Thread: People in Reynosa ‘still frightened' after last week's vio

People in Reynosa ‘still frightened' after last week's violence
Ana Ley
February 21, 2009 - 10:32PM
REYNOSA — The school stood empty Friday - a bleak reminder of a violent street battle that took place three days earlier just a few feet from its now desolate playground.

On a typical school day, the playground at Felipe Carrillo Puerto Primary School is filled at noon with chattering children. But on Friday, only a janitor wandered the premises, making his way past two locked gates.

"The parents kept picking their kids up," Elijio Garcia said. "We tried to reopen but since all that happened on Tuesday, no one wants to bring them."

Garcia said parents will probably remain reluctant to leave their children there Monday, when the school is set to reopen.

"(The children will come back) when they clear out," Garcia said, pointing to a group of 10 heavily armed federal police officers guarding a hospital across the street.

Police officials refused to say why the officers were watching over Hospital Las Fuentes, located at the intersection of Boulevard Del Maestro and Fuente de Diana Street.

THE ATTACK

Tuesday's attack killed at least six people as separate protests against the military presence shut down parts of the city for several hours.

U.S. officials believe Hector Sauceda Gamboa, the suspected regional leader of the Gulf Cartel, was among the five gunmen Mexican authorities said were killed in the violence on the city's southwest side.

Mexican media accounts put the death toll as high as 20, with dozens more injured.

Sauceda, known as "El Karis," was shot during a fight with soldiers at his home in an affluent neighborhood behind the Plaza Real shopping center on Boulevard Hidalgo - one of the city's busiest streets, a U.S. federal official said.

‘STILL FRIGHTENED'

Even Reynosa residents accustomed to blaring headlines of drug violence admit the latest cartel attack has prompted a heightened sense of alarm in the city.

In the daytime, cars honk, tires screech and families bustle through the city's main plaza. But as soon as the sun begins to set, most rush home. Even businesses are closing early, said Catalino Sanchez, 27, at his taco stand in downtown Reynosa.

"People are still frightened," Sanchez said. "By 6 (p.m.), there's no one on the street. With all the rumors, nobody's going out to bars or clubs."

An apparent shooting in the city Friday night that left at least one dead only amplified the unrest in Reynosa.

Mayor Oscar Luebbert convened a news conference Thursday hoping to dispel rumors of further violence.

"Reynosa is calm," he told Mexican media. "They are only rumors."

But residents said they weren't about to take any chances.

"Who knows where they're coming from?" Sanchez said. "I'm staying in anyway."

ACROSS THE BORDER

Across the border, the U.S. Department of State has issued a travel alert for Mexico, asking U.S. citizens to "exercise caution" throughout the country. It warns travelers to visit "only legitimate businesses and tourist areas during daylight hours and avoid areas where prostitution and drug dealing might occur."

The advisory notes the greatest increase in violence has occurred near the U.S. border.

Tuesday's violence, meanwhile, prompted state officials to activate for the first time a border-wide emergency plan developed as a precaution should Mexican drug violence spills into the United States.

Dubbed the "Operation Border Star Contingency Plan," Gov. Rick Perry's office drafted the policy with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies last year.

"The most significant threat Texas faces is spillover violence from Mexico's drug cartels," Perry's homeland security director, Steve McCraw, told state senators at a hearing Wednesday. "You can never be too prepared."

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Monitor staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this story.

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Ana Ley covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4428.
http://www.themonitor.com/common/printe ... x&id=23499

Hey Janet Napolitano ... your more worried about the Canadian Border ...

lady ... your response tells me you are better equipped to be a janitor than the head of Homeland security if you think the Canadian border worries you more than the Mexican Border

Canadians throwing snowballs

Mexicans throwing grenades

Canadians flinging ice sickles

Mexicans slinging lead

America... you better have a psycho check done on this nut case ... she's playing with your life

Airborne, you're so spot on on this.


Janet is a joke and we all know that. Just too bad ODUMBO didn't.