Site Where Mexican Pirates Killed American Citizen Was Target of Mexican Terrorists
Earlier today I posted about the murder of an American citizen by Mexican pirates on the Falcon Lake reservoir, which spans the U.S.-Mexican border.
A reader passes along this story from the San Antonio Express-News (originally published in the Houston Chronicle) from June:
An alleged plot by a Mexican drug cartel to blow up a dam along the Texas border — and unleash billions of gallons of water into a region with millions of residents — sent American police, federal agents and local disaster officials scrambling last month to thwart such an attack, authorities confirmed Wednesday.
Whether the cartel, which is known to have stolen bulk quantities of gunpowder and dynamite, could have taken down the five-mile-long Falcon Dam may never be known.
But it may have been derailed by a stepped-up presence by the Mexican military, acting in part on intelligence from the U.S. government, sources said.
As with most cartel violence, this was not ideological in nature, but directed at rival cartels:
The warning was based on what the federal government contends were “serious and reliable sources” and prompted the Homeland Security Department to sound the alarm to first responders all along the South Texas-Mexico border.
Mexico’s Zeta cartel was planning to destroy the dam not to terrorize civilians, but to get back at its rival and former ally, the Gulf cartel, which controls smuggling routes from the reservoir to the Gulf of Mexico, Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez and others familiar with the alleged plot said.
Destroying the dam, however, also would have flooded large areas of agricultural land, as well as significant parts of a region with about 4 million border residents in Texas and Mexico.
Another reminder that our issues with Mexico go a little deeper than a few people who want to come here to work and make sure our lettuce is cheap and we don’t have to mow our own lawns.
Sending the military down there for target practice is sounding better and better.
Icy Texan (ec9185) — 10/4/2010 @ 3:59 amHow about sending Gloria Allred down there to sort things out?
Old Coot (93a74d) — 10/4/2010 @ 5:40 amDrug cartels are now blowing up dams?
EricPWJohnson (f666b2) — 10/4/2010 @ 5:53 amIt is true that this is alarming. It seems to me, though, that two things are true:
– that cartel violence has between little and nothing to do with migrant labor.
– that attacking the revenue side of the cartels by legalizing their product, thus unleashing good old-fashioned American market efficiencies, will make acts like blowing things up to control smuggling corridors unprofitable. It worked with organized bootlegging.
It is hard to fight economics. And here we have a great chance to let Humboldt Hippies pursue their own self-interest, and in so doing, help the citizens of Texas and Arizona.
(Using this bit of free time to take up Patterico’s invitation for those of a less conservative stripe to jump in.)
Jamie (8309f5) — 10/4/2010 @ 5:53 amoff topic, but this iowahawk take on the now infamous “exploding children” ad from 10:10 is probably the best.
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2010/10/mad-men.html
Its not particularly funny, but its still pretty harsh and a good take on the issue.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/4/2010 @ 6:59 amJamie, that’s true, one way to fight a pimp is to legalize prostitution, or to take the profits out of human smuggling to legalize illegal immigration.
I’m not attempting a slippery slope argument. Sometimes that makes sense, and sometimes it doesn’t. These people, killing our citizens and blowing up our stuff, have created a horrible situation in Mexico. I believe there will be no getting along with them. We could legalize every drug and allow all illegals, and they would still find some way to be murderous thugs.
Mexico’s inability to be a civilized and prosperous nation is the heart of the problem, and any solution that doesn’t address this is going to fail. That goes for the right, too. Completing the dang fence is insufficient. We have a case for war, not that I advocate one at this time.
Mexico ought to be one of the more prosperous nations on the planet that people don’t have to flee in order to survive.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/4/2010 @ 7:29 amThanks, Aaron. That was worth the excursus.
Actually, it may not be totally off topic since, as you can see, this news has brought out more suggestions for legalizing drugs. A funny contrast in view of the incessant nanny statism on every other area of our lives.
We need to reduce our carbon footprint.
We need to stop eating junk food.
We need to persecute smokers.
But let’s legalize drugs so that the Mexican mafia won’t do bad things to us.
If only there were a hamburger mafia. I think I’ll go smuggle one for lunch today.
Gesundheit (aab7c6) — 10/4/2010 @ 7:30 amPresidente Calderon says stop defaming his poor misunderstood countrymen and stop asking for their papers.
Dmac (84da91) — 10/4/2010 @ 7:32 amCocaine was first extracted in 1860 and made mostly illegal in 1916. What catastrophes exactly did cocaine cause in that 56 years? Is it more addictive than nicotine? Caffeine? Is it more destructive than alcohol? Are the drug laws worse than the ill effects?
I don’t know but I think those questions need re-examination.
And that lake needs a bloody big USN gunboat. Or two.
Fred Z (c1782b) — 10/4/2010 @ 7:42 amYes. I think, strictly speaking, that casual cocaine snorting is far worse than casual drinking, which many people do for health benefits without problem. And extreme abuse of coke is probably worse than alcohol abuse, except that the alcohol abuser is much more likely to keep living and thus more apparent.
Absolutely.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/4/2010 @ 7:53 amPeople keep asking when will Mexico become a failed state.
It already is.
It is just that there is a conspiracy among our political class not to admit it. Because then, it would become imperative to do something about it. And dealing with Mexico will make Iraq and Afghanistan look easy.
But sooner or later, and certainly within the decade, the US will once again put combat troops into Mexico. Its a certainty.
SPQR (26be8b) — 10/4/2010 @ 8:11 amIs this a pre-revolutionary state? The really scary thing is if Obrador wins the election because people are sick of the violence. I’m sure Obama will bow to him, too, literally and figuratively.
Patricia (9b018a) — 10/4/2010 @ 8:39 amI agree with SPQR: not only is Mexico a failed state, but the US will be forced to intervene. I have long suspected that fear of that necessary intervention explains a lot of Busch’s policy on immigration.
BarSinister (a148e1) — 10/4/2010 @ 8:49 amand i’m sure that if Texan’s were minding their own business on the lake and defended themselves when attacked, Mexico would declare it an international incident and demand they be prosecuted.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 10/4/2010 @ 11:22 amred’s right. When you defend yourself from these thugs, you are screwed. When you don’t, you are dead. Personally, I’d take screwed, but it’s getting old seeing the double standard. I can’t imagine how Mexico would react if these mythical angry white men started invading Mexico and shooting people.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/4/2010 @ 11:25 amFirst off those people were in Mexico, illegaly, you cant cross a border for site seeing purposes on a none-entry section. Second of all everybody knows how deadly it is, that is the border for petes sake, cartels are fighting for it as we speak.
I heard the 911 call, and you guys think it may be possible that she killed her husband herself?
Jay California (a27ff6) — 10/4/2010 @ 11:42 amWe already dealt with that conspiracy theory in the earlier thread, Jay. Try to keep up.
Dmac (84da91) — 10/4/2010 @ 12:36 pmI’m quite sure that the Mexican’t government would be screaming foul if the couple/woman had used deadly force to protect herself.
Vivian Louise (eeeb3a) — 10/4/2010 @ 12:39 pmJC…what “non-entry” area?
AD-RtR/OS! (878407) — 10/4/2010 @ 1:02 pmDid the Mexican Govt post patrol boats to restrict entry?
Is there a NTM posted to alert Gringo boaters that they should not cross the Line of Demarcation?
And, you are still a troll.
Comment by Vivian Louise — 10/4/2010 @ 12:39 pm
And complaining about the gunshop that sold them the weapon, too.
AD-RtR/OS! (878407) — 10/4/2010 @ 1:02 pmSo what?
What an absolutely irrelevant point. A man was murdered. If a Mexican was shot while illegally working for Olive Garden, would you contemplate her illegal immigration as an excuse?
If your logic is that Mexico is a place where people get murdered, so just never go there, I am not willing to tolerate that.
This is the border, and bullets are flying across it. And people are accidentally crossing it. It’s a matter of common sense that the USA should not tolerate this situation. It’s long past time to start shooting back and militarize sections of the border with this activity.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/4/2010 @ 1:24 pmIt’s way past time to respond to these incursions with overwhelming deadly force without regard for what the Mexican government thinks, because it’s quite obvious that they can’t/won’t do anything about the problem.
Blacque Jacques Shellacque (609d83) — 10/4/2010 @ 10:54 pm