Thread: South Padre Island / Precinct One Corruption & Border Wa

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TIJUANA, Mexico — The sedated patient, his bullet wounds still fresh from a shootout the night before, was lying on a gurney in the intensive care unit of a prestigious private hospital here late last month with intravenous fluids dripping into his arm. Suddenly, steel-faced gunmen barged in and filled him with even more bullets. This time, he was dead for sure.

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Eros Hoagland for The New York Times
Mexican doctors and hospital workers gathered in Tijuana in November to voice their concerns about violence in the city.
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Times Topics: Drug Trafficking in Mexico

Hit men pursuing rivals into intensive care units and emergency rooms. Shootouts in lobbies and corridors. Doctors kidnapped and held for ransom, or threatened with death if a wounded gunman dies under their care. With alarming speed, Mexico’s violent drug war is finding its way into the seeming sanctuary of the nation’s hospitals, shaking the health care system and leaving workers fearing for their lives while trying to save the lives of others.

“Remember that hospital scene from ‘The Godfather?’Â*â€

Hospitals Now a Theater in Mexico’s Drug War

Published: December 4, 2008
(Page 2 of 2)

A video taken by a hospital worker revealed a terrifying scene, with two state police officers firing inside the emergency room to protect patients while doctors, nurses and others cowered in closets, under gurneys and wherever else they could find cover.

An elderly woman in a wheelchair is seen hiding under a blanket, while a patient in a hospital gown is sprawled on the floor near his hospital bed.

Meanwhile, panicked patients were escorted out of the building, some with IVs in their arms, to a nearby sports field.

The second time was this past April, when soldiers in camouflage ringed Hospital General de Tijuana, shutting it down while doctors treated eight traffickers who were wounded in various shootouts in the city. The Mexican Army was apparently trying to prevent a repeat of the 2007 shootout. In a recent third episode, soldiers were sent to the hospital for a bomb scare.

“Fear has become part of our lives,â€

Border BoletÃ*n: Violence continues in Mexico (updated)
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Brady McCombs, Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010 12:43 pm | Comments
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AP
The vehicle in which a U.S. consular employee and her husband were shot dead sits Sunday next to the bridge that connects Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas.
Here's the latest story from the Associated Press about the killing of three people with ties to the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez:
* Investigators seek motive in 3 slayings in Mexico
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The U.S. Department of State issued a travel warning for Mexico on Sunday, a day after three employees of the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez were killed.
I have provided some links below to bring you up-to-date on the latest in this volatile situation.
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Here's the story we posted today on the Arizona Daily Star website: The Feds issue Mexico travel warning.
Basically, the warning — which is the next step up from a travel alert — gives permission for family members of U.S. consulate officials in Nogales and four other border cities to depart until April 12. It also urges people to delay “unnecessary travelâ€

March 14, 2010

The Department of State has issued this Travel Warning to inform U.S. citizens traveling to and living in Mexico of concerns about the security situation in Mexico, and that it has authorized the departure of the dependents of U.S. government personnel from U.S. consulates in the Northern Mexican border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros until April 12.Â* Family members of US Government personnel assigned to other areas of Mexico outside the Mexican border states are not affected by this departure measure. This Travel Warning supercedes that of February 22, 2010, and announces the authorized departure of some dependents and updates security incidents.Â*

While millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year (including tens of thousands who cross the land border daily for study, tourism or business and nearly one million U.S. citizens who live in Mexico), violence in the country has increased.Â* It is imperative that U.S. citizens understand the risks in Mexico, how best to avoid dangerous situations, and who to contact if victimized.Â* Common-sense precautions such as visiting only legitimate business and tourist areas during daylight hours, and avoiding areas where prostitution and drug dealing might occur, can help ensure that travel to Mexico is safe and enjoyable.

Recent violent attacks have prompted the U.S. Embassy to urge U.S. citizens to delay unnecessary travel to parts of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua states(see details below) and advise U.S. citizens residing or traveling in those areas to exercise extreme caution.Â* Drug cartels and associated criminal elements have retaliated violently against individuals who speak out against them or whom they otherwise view as a threat to their organizations. These attacks include the abduction and murder of two resident U.S. citizens in Chihuahua.

Violence Along the U.S. - Mexico Border

Mexican drug cartels are engaged in violent conflict - both among themselves and with Mexican security services - for control of narcotics trafficking routes along the U.S.-Mexico border.Â* To combat violence, the government of Mexico has deployed military troops throughout the country.Â* U.S. citizens should cooperate fully with official checkpoints when traveling on Mexican highways.

Some recent confrontations between Mexican authorities and drug cartel members have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades.Â* Large firefights have taken place in towns and cities across Mexico, but occur mostly in northern Mexico, including Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, Chihuahua City, Nogales, Matamoros, Reynosa and Monterrey.Â* During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area.Â* The U.S. Mission in Mexico currently restricts its U.S. government employees’ travel within the state of Durango, the northwest quadrant of the state of Chihuahua and an area southeast of Ciudad Juarez, and all parts of the state of Coahuila south of Mexican Highways 25 and 22 and the Alamos River.Â* This restriction was implemented in light of a recent increase in assaults, murders, and kidnappings in those three states.Â*

The situation in northern Mexico remains fluid; the location and timing of future armed engagements cannot be predicted.Â* Recently, the cities of Durango and Gomez Palacio in the state of Durango, and the area known as “La Lagunaâ€

Turf Battle Opens New Front In Mexico's Drug War

12:44 p.m. | John Burnett | National Public Radio

Violence has exploded in Mexico's northeastern border cities, just across the Rio Grande from South Texas, as two drug mafias engage in a vicious new fight for turf. Gunfights have killed dozens of people, and communities up and down the river fear it's just the beginning.

It is a front in the drug war apart from the violence that has plagued Ciudad Juarez, hundreds of miles upstream on the Rio Grande, where a pregnant American woman who worked for the U.S. consulate was killed last weekend.

But as in Juarez, gunfights in this part of Mexico have killed dozens of people, and communities up and down the river fear the violence in this new front in the bloody drug cartel war is just beginning.

In the past decade, Mexico's organized crime groups have been muscling into each other's territory to take over routes and steal market share.

Violence Just Beginning

The root of the increase in violence is that two ruthless mafias — the Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, Los Zetas — have split. For more than two weeks, they have been engaged in a widening gangland war to determine who will control access to balmy South Texas, where the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimates half of all Mexican marijuana is smuggled into the U.S.

Zoran Yankovich, special agent in charge of the Houston DEA office, says if the two-year-old turf battle raging in Juarez is a guide, the violence in Tamaulipas has only begun.

"They're positioning themselves. I think they're still preparing ... still arming themselves, bringing additional reinforcements, and I think eventually it will probably be even bloodier than what we're seeing now," Yankovich says.

The DEA says most of the major Mexican drug mafias have allied with one side or the other in the new Tamaulipas conflict.

Mexican media have reported the war erupted over vengeance after a Gulf Cartel member killed a top member of Los Zetas. Yankovich says the conflict may be a result of opportunism: Who will replace the former Gulf Cartel chief Osiel Cardenas, recently sentenced in the U.S. to 25 years in federal prison?

"Any time a major player goes down — whether they get arrested or in this case sentenced — there is this reorganization [that is going to take place]," Yankovich says.

'No One Is Protected Here'

The territorial struggle has engulfed a large region of northeastern Mexico in violence, from Nuevo Laredo downriver to Matamoros at the mouth of the Rio Grande.

Early the morning of Feb. 27, there was a fearsome, three-hour shootout on Federal Highway 2 in the town of Camargo, across the river from Rio Grande City, Texas. No deaths or injuries were reported, but Mexican drug mafias frequently carry away their own casualties.

Last week, the city was still on edge. The international bridge was nearly deserted, some businesses had closed, schools were letting students go home early, and Santa Ana Catholic Church had cancelled evening masses.

"Basically, we are taking extra precautions because of the recent disturbances," says the Rev. Lorenza Garcia, the priest at Santa Ana, picking his words with excruciating care.

People are still afraid, despite street patrols by federal police and soldiers.

"No one is protected here. Everyone has to look out for themselves," says a woman selling tacos of sliced cactus called nopalitos. "And the mayor, he's hiding in his mother's skirt," she adds derisively.

Media Blackout, Citizen Journalists

No one really knows what's happening because there's a media blackout: journalists are terrified. In the past two weeks, a Mexican TV reporter and cameraman were kidnapped, beaten and released — presumably by narco-traffickers — and a Reynosa reporter died, local sources say, from a vicious beating.

Much of what people know about the Camargo shootout they learned from a video shot by an anonymous local woman and posted on YouTube.

While she narrates, the camera pans a half-dozen late-model SUVs and tricked-out pickups riddled with bullet holes, sitting disabled beside the road. The video, titled "Gunfight in Camargo," has gone viral, says a local doctor who asked not to be identified.

"The governor said this was an isolated case and we shouldn't be afraid," he says. "We don't know who this woman is, but she's brave. She showed the truth. Now the government can't deny it."

The U.S. State Department has urged Americans to avoid driving on major highways south of the border in northeastern Mexico. And the Texas Department of Public Safety has warned students going to South Padre Island for spring break not to party in Mexico this year. Copyright 2010 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Â*ARCHIVED To ContentsÂ*Â*Â*Â* To Previous PageÂ*Â*Â*Â* To Next PageÂ*Â*Â*Â* To Publications PageÂ*Â*Â*Â* To Home Page
National Drug Intelligence Center
Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis
June 2007
Outlying Markets6

Beaumont/Port Arthur

The Beaumont/Port Arthur area is located approximately 80 miles east of Houston and is a transit area for drugs transported to markets in the east as well as illicit proceeds transported west to Houston and the Southwest Border. Interstate 10 passes through the area, directly linking it to drug markets throughout the southeastern United States, including markets in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Significant drug and currency seizures are made by law enforcement authorities along the portion of I-10 that passes through the area. For example, during the third quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2006, law enforcement seized $515,000 that was transiting the area from Florida to Mexico.

Methamphetamine trafficking has increased in Beaumont/Port Arthur. Most of the methamphetamine available in the area is ice methamphetamine that is transported to the area from Mexico by Mexican traffickers. Ice methamphetamine is also transported by Mexican traffickers from California through Dallas and Houston to the Beaumont/Port Arthur area. Additionally, methamphetamine is produced in Beaumont/Port Arthur; however, production is decreasing. The influx of methamphetamine into the area also has contributed to a rise in drug-related crime, including assault and robbery.

Gang activity in Beaumont/Port Arthur has increased and will very likely continue to intensify in the near future. Some of the increase in violence is attributed to hurricane evacuees moving to the area, particularly violence among rival African American gangs. Furthermore, violence between Asian gangs has increased in Port Arthur and has spread to Beaumont. In addition, white supremacist gangs are increasingly involved in violent internal struggles that have led to retaliatory murders in the area.

Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi is a key transshipment area for illicit drugs in the Houston HIDTA region. Although not comparable in scale to Houston in terms of illicit drug activities, Corpus Christi mirrors many of the same smuggling activities on a lesser scale. Corpus Christi is a transshipment area for drugs, particularly cocaine and marijuana, smuggled from Mexico by Mexican DTOs overland along highways or using maritime methods through the PINS. The city is the first metropolitan area north of the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints in the Rio Grande Valley, making it an ideal location for DTOs to stash drugs prior to distribution. Stash houses are numerous in and around Corpus Christi and are most often used to store cocaine and marijuana prior to transshipment to major markets in the central and eastern United States.

Ice methamphetamine has supplanted powder methamphetamine as the most popular form of the drug available and abused in Corpus Christi. Most of the ice methamphetamine available in the city is smuggled into the area from Mexico by Mexican DTOs; however, local distributors also obtain ice methamphetamine from sources in California. Prison gangs control the wholesale and retail distribution of ice methamphetamine in Corpus Christi.

Prison gangs operating in Corpus Christi, including Texas Syndicate and Mexican Mafia, have become more organized and structured and have established direct connections to Mexican DTOs along the U.S.-Mexico border, giving them easy access to wholesale quantities of drugs. Texas Syndicate has the most advanced drug trafficking network in the Corpus Christi area. Members of this gang have access to multiple types of drugs and also smuggle drugs directly from Mexico into the area. Mexican Mafia is involved in drug and alien smuggling; members pick up drugs and aliens in the Rio Grande Valley and smuggle them to the area.

To TopÂ*Â*Â*Â*Â* To Contents

Southern Houston HIDTA Region

The southern portion of the Houston HIDTA region, south of Corpus Christi, is the main entry point for drugs smuggled into the area; most enter through the Brownsville, Hidalgo, and Progreso POEs. (See Figure 3 .) This sparsely populated area is close to the U.S.-Mexico border and contains mainly ranch properties, making it appealing to Mexican DTOs for their smuggling operations. The area is primarily a transit area for drug shipments from Mexico; illicit distribution in the area is limited because of the area's sparse population. US 77, which extends from the Brownsville POE, and US 281, which extends from the Progreso and Hidalgo POEs, serve as major corridors for drugs smuggled north into the area from South Texas. The successful movement of drug shipments through these POEs and, later, through the two Border Patrol checkpoints--one in Kingsville/Sarita in Kleberg County on US 77 and one in Falfurrias in Brooks County on US 281--is a critical phase of drug transportation from the U.S.-Mexico border. Drug shipments increase significantly in value after successfully passing through the POEs and again after passing through the checkpoints. For example, 1 pound of marijuana purchased in Mexico for $40 to $50 typically increases in value to $200 per pound when smuggled across the border and further increases to $250 to $400 per pound north of the checkpoints.

Figure 3. Padre Island National Seashore.


d-link

Mexican DTOs operating in the Houston HIDTA region are increasingly using cloned, or fake, vehicles to smuggle illicit drugs into and through the area. For example, in August 2006 Texas DPS seized over 3,000 pounds of marijuana and almost 500 pounds of cocaine from a tractor-trailer at the Falfurrias checkpoint that was cloned to look exactly like a tractor-trailer from a discount retailer. The vehicle displayed fake Oklahoma license plates, and the driver was dressed in the uniform of the discount retailer.

To TopÂ*Â*Â*Â*Â* To Contents

Padre Island National Seashore

Criminal activity in the PINS poses a potential national security threat to the United States arising from the area's use by Mexican DTOs as an entry point to smuggle drugs and illegal aliens, some of whom may be linked to terrorist organizations. The PINS is located on an undeveloped natural barrier island that extends south from Corpus Christi to the Mansfield Channel, a waterway that divides the PINS from South Padre Island. (See Figure 3.) The PINS and South Padre Island consist of 95 miles of mostly uninhabited and undeveloped beaches that offer an attractive venue for maritime smuggling. Mexican DTOs increasingly use the area for smuggling operations to avoid enhanced overland border protection at the checkpoints in Kingsville/Sarita and Falfurrias. Park visitors have reported witnessing illicit deliveries from shark boats to land vehicles; such smuggling operations pose a danger to visitors if they are perceived as a threat by traffickers.

DTOs commonly smuggle cocaine, marijuana, and illegal aliens to the PINS by shark boats,7 or "lanchas." DTOs hire fishermen in Mexico to use their boats to smuggle contraband into the PINS; some Mexican fishermen may be particularly susceptible to recruitment by traffickers, since the Mexican fishing industry has collapsed as a result of overfishing and loss of fishing grounds. Shark boats typically depart from Playa Baghdad and El Mezquial, Mexico, approximately 20 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border on Mexico's east coast. It is common for 10 to 20 shark boats loaded with drugs or illegal aliens to leave Playa Baghdad Beach and flood an area along the PINS. Traffickers engage in most smuggling activity during the night to avoid detection. In addition, shark boats are difficult to detect by radar, making interception challenging. Once a shipment of drugs or illegal aliens reaches the PINS, a separate team picks up the contraband. The drugs are often transported to Corpus Christi, where they are stored in stash houses for later distribution.

Marijuana and, to a lesser extent, cocaine are the drugs most often smuggled through the PINS. The size and number of marijuana seizures have increased significantly in the PINS during the past several years; shipments in excess of 1,000 pounds are now common. Seizures most likely have increased as a result of better intelligence and increased law enforcement attention in the area. Very little is known about cocaine trafficking through the PINS; most seizures of the drug are limited to those shipments that wash ashore.

The possibility of terrorist entry into the United States through the PINS poses a potential national security threat. Limited law enforcement presence and sparse population on the island make the PINS vulnerable to alien smuggling. Smugglers are criminals with no allegiances; they smuggle anyone or anything as long as they are paid a fee. Although analysis of data from several different agencies provides no evidence to support the entry of foreign terrorists into the United States through the PINS, debriefed smugglers have admitted to smuggling aliens whose nationality was unknown to them.

End Notes

6. Information regarding drug-related activities in outlying markets often is not as readily available as information in larger metropolitan areas. This section includes information concerning a particular market that could be gleaned from available law enforcement reporting and interviews.
7. Shark boats, also known as lanchas, are low-riding vessels capable of making voyages of up to 19 hours while carrying over 1,000 pounds of illegal drugs or 10 to 20 illegal aliens.

To TopÂ*Â*Â*Â*Â* To ContentsÂ*Â*Â*Â* To Previous PageÂ*Â*Â*Â* To Next Page

To Publications PageÂ*Â*Â*Â* To Home Page

End of page.

Padre Island National SeashoreFront Page Articles Pictures Videos more Â*Â*Â* Padre Island National Seashore is a national seashore in Corpus Christi, TX. This seashore area is federally designated as being of natural and recreational signifance. Write an Article RSS
Spring Broken: South Padre Island
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Written by travelguru1 on Mar-11-08 5:13pm
From:Â*Â*nyctravelguys.blogspot.com

Michigan State senior Paul Bonenberger avoided temptation during South Padre Island's season for wild spring break partying by leaving his passport at home.

“I’ve heard tons of (stuff) about the border,â€

I read somewhere that only a few key border spots are patrolled and that there are scores of entry points that illegals and smugglers use and that family members and others simply go and pick them up in the middle of the night.

That easily explains why there are so many illegal Mexican immigrants in the country. I think the days of dying in the desert or trying to outsmart the Border Patrol have long gone. They probably just take different routes and I wouldn't be surprised if they're all trucked in or transported across state lines in vans, buses and cars.

I've also heard that there is no real official interest in sealing the border because of trade relations with Mexico. With so many U.S. companies operating in Mexico, import/export, cheaper farm labor, ample supply of workers for large fast food chains, manufacturers, construction, etc., there is no incentive to end illegal immigration. What's already here is bad enough and I doubt there is any official plan to deport everybody and ask them go be screened and qualify to re-enter. Basically, it looks like the U.S. has adopted millions of Mexicans and their anchor children (U.S. citizens) and that once a generation passes, they will all become citizens by default.

Considering what's been going on in Ciudad Juarez and the thousands of killings there over drugs/drug trade, you'd think that would be indicative of what serious Mexican criminals are capable of. If the trend continues, those criminals will also become part of American society in general.

It's hard to imagine what possible reasons the U.S. would have for growing a third-world country within its borders. But it does. Can you imagine 10-12 Million Americans invading Mexico to work illegally and taking their menial jobs? How many would last a year? Or live long?

What a ridiculous situation.

Hello,
It is the opinion of many residents of Cameron County a border wall will offer no protection against the American politicians and law enforcement officials, who not only violate the Texas State and U S Federal laws by protecting criminal activity, but also violate the protections guaranteed to all in America by the United States Constitution.
Many Cameron County residents have the opinion only a Federal Border Czar will be able regain control over what seems to be one of the most corrupt local governments within the United States, as reported by Cameron County news media.