Nov 16

Bad Roads and Bandits? Not in my Mexico

By P.M. Corn Mexico Living Comments Off

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Not much happening in the world on this lazy Sunday evening so courtesy of my friend at The Mex Files, we’ll put this video out there for you to enjoy.

Besides some great sounds by the group Los Felinos de la Noche, it’s got some good behind the wheel video of Mexican highway 57, a road I’ve traveled many times.

You’ll be hard pressed to find the pot holed roads and dangerous antiguated junk trucks you’ve come to believe are everyday sights in Mexico.

Enjoy your Sunday

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May 19

Man loses head pretending to be what he’s not!

By PMC Border News, Mexico Living, Narco Wars Comments Off

Severed head of Erick Alejandro Alvarado MunozOur friend Sean Mattson, Mexico correspondent for the San Antonio Express News, left this interesting tidbit on his blog this morning, concerning the severed head found on a car in Monterrey this past week.

Honor amongst thieves perhaps? Who knows, but I got a chuckle out of the thing.

Head left on car with warning for wannabe Zetas; reassurance for businessmen

Kidnapping a guy, chopping his head off and leaving it on top of a car is sure one heck of a way to send a message.

Just in case the point wasn’t clear, the suspected killers of a person believed to be Erick Alejandro Alvarado Munãoz left a note with the head of the latest killing to rattle Monterrey.

According to media accounts, the grammatically challenged missive read:

“This is what happens to the people who pass themselves off for Zetas. Swindlers, crooks, kidnappers and people please report them without fear. This is the head of La Gata, attentively Gulf Cartel Nuevo León division. P.S. We don’t do anything to businessmen. Don’t be crybabies.”

The Zetas are the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel, which runs the narcotics business along much of the Texas border. “La Gata” is Alvarado’s nickname. He reportedly led a gang dedicated to large-scale robberies of vehicles from auto agencies in Monterrey, the big city in the border state of Nuevo León.

The note, if authentic, would suggest Alvarado was or passed himself off as a Zeta. It seems the Zetas are worried about their image — beheading enemies, cool; kidnapping and otherwise hassling the private sector, not cool.

Authorities haven’t said much.

I’m not sure if Monterrey’s private sector was reassured by the message.

— Sean Mattson

It is auspicious in light of the fact that several blog, such as THIS ONE or spreading hype and hysteria about Americans being targeted for assassination and kidnapping by the hundreds, which by the way, is not true. If you come to Mexico, or live in Mexico and go about your business without sticking your nose in others affairs, you’ll be fine.

The problems arise from the wannabes, the wannabe drug traffickers, the wannabe tuff boys.

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Apr 10

All the pretty Mexican Trucks

By PMC Mexico Living View Comments

On my days off this week, I needed to get away and relax and not having but a couple of days, headed to Monterrey Nuevo Leon.

It’s a good destination, a world class city that can hold it’s own against any similar city in North America.

It’s good to have friends there, especially those in the travel industry. I don’t recognize the name of the American company I represented, but because of them, I was able to obtain a suite in a 5 star hotel in Monterrey’s Galeria section that normally is $2400 pesos per night and paid only $921.00 pesos. I could get used to this. Smoozing with the movers and shakers of Monterrey business. (Mil gracias carina)

After dinner at Atlantico Oyster Bar and Grill, located on the side of a hill in the Colonia San Jananimo, outside on the patio with an incredible view of Monterrey and its suburbs, took a drive downtown to the Gran Plaza and the new Paseo Santa Lucia riverwalk. A good way to unwind and temporarily set aside the pressures of work.

Total cost of this little adventure? About $150.00 all inclusive of hotel, food and fuel. What did you do with your days off?

I went to Monterrey on the toll road at a cost of $170 pesos for a car and returned on the free road, or “libre” since I was in no hurry. As usual, I had my camera at the ready.

As was reported by other sources, trying to make it sound derogatory towards the Mexican trucking industry, their turnaround cycle appears to be 12 years. Nothing wrong with that. With the proper care and maintenance, these trucks can go 1.5 million miles or more before they begin to show their age.

But it seems like the cycling of the equipment is happening now. Dealers all over Mexico have new units on the ready line for delivery to carriers in Mexico. Freightliner Columbia’s, and Kenworth Kenmex T-660 seem to be the truck of choice again. Aerodynamics are in, the square boxy look of years past is gone.

So once again, here is photographic proof that debunks the critics and know nothings ideas about what a Mexican truck really is. And to be honest, their opinions no longer matter. Nothing I do or say will change their minds. But the minds that are being changed are those of the general public who have absolutely no idea about the issue. And here is where we shine. While others are presenting opinions without facts, Mexico Trucker continues to debunk those misrepresentations with photographic, first person proof

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Apr 07

Chertoff gives “the finger” to South Texas

By PMC Mexico Living, Opinions Comments Off

Confronted with environmental concerns about proposed border fencing, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff used his power Tuesday to waive dozens of federal laws to clear the way for building it.

Chertoff’s announcement followed a March 3 letter from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official pointing out that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials had abruptly spiked a compromise the agencies were working on to protect an extensive riverfront wildlife refuge affected by a Hidalgo County fence-levee project.

He signed two waivers Tuesday, one of them negating 37 environmental, historic preservation and land management laws to speed 470 miles of fence projects in Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico.

The other, which waived 27 laws, was specific to the 22-mile project in Hidalgo County that Chertoff, on a visit there on Feb. 8, had touted as a win-win plan to shore up worn Rio Grande flood control levees while creating a barrier to unauthorized entry.

Under the 2005 Real ID Act, Congress granted homeland security the authority to waive legal restrictions that could impede efforts to secure the border.

Chertoff that year used waivers for 14 miles of fencing near San Diego, Calif. Last year, he waived regulations for two stretches of fencing in Arizona. But this is the first time he has used a waiver in Texas.

“Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation,” Chertoff said in a news release Tuesday. “Congress and the American public have been adamant that they want and expect border security. We’re serious about delivering it, and these waivers will enable important security projects to keep moving forward.”

Combining the fence with repairs to the levees had been suggested by local leaders fearful of potentially devastating flood damage, and the idea was quickly backed by U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Hutchison on Tuesday praised Chertoff’s action, calling it a “responsible approach to exercise his legal authority to keep the agreement with Hidalgo County that serves the dual purposes of flood protection and border security.”

Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said the waiver was “responsive to the needs of our diverse border community.”

But the fence-levee plan is unpopular among environmentalists, who say it will cut off endangered cats and other wildlife from their sole water source in parts of the Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge. The patchwork of preserves stretches about 275 river miles and is considered one of the most biologically diverse havens in the United States.

“We need for the administration and Congress to hit the pause button here and stop this outrageous, accelerated quest to finish a wall that most people realize not only will not work but will do more damage than good,” anti-fence activist Jay J. Johnson-Castro said.

Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster, chairman of the Texas Border Coalition, issued a statement railing against what he said was “the largest waiver of U.S. environmental laws since the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, and we all know how well that worked out. Just ask the people of Valdez, Alaska.”

Cornyn was reserving comment until he could be fully briefed, said his spokesman, Brian Walsh.

U.S. Reps. Solomon Ortiz and Ciro Rodriguez, both Democrats, expressed outrage. Ortiz called the waivers draconian, and Rodriguez said Chertoff was “selectively ignoring laws and the will of Congress.”

In the March 3 letter to Greg Giddens, executive director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Secure Border Initiative, the wildlife service’s Kenneth Stansell wrote: “We were very concerned that after months of consultations on a proposed project design and reaching consensus on a way forward that satisfies the needs of both wildlife and a secure border, CBP would unilaterally propose a completely new design and request an immediate response from the service.”

He added, “We will continue to work with CBP to develop mitigation alternatives. … We would like to document, however, that any proposed fence and/or levee segment that bisects lands within the Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge cannot be found compatible with the purposes for which the refuge was established. Therefore, we see the need for (homeland security) to utilize its authority … to waive the National Wildlife Refuge Administration Act of 1966.”

Interior Department spokeswoman Tina Kreisher said that the waiver didn’t mean an end to environmental considerations for the project and said homeland security was prepared to dedicate up to $50 million for mitigation projects.

“As they continue to work on this they’re continuing to do some of things like the environmental assessments that we normally do. It won’t come to a conclusion because they will be exempt from it,” she said

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Mar 22

Military occupation of US Border to end in August

By PMC Mexico Living Comments Off

TUCSON, Ariz. — A program that has rotated thousands of National Guardsmen along the Mexican border to augment U.S. Border Patrol agents comes to a close in four months, despite calls by at least one border governor to extend the Guard’s mission.

Operation Jump Start began in mid-2006, deploying up to 6,000 troops at a time during the first 12 months in non-enforcement roles that freed up Border Patrol agents for front-line duty.

Through January, the National Guard Bureau spent more than $1 billion on the program — nearly $212 million in the 2006 fiscal year, $687 million in fiscal 2007 and $136 million during the first four months of fiscal 2008.

The guardsmen have built roads and fences, maintained equipment, provided aviation support and monitored cameras. They’ve also spent months at border outposts, calling in Border Patrol agents to capture illegal immigrants and drug runners they spot entering the country.

Jump Start was designed as a stopgap to give the Border Patrol additional help while the agency ramped up its numbers.

The Border Patrol had just under 12,000 agents when the program began, and President Bush said at the time that another 6,000 would be hired over the next two years. But the Border Patrol has hired only about half that many and now has 15,550 agents, although it says it hopes to reach the goal by the end of this calendar year.

“We have a really aggressive recruiting campaign going on,” said Lloyd Easterling, a Border Patrol spokesman in Washington. “We’re committed to hitting that 18,000, no doubt.”

Bush said when he announced the program that the troop numbers would be cut in half after the first year, and the military followed through. Since last July, an average of 3,000 troops have been deployed in the four Southwest border states, though numbers fluctuate daily.

As of mid-March, there were 2,842 deployed, including 1,063 in Arizona and 1,779 in Texas, New Mexico and California.

The mission will wind down to a July 15 finish, though some Guard personnel will remain to finish up paperwork and account for equipment.

Border Patrol and National Guard officials hailed the National Guard’s performance and contributions as a resounding success.

“Being a short-term bridge, it helped us get staffed up,” Easterling said. “It’s been fantastic.”

Easterling said it enabled 500 agents to return to active patrolling.

“If you ask anybody from the National Guard or Customs and Border Protection, they would all tell you that this has been a huge success as far as freeing up CBP for the ‘back to the borders’ aspect of the mission,” said 1st Lt. Amanda Straub, a spokeswoman at National Guard Bureau headquarters in Washington.

The Guard helped in the arrests of 140,000 illegal immigrants and seized more than 143 tons of drugs, mostly marijuana, Easterling said.

Military engineers also built 111 miles of border fencing and more than 18 miles of new all-weather roads, while maintaining or improving more than 570 miles of existing roads.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano wants the soldiers to stay.

The Democratic governor wrote a letter this month to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, urging him to “reconsider the drawdown of Operation Jump Start, and instead retain National Guard personnel strength in numbers necessary to maintain the hard-won improvements in operational control of the international border.”

She said ongoing problems with a high-tech “virtual fence” on the border mean it won’t be operational before 2011, and keeping the military on the border until then is clearly needed.

Chertoff’s spokesman said the Border Patrol hopes to have 18,000 agents by the end of 2008 and has asked Congress to approve funding for an additional 2,000. He also said they’re sticking with the drawdown plan.

“We’ve been abundantly clear since Day One about the intent and timeline for Operation Jump Start,” spokesman Russell Knocke said.

National Guard support on the border will continue, with units using border duty as part of their training.

“We will be down there,” Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said recently. “Operation Jump Start will end, but it doesn’t mean the Guard’s support for the Border Patrol and counter-narcotics … along the Southwest border will not continue.”

Editor’s Note: It is amazing watching these kids strutting around acting as they are doing something important when all this money has been wasted on people that have no power. Not to mention the Guard members who were caught smuggling illegals and drugs on the side. We can take care of our own problems down here.

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Mar 02

No to a border wall in Laredo – It will not help

By PMC Mexico Living, NAFTA Comments Off

A border wall does nothing but represent racism and fear, said David Almaraz, president of the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter, at a protest Saturday morning.Almaraz was one of approximately 75 Laredo residents who marched from San Agustin Plaza to City Hall in protest of a border wall. Alongside the residents were several city and county officials, all of whom expressed strong opposition to the federal government’s move to build a fence.

“All the walls we know in history have come tumbling down,” said District III Councilman Michael Landeck.

As the protesters marched their way down the streets of Laredo, they held signs reading “Duro contra el muro” and chanted “No border wall.”

Jim Earhart, executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center, said the wall will not only be ineffective, but will cause environmental damage to the Rio Grande, which serves as a 1,200-mile border with Mexico.

He said the river is contaminated enough as it is, and recommended involving the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Fabiola Flores, the rally’s coordinator, said she was glad Laredo was the first city to pass a resolution opposing the proposed wall. But, like Earhart, she said the city could be doing more.

She suggested the city or county could implement a border security task force, which would study proposals in the area and then offer recommendations to local officials.

She further said the federal government should not be dictating policies to areas it is not familiar with.

“If you don’t live here, you don’t know how it works,” she said. “You have to keep your ear to the ground.”

She said if the government wants to fix the border security problem, it should not “treat the symptoms, but cure the cause.”

“They need to replace the ‘F’ in NAFTA with ‘fair trade,’ ” she said. “They could fix it so people weren’t forced to leave their homes.”

Flores was referring to the trade bloc agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada, which came into effect in 1994. It has been criticized for putting many Mexican farmers out of work in addition to causing local businesses in Mexico to close.

Almaraz, a lawyer, said NAFTA put 2 million workers out of a job and caused a 25-percent drop in wages. As a result, he said, Mexican residents have come flooding into the United States in search of a higher standard of living for their families.

“People are going to go to where they have to go,” he said.

Among the city and county officials in attendance were Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas, Pct. 4 Commissioner Sergio “Keko” Martinez and Webb County Judge Danny Valdez.

Salinas said building the wall would “squander away billions of taxpayer dollars.”

“(A wall) is not going to work,” he said. “My question is whose going to get rich off this?”

He said the money budgeted for a border wall should instead go toward technology. Martinez, on the other hand, said the money should be given to border communities for economic development.But across the board, the protesters said nothing good could come from a border fence, saying the government needs to “build bridges of friendship, not walls of separation.”

Salinas said because Mexico is a neighbor and trading partner, its people should not be disrespected by a border wall.

“We need to have dialogue, and we need to be friends,” he said. “We need to be united by a river, not divided.”

Salinas also encouraged Laredo residents to vote and express their opinions.

“We’re not going to be taken for granted anymore,” he said

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