In the eye of the storm
Refugees from a town mired in gang warfare can only flee — but still fear — for their lives

By DUDLEY ALTHAUS
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Nov. 12, 2010, 5:17AM


CIUDAD MIGUEL ALEMAN, Mexico — More than 300 men, women and children from the colonial ranching town of Ciudad Mier, a 10-minute drive from Texas, have taken refuge in the Lion's Club in this small city on the Rio Grande — fleeing for their lives from the gangland killers called the Zetas.

The refugees deserted Mier en masse during the past week after Zetas attacked in force to wrest it back from rival thugs of the so-called Gulf Cartel narcotics smuggling organization. Businesses and houses were burned, refugees say, and innocents murdered. Government forces have not yet reacted, they say.

"Either the government doesn't want to act or they are waiting until the bands kill off one another," said a refugee, who spoke on the condition his name not be used out of fear of the gunmen.

The Zetas began attacking Mier just hours after the killing by Mexican marines last Friday of Gulf Cartel boss Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas-Guillen, known everywhere as Tony Tormenta, or Tony Storm. Officials on both sides of the border have warned that Tony Tormenta's demise is all but certain to unleash havoc as rivals fight to replace him.

Events in Ciudad Mier suggest that the already vicious conflict of the past nine months between the Zetas and Gulf Cartel, who were allies for more than a dozen years, seems ready to tip into scorched-earth war.

Warnings
The people of Mier, and those in neighboring towns and villages, now writhe in the jaws of the wolves.

"Everyone knew this was coming," said a Texas executive with extensive business ties on this stretch of the border. "There is a lack of discipline that has crept into the battle."

No one wanted to be identified for this story out of fear for their safety and lives.

Banners thrown up by the Zetas across northeastern Mexico last Saturday warned that Tony Tormenta's fate awaits other "traitors." Flyers passed out this week in some towns invite Gulf Cartel gunmen to switch sides.

"When the Gulf Cartel is in charge, we move toward them, when the Zetas are in charge we move back," a refugee explained. "There is really no choice."

The nightmare began for Mier's 6,500 residents a decade ago when the Zetas, then loyal to former Gulf Cartel boss Osiel Cardenas - Tony's Storm's brother - arrived to take control.

Spiraling out of control
By all accounts, the Zetas ran the town like their fief. Townspeople and ranchers say they were extorted. Government officials were told what to do. If federal troops came to town, as they did in late August with an attack on a Zeta base camp near Mier that killed 28 alleged gangsters, it was only briefly.

What was an at least endurable torment became pure terror at exactly 8 p.m. Feb. 22 when the Gulf Cartel gunmen swept into Mier to reclaim it from the Zetas, following the groups' falling out.

At dawn the next morning, gangsters travelling in at least 40 SUVs and pickups attacked Mier's police headquarters, taking all the officers hostage, and stealing the weapons they could find, residents said. In a morning of rampage, entire families were kidnapped, nearly a dozen houses burned.

"Since that day there have been other clashes, kidnappings and criminal acts," townspeople wrote in a so-far-unrequited plea for help e-mailed to state and federal officials. Ranching, the lifeblood of Mier's legal economy, has all but stalled, residents say, because owners no longer can get out to their pastures for fear of the gunmen.

"The majority of the ranches have been taken, destroyed, and are in the hands of the armed people," the e-mail sent to officials said.

Few residents remain
More than 100 local residents remain missing, presumably kidnapped by the bands.

Mier's schools were shuttered. Local officials moved their offices to Miguel Aleman. Baptisms, weddings and funerals were held elsewhere. People shut themselves in their houses as night fell and didn't leave again till the sun was well above the trees.

In early May, suspected Zetas hung a man in the small park in front of city hall. Using a chain saw they cut off the man's arms and legs while he was still alive. They left a sign with the swinging body threatening the local Gulf Cartel boss.

The victim, a local petty thief, townspeople say, swung from the tree for four hours before police gathered the courage to cut him down.

Three weeks ago, the Zetas attacked again, torching the police station and three new patrol cars parked in front of it.

Mier is a border town and many families go back generations here on both sides of the Rio Grande. Even before last week's attacks, officials estimated half the town's residents had fled to the United States or elsewhere in Mexico.

The people now sleeping on the floor of Miguel Aleman's Lion's Club are nearly the last holdouts. This week, as few as 500 people are living in Mier, refugees say.

Those in the Lion's Club say they have no idea when they can go home again. Soldiers and marines are posted in Miguel Aleman.

But danger lurks just beyond city limits. And there are no troops or police guarding those in the shelter. A Zeta attack can come at any time, they say.

With nightfall the fear returns and crouches in the refugee's bellies until the sun rises once again.

"The Zetas are a lot like cockroaches," said the Texas executive. "When the lights go on they scatter. When the lights go out, they are in there eating."

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