Thread: Gunbattle Spurs U.S. Warning

AUGUST 24, 2010.Mexico

Gunbattle Spurs U.S. Warning

By JOSé DE CóRDOBA And JOEL MILLMAN

MEXICO CITY—The U.S. consulate in Monterrey warned local U.S. citizens that Friday's shootout in front of the prestigious American School Foundation stemmed from a failed kidnapping, and advised personnel to keep their children out of school—stoking fears authorities have lost control of the city to drug traffickers, kidnappers and other criminals.

"At this point it appears that [the gunfight] was an attempted kidnapping targeting the relatives of a local business executive," the consulate said in a message posted on its website Sunday night. The investigation into the shooting incident was continuing, it said.

While U.S. families didn't appear to be targeted, the consulate urged Americans in Monterrey—Mexico's business capital and home to many divisions of U.S.-based companies—to increase security measures.

"The sharp increase in kidnapping incidents in the Monterrey area, and this event in particular, present a very high risk to the families of U.S. citizens who might become incidental victims," the message said. U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual urged consulate employees to keep children at home "while we assess the risks and what measures can be taken to reduce it," the message said. The American School is attended by the children of many leading Mexican businessmen and U.S. executives who work in the city.

On Monday, a Mexican official whose children attend the American School said the school appeared normal except for the absence of children of U.S. consular staff. The American School didn't answer an email seeking comment.

Monterrey isn't Mexico's only wealthy city now stalked by barbaric drug violence. On Sunday, the mutilated and decapitated bodies of four men were found hanging from a bridge in Cuernavaca, a city about 50 miles south of Mexico City where many affluent Mexicans have weekend homes, and Americans come to learn Spanish. After drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva was killed by Mexican marines in December, Cuernavaca became a battleground for cartels fighting to take over his organization.

Nearly 23,000 people have died in drug-related violence since 2006, according to the government, with northern border states experiencing the worst of the violence.

In Monterrey, the U.S. warning was a reaction to a 20-minute gun battle Friday between bodyguards working for Mexican beverage company Femsa SAB de CV and alleged drug-cartel gunmen in front of the American School, In the shootout, which sent children dashing for shelter into the school's cafeteria, two Femsa security guards were killed and four others were taken by the gunmen, presumed to be members of one of the drug cartels that is fighting to control the city. They were released in front of a Femsa installation early Saturday.

Mexican authorities and Femsa deny that there was any kidnap attempt. Both say the gun battle erupted when Femsa security guards patrolling the area around the school, which is attended by children of the company's executives, got into a verbal dispute with a group of armed men who were driving in front of the school. The dispute turned into a firefight. where the Femsa guards were outnumbered by the gunmen, who killed two and captured the other four."It wasn't a kidnapping attempt," said a high ranking Nuevo Leon state official. "It was a confrontation."

Mexico is one of the world's kidnapping centers. In 2009, there were 1,128 cases of kidnapping reported to Mexican authorities. But the real number of kidnappings is estimated to be many times higher by analysts. In May, Mexico was shocked when kidnappers grabbed Diego Fernandez de Ceballos, a lawyer and former presidential candidate who is considered to be the grand old man of President Felipe Calderón's PAN party. The whereabouts of Mr. Fernandez de Ceballos remain unknown.

Last week's violence has put many affluent residents of Monterrey on edge. Many are thinking of either sending their children to study in the U.S., or moving the whole family abroad. "The big topic is whether to move to the U.S. altogether," emailed a Mexican executive with children at the American School. "I don't know the actual numbers, but there's a feeling of "diaspora" from families moving to San Antonio, or Austin or Houston. I personally have two friends who have done so."

The violence pushing the migration is the result of a turf war by violent drug cartels for control of Monterrey's drug markets and drug routes to the U.S. that run by the city.

Speaking at a recent conference in El Paso, Mr. Pascual, the U.S. ambassador, said the city's security environment had deteriorated in a few months from "seeming benevolence to extreme violence." According to the newspaper Reforma, which tracks killings in Nuevo Leon, where it also runs a newspaper in the state capital of Monterrey, says drug-related murders have shot up in the state from 56 in 2009 to 420 so far in 2010.

Just last week, the mayor of a tourist town where many businessmen from Monterrey keep weekend houses, was kidnapped and killed. So far, seven police officers, apparently in the pay of drug traffickers, have been arrested in the case. In Mexico, some 28,000 people have died since 2006 when President Calderón sent out thousands of soldiers and federal police to reclaim the country from powerful drug traffickers.

A year ago when Monterrey residents chatted about security, no one could offer a first-hand anecdote about a friend or relative who had suffered a violent crime, the American School parent, who is an investment banker, wrote in his email. "Today it's different," he added. "My dentist's son was kidnapped two weeks ago, the brother of a friend was kidnapped two months ago, the best friend of the entrepreneur where my fund was invested was kidnapped in December, and never returned, and this past Wednesday, a close acquaintance was kidnapped."

Write to Joel Millman at joel.millman@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 15248.html

This is the future of this country. With open borders resulting in a flood of Mexicans escaping out of control violence and the violence following them we are in for a very bleak and violent future. With the El Paso City Hall and University of El Paso hit by gunfire from across the so called border we may be seeing the end of this country as we know it. Reminds me of Back to the Future Part 2, Escape from New York and Escape from LA. I fear the end of this country may be near.

NO, Not here, not without a fight, and I am not talking
a fight of words. Fact.

MEXICO CITY—The U.S. consulate in Monterrey warned local U.S. citizens that Friday's shootout in front of the prestigious American School Foundation stemmed from a failed kidnapping, and advised personnel to keep their children out of school—

Americans going to school in Mexico?

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Mexico gunbattle spurs U.S. warning

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010 ... 5_ST_N.htm