Thread: Brazen Mexican incursion stretches American credulity — an

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=57903

Tribune Editorial
January 27, 2006

With its restrictions on everything from foreign ownership of real estate to the carrying of sidearms by American drug agents assigned there, the government of Mexico has made its touchiness about its sovereignty clear time and again. But when it comes to the sovereignty of the United States of America, Mexican contempt seems to know few limits.

The latest example came at 3:15 p.m. Monday, as yet another standoff between armed Mexicans and American law-enforcement officers took place in Texas at the very spot where a similar standoff (described by Paul Green in a column on the Opinion 2 page of Monday’s Tribune) transpired Nov. 17. But instead of a fleeing dump truck full of dope pulled into Mexico by a bulldozer, Monday’s incident involved three vehicles heading southward at Neely’s Crossing — protected by the sudden appearance of at least one Humvee equipped with a heavy machine gun and manned by men in military-style uniforms.

Chief Deputy Mike Doyal of the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office told the Ontario, Calif., Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, that the Mexicans deployed more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border to keep his deputies, Texas state troopers and U.S. Border Patrol agents at a distance. Their firepower again had the desired effect. Though one vehicle — a Cadillac Escalade reportedly stolen in El Paso — was captured with 1,477 pounds of dope inside, the rest made it back across, unmolested by the U.S. lawmen.

“It’s been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident that it’s been going on for years,â€

Sheriff: Mex military guns and Humvee used in border standoff

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EL PASO, Texas A sheriff says those involved in an armed confrontation with Texas law officers were using a Mexican military-issue Humvee and weapons.

Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West today was asked to elaborate about Monday's armed confrontation between suspected drug runners and Texas officers.

West says the determination that the equipment was indeed military-issue came from the federal government.

He declined further comment, due to pending congressional hearings.

The Mexican government has denied any official involvement in the standoff that occurred at Neely's Crossing, about 50 miles east of El Paso.

Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar, who was in El Paso today, also could not rule out Mexican soldiers' involvement in the standoff.