports. The conflict could not be resolved Tuesday night. The firefights, which involved automatic weapons and grenades, began when police stopped a vehicle at a checkpoint near an elementary school in an upscale neighborhood of Reynosa, according to reports. That set off gunbattles through the streets, with gangsters commandeering vehicles and using them to block intersections. Dead gunmen in streets “There were grenades, I heard them,” said 27-year-old Roger Olivarez, an engineer standing with other residents outside their bullet-ridden neighborhood. “You’d hear shots, then two, three seconds later explosions.” Photographs from the scene showed dead gunmen laying in residential streets. An industrial city that’s home to many U.S.-owned factories, Reynosa is considered the territory of the Gulf Cartel drug-smuggling organization and its assassins, the Zetas. Thousands of troops have been dispatched to Reynosa, other border cities and several violence-plagued interior Mexican states since Calderon launched his offensive in December 2006. Mexican officials have dismissed the protests, which include women and children, as paid for by the gangsters. In Reynosa, Arturo Ramirez, 25, said he had witnessed his second round of violence in two years in the city and was getting accustomed to the scene of people running into homes and shops for cover. He pulled a bullet casing out of his pocket — a souvenir, he said. Olivarez, the engineer who heard the explosions, said the violence had to stop. “I’m kind of scared and kind of angry at the insecurity we’re in right now,” he said. “It’s too dangerous to go out at night. Last year they had curfews, and tonight I’m afraid to go to work.” As he spoke, two bullet-pocked Escalades were towed from the scene. Althaus reported from Mexico City, Lynn Brezosky from Reynosa.
Poster Comment: Akex Jones said on the radio that he read an article about the CIA saying that they were preparing for the collapse of Mexico. The thinking is that 10 ro 15 Mexicans will flee across the border if Mexico falls into total chaos. That is in addition to the 22 million illegal aliens already here.
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#1. To: Horse (#0)
I don't want any more mexicons coming here, we've got too many here as it is. Hell, we need to send back 99.9% of the mexicons who've come here since 1965, they've FAILED at Western Civilization.
_________________________________________________________________________The thinking is that 10 ro 15 Mexicans will flee across the border if Mexico falls into total chaos.
"This man is Jesus,” shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. “When will he come to Kenya to save us?”
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
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