Thread: Drug Criminals Block Roads in Mexico

Drug criminals block roads in Mexico

March 19, 2010 2:44 p.m. EDT

The Mexican military is fighting against drug cartels in the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.

Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- Five presumed drug gang members and one soldier were killed in shootouts Thursday and Friday after criminals blocked thoroughfares in two northern Mexico states to prevent military reinforcements from arriving, authorities said.

The criminals used cars, transit buses and tractor-trailers to block roads and streets in the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon in northeastern Mexico, said an official with the Nuevo Leon public security office. The official was briefed on the incidents but declined to be named because she is not allowed to speak for the department.

Three gang members were killed Thursday in Tamaulipas and two died early Friday in the city of Monterrey, in Nuevo Leon, the official said. One soldier was killed and four wounded in the Tamaulipas confrontation, the security official said.

Two of the road blocks happened Thursday and five more were set up before dawn Friday, the official said. All were cleared within a matter of hours.

The area, which borders Texas, has seen bloody fighting between the Zetas and Gulf cartels after a recent gangland slaying. Hours-long gun battles are common, and U.S. officials were recently forced to temporarily close the consulate in the city of Reynosa.

The trouble started January 18 when a Gulf cartel member killed top Zeta lieutenant Victor Mendoza. The Zetas demanded that the Gulf cartel turn over the killer, but the narco group refused. The Zetas, composed mostly of former elite military troops, had been the armed enforcers for the Gulf cartel since 2001. The Zetas have become more independent in recent years, and the all-out war between the two cartels indicates the split is apparently permanent.

Nuevo Leon public security chief Luis Carlos Trevino was quoted in published reports as saying that the military will continue ongoing operations against the criminals despite the road blocks and other obstacles. Soldiers carried out raids Thursday in the cities of El Carmen, Sabinas, Vallecillo and Paras.

"The organized crime groups have tried through different means and methods to turn the roads of the metropolitan Monterrey area upside down, looking to form blockades with civilian vehicles to prevent support troops going to the areas where these actions are taking place," Trevino said at a news conference Thursday.

The drug gang members used tractor-trailers, buses and cars to close the Reynosa Highway and the road to Miguel Aleman, causing panic among residents and traffic chaos, the security chief said.

The highway from Monterrey to Reynosa was closed for at least two hours in both directions when armed men forced at least six car drivers and a tractor-trailer driver to station their vehicles across the road. The gunmen also burned three cars and a pickup truck to close the Miguel de la Madrid Boulevard in Monterrey.

In addition, gunmen stole several cars and trucks to use as roadblocks in both directions on the highway to Miguel Aleman, Trevino said.

Mexico has been gripped in massive drug-related bloodshed since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels shortly after coming into office in December 2006. Much of the violence has centered around Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

Juarez drew attention in the United States last weekend when three people associated with the U.S. consulate in the city were gunned down. Two of the victims were U.S. citizens who lived in El Paso.

Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said earlier this week authorities believe Saturday's slayings were carried out by the Barrio Azteca drug gang. No motive has been revealed and no arrests have been made.

About 200 U.S. federal, state and local authorities interviewed more than 100 Barrio Azteca members and associates in El Paso and southern New Mexico on Thursday, the Justice Department said.

There are no official government tallies, but more than 16,000 people are estimated to have died in the drug wars. The vast majority of the deaths are among reputed criminals, with some police and military also being killed. Relatively few of the deaths are civilians.

Even so, the United States and Canada have issued travel warnings, particularly along the border area. The Texas Department of Public Safety took the unprecedented step this year of recommending that students on spring break not go to border areas inside Mexico.

News of the violence and the travel warnings apparently have had an effect. Mexicans say tourism along the border has declined this year, with one business owner in Tijuana telling CNN that his business has dropped 40 percent.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/ ... tml?hpt=T2

Related:
United State Department of State: Mexico Travel Warning
http://www.alipac.us/article-5021--0-0.html

Army, Drug Gangs Battle in Mexico Amid Blockades

Friday, 19 Mar 2010 10:44 PM

A shootout in the northern city of Monterrey killed two suspected drug cartel gunmen and wounded a soldier Friday. Suspected gang members also blocked roads leading out of the city for the second day, in a bold attempt to impede security patrols.

Gunmen opened fire on an army patrol outside the gates of a prestigious private university in Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city and a major industrial hub, the army said in a statement.

Soldiers seized guns, ammunition and hand grenades at the scene.

The wounded soldier is in stable condition.

Hours later, gang members blocked four major roads, including three leading out of Monterrey, according to an official with the Nuevo Leon state Public Safety Department.

The gang members fled after parking the trucks and other vehicles across the roads, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Authorities towed the cars away, the official said.

It was the second straight day of street blockades, a novel tactic that drives home how imbued Mexico's drug war has become in the daily life of some cities — and how audacious cartels have become in their battle against the military and federal police.

Two of the vehicles blocking the roads Thursday were set on fire a few hundred yards (meters) from toll booths.

The same day, gunmen in a convoy of six vehicles opened fire on a navy helicopter on a reconnaissance patrol in Fresnillo, outside of Monterrey. Marines aboard the chopper returned fire, killing one of the gunmen.

Separately, the navy announced the capture of Alberto "Bad Boy" Mendoza, suspected of being a chief cartel operator linked to the Beltran Leyva gang and others in Monterrey.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police across Mexico over three years in a U.S.-backed campaign to crush brutal cartels battling each other for trafficking and drug dealing turf.

Gang violence has since surged, claiming nearly 18,000 lives.

At least 40 soldiers have been arrested on drug trafficking charges and another 38 have been accused of abuse against civilians, including torture and killing, said Brig. Gen. Jose Luis Chavez, Mexico's top military prosecutor.

He said ongoing investigations may lead to the arrest of 50 more soldiers on abuse charges.

To date, however, no soldier has been convicted of abuse, prompting criticism from local and international human rights groups who also say Mexico should be trying soldiers accused of human rights violations in civilian rather than military courts.

Chavez insisted the military does not systematically engage in abuse or corruption.

"Mistakes are inevitable when working in such a risky situation, in which your life is in danger every day," Chavez said. "But mistakes must be punished."

In the western state of Michoacan, meanwhile, a judge ordered the release of yet another of 12 town mayors arrested last year for suspected cartel ties.

Zitacuaro Mayor Antonio Ixtlahuac was the eighth to be freed for lack of evidence, a setback for Calderon's efforts to show politicians are not immune to prosecution.

The mayors have all maintained their innocence.

After nearly 10 months behind bars, Ixtlahuac walked out of a prison outside the state capital of Morelia hours after the judge gave the order. He smiled and told reporters he felt vindicated before driving off in a black Mercedes Benz with several relatives.

——

Associated Press writers E. Eduardo Castillo and Alexandra Olson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

http://newsmax.com/Newsfront/LT-Drug-Wa ... /id/353343