Mexican Pirates Threaten Texas Lake
[Guest post by DRJ]
That’s the headline I never thought I’d write. Here’s the story from the Houston Chronicle:
“Two weeks ago, the Texas Department of Public Safety warned boaters to avoid the international boundary that zig-zags through the lake, which is 25 miles long and 3 miles across at its widest point. Authorities also urged anyone on the water to notify relatives of their boating plans to help law enforcement in case of trouble.
Since issuing the warning, most boats have stayed on the U.S. side.
***
Men armed with assault rifles robbed fishermen on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake on April 30 and May 6. They traveled in the low-slung, underpowered commercial Mexican fishing boats that are familiar here. They asked for money, drugs and guns, and took what cash was available. No one was hurt.A third incident happened a couple of days before the warning was issued, but Cervantes said the fishermen were able to escape without the thieves boarding their boat.
The attacks “were really unusual,” Cervantes said. “We had never seen it, and then they started up.”
Violence on the Mexican side of the lake has been climbing for several months.
A fractured partnership between the region’s dominant Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas, plunged many of the area’s Mexican border cities into violence. Police stations were attacked, officers killed and rolling gun battles between the gangs and with the Mexican military became commonplace.
“To me, this is spillover violence,” Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. said. “I don’t do the Chamber of Commerce talk. I talk reality.”
Still, the sheriff says, boaters should safe provided they stay on the American side.”
We say “Don’t Mess with Texas” but the corollary should be “Really Don’t Mess with Mexico.”
— DRJ
115 men in a very small boat yo ho ho ohnoes they took our monies
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/28/2010 @ 6:27 pmsounds like you’ll need more than one kind of fishing rod on this lake….
kill a few of the pirates and that sh1t will stop, just like we ought to off of Yemen and Somalia.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/28/2010 @ 6:37 pmI like that these pirates also do not hurt people.
And the site is getting back to its old troubles seems like — I had to delete cookies and cached files to access the comments.
nk (db4a41) — 5/28/2010 @ 6:42 pmIt’s giving me problems, too, but others are fine. Maybe it’s just us, nk.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/28/2010 @ 6:43 pmRobbed fisherman? What the hell are they gonna take? Trout?
JEA (629c1c) — 5/28/2010 @ 7:33 pmSuch is life along the Texas-Mexico border these days. So when is Obama planning to apologize to the Mexican pirates? Maybe he’ll invite one of them to address a joint session of congress.
Mike LaRoche (f7a663) — 5/28/2010 @ 7:51 pmNeed some Q-boats!
AD - RtR/OS! (58f7b4) — 5/28/2010 @ 9:25 pmIt’s very interesting that I can submit a comment, have my handle appear in the “Recent Comments” column as having submitted a comment, but when I click on that link, I get bupkis. This thread says there are seven comments at this time, but when I click on the comment link, only six show up, which leads me to believe that mine was #7, and that this one is probably going to be #8, but since I can’t access them, I have no way of knowing.
AD - RtR/OS! (58f7b4) — 5/28/2010 @ 9:50 pmSince this has been going on since 0900 today, there is a great deal of discussion that has just disappeared, at least to some (one) of us.
I have friends that fish there, and they always stay on the US side because the Mexican game wardens have weapons and fast boats.
Won’t be pretty if the pirates come across and try to hijack people like my buddies.
BradnSA (980254) — 5/28/2010 @ 10:20 pmIt’s some of kind of glitch with some cookie that this site sends. Just keep deleting cookies (and temporary internet files to be on the safe side).
nk who recommends to AD to delete cookies on his browser (db4a41) — 5/29/2010 @ 4:42 ammaybe put an M-14 in your fishing boats?
PCD (363db4) — 5/29/2010 @ 4:49 amSo when is Obama planning to apologize to the Mexican pirates?
Yes, but only after he bows to at least a half – prone position first.
Dmac (3d61d9) — 5/29/2010 @ 7:36 amIt’s time for Congress to grow some balls and issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal to citizens so we can take weapons along while fishing for bass on border lakes. Then just watch the fireworks. These guys are pirates, and they need to be treated as pirates.
mefolkes (98c516) — 5/29/2010 @ 8:05 am