Mexican Drug Cartel Seize South Texas Ranches Update: Story a Hoax?

Public didn't learn about Los Zetas Falcon Dam incident involving federal and local authorities until weeks after it occurred

WAITING OUT THE MEXICAN INVASION STORY

As a native Texan who resided in South Texas and a former rancher, I find it interesting several internet bloggers have branded this story as a hoax because 1) The bloggers talked to the Laredo Police Department and the Webb County Sheriff’s Office who couldn’t confirm the story but didn’t deny it, 2) The bloggers cited the local media story who reported the local authorities couldn’t confirm the story with none of the authorities denying it, and, 3) The FBI, who gave a statement they won’t comment on rumors.

Armed with the “facts” the story was pronounced a hoax. A story originally reported by the site Digger’s Realm on July 24th at 4:11 AM. Examiner.com reported on the story on July 24th at 11:18 AM. The conclusions the story is hoax, based on a local media report and phone calls to the local authorities, were made within less than 24 hours after the story originally broke.

We believe there’s the possibility members of the Los Zetas gang, in the midst of a violent war with the Mexican military in Nuevo Laredo, hightailed it across the border seeking out a hideout on the ranches. Ranches purportedly located near Laredo in Webb County, TX, an area of 3,376 square arid miles of mesquite trees and prickly pear cactus. The Los Zetas gang members discovered by the ranchers who contacted the local authorities.

The local authorities, armed with the knowledge Las Zetas gang members are known to be extremely dangerous, potentially armed with assault weapons, grenades, and shoulder to arm rocket launchers, contacting the federal authorities for help. The possibility the federal government ordered the operation to be kept secret. Which isn’t so far-fetched when you compare this story to an earlier incident which occurred “sometime in May”, when the story was finally reported, and who reported it.

I find it fairly amusing bloggers are willing to declare this story a hoax. Amusing in that, 1) The very same local media failed report the incident which occurred in May. A story which involved Homeland Security, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, a nearby Sheriff’s Department, and the Mexican military. A story which wasn’t reported until weeks after the incident occurred. A story which involved a Los Zetas plot to blow up the 5-mile long Lake Falcon Dam. Homeland Security issuing a warning, U.S Customs and Border Agents, local enforcement officers at the dam. The discovery of explosives, a plan, and Los Zetas gang members handing out handbills and using blowhorns warning Mexican citizens on the other side of the border to “get out”. The potential disaster of billions of water flooding an area inhabited by 4 million people on both sides of the border with the local news media, failing to file a report. Laredo, TX, located 73 miles from the Falcon Dam, the nearest “local” media. The news source who reported the story, the Houston Chronicle who reported the Los Zetas Falcon Dam Plot incident on June 2nd. According to the Chronicle, the incident occurred “sometime in May”.

Also reported by certain bloggers, the assertion the hoax is an attempt to promote racial hatred against illegal immigrants which isn’t amusing, and shows a total lack of comprehension of the ethnicity of South Texas and Texas ranchers. Neither Examiner.com or Digger’s Realm reported “white” ranchers were involved, or, illegal immigrants.

The story reported involved members of the Mexican drug cartel, the Los Zetas, officially named by the U.S. government as the “most dangerous” Mexican drug cartel. A drug cartel which is currently waging a war against the Mexican military in Nuevo Laredo. A war zone located across the banks of the Rio Grande River and the less than 1000 ft. long World Trade International Bridge which leads to Laredo, TX, with innocent Mexican citizens and American tourists caught in the crossfire.

On June 22nd, two days before Digger’s Realm and Examiner.com reported the story of Los Zetas gang members seizing two Texas ranches located across the border from Nuevo Laredo, Huffington Post reported Nuevo Laredo was in the midst of a Mexican military-Los Zetas war:

On Wednesday, the border city of Nuevo Laredo was practically paralyzed by late-night gunbattles in which gangs forced citizens from their cars and used the vehicles to block streets. The sound of gunfire alarmed Texans on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande.

The Nuevo Laredo city government posted messages on its Facebook page warning citizens to stay indoors as shooting erupted at several intersections in the city across from Laredo, Texas.

Frightened people on the U.S. side of the border called emergency dispatchers after hearing the gunfire, Laredo police spokesman Joe Baeza said Thursday. But he said there was no spillover violence.

“We were getting reports from people who live on the river’s edge that they could hear gunfire and explosions from the Mexico side,” Baeza said.

What’s extremely interesting was the Laredo police spokesman’s next quote:

“We didn’t have any incidents on the American side. It’s hard for people to understand who don’t live here,” he added. “They’re not Vikings, they’re not going to invade us; it doesn’t work that way.”

According to a report from AllBusiness.com published January 6, 2010, the Los Zetas don’t have to invade Laredo because, according to a Laredo Police Detective, Los Zetas is already there.

Some officials say the Zetas, who now call themselves La Compania, are becoming more and more integrated into the economic and political activities of communities in the central and eastern areas of the US-Mexico border. An especially strong Zeta presence exists in Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, and Matamoros in Tamaulipas state, and Ciudad Acuna and Piedras Negras in Coahuila state.

“They own used-car lots on both sides of the border, restaurants, discotheques, liquor stores,” said Robert Garcia, a detective with the Laredo Police Department and an expert on the Zetas. “Basically, anything anywhere that moves to and from the border, or anything and anywhere they can launder large amounts of money, the Zetas have a hand in. They even own a dog-racing track.”

On May 30th, 2010, the Washington Post reported Mexican pirates attack Texas fishermen on Falcon Lake, a reservoir of Falcon Dam which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border. According to WAPO, Los Zetas gang members, armed with assault weapons and speedboats, robbed American fishermen on the U.S. side of the lake. Lake Falcon had become a “Wild West” Reservoir and a handy spot to smuggle pot into the U.S.:

Out on the water with the U.S. Border Patrol, roaring right down the international boundary line but careful never to cross into Mexico, Gonzalez and a crew pointed out spot after spot where they have intercepted tons of marijuana crossing the lake.

The Border Patrol seized 18,000 pounds of marijuana in the lake region last year, worth about $14 million at $800 a pound; it will likely confiscate even more this year.

“But, man, they are so good at counter-surveillance,” Gonzalez said, describing the lake as kind of a Wild West on the water. “They watch us, they watch our boats, our cars, our homes. The smugglers, they know every move we make.”

The traffickers cross day and night, driving boats with bales of marijuana right into the backyards of homes along the lake. They rent cabins at the lakeside state park and stash dope there. The border agents point to a three-story house built like a watchtower on the Mexican shore. The officers frequently see observers with binoculars on the roof. Up and down the lake, netting boats are idled. Nobody waves.

On April 2nd, news media (not local media) reported the federal government was investigating two recent sightings of Mexican military helicopters over U.S. soil, one military helicopter “hovering for 20 minutes” in the vicinity of a residential area located near Lake Falcon. According to the news report, the local sheriff was initially rebuffed by the Feds until he produced witness photos of the first incident.

Houston Chronicle:

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said Sunday’s sighting was the second one confirmed, but several others were reported to him during the past two weeks that he couldn’t be sure enough about to forward to the federal government.

Gonzalez said the unconfirmed incursions occurred on March 20 and on Monday and Tuesday and were reported to him by a deputy, a local news reporter, and a federal officer who the sheriff said has since been muzzled by higher-ups.

“I don’t want to get him involved because it sounds like they’re going to fire him for saying the truth,” Gonzalez said of the officer.

The local sheriff claimed the federal officer has “since been muzzled up”, and, “it sounds like they’re (the federal government) are going to fire him for saying the truth”.

What was the “truth”? We have no clue as the Chronicle didn’t report why Mexican military helicopters had flown across the border in what is officially classified by the federal government as “an incursion”.

The site Ironic Surrealism posted an interesting article relating to the number of Mexican military incursions into the U.S based on a report from Judicial Watch. Included in the post, a link to the documents the federal government released to Judicial Watch who requested info on the incursions. Documents which had missing pertinent info as to when the incursions occurred, and, why?

Ironic Surrealism:

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that on March 22, 2010, it received records from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) concerning Mexican Government incursions and encounters along the U.S. border. The documents which are incomplete and do not contain all of the relevant data nonetheless indicate an increase in the number of incursions in 2008 and 2009. Judicial Watch’s analysis of the data shows:

# 76 Mexican Government incursions from January 2008 to December 2009 (data missing from February 2009)
# 50 Mexican Government incursions in 2008 alone, which is double the number of incursions from the previous year

What’s interesting to note is the Houston Chronicle reported the location of the two Mexican military helicopters in March with one sighting over a residential area at Lake Falcon, the other sighting, U.S. 83 between Zapata and Laredo. The Chronicle filed the report on April 2nd, 2010. On May 30, the Washington Post reported fishermen at Lake Falcon were being robbed by Los Zetos gang members carrying assault rifles, using speedboats. On June 2nd, the Chronicle reported the Los Zetas Falcon Dam plot incident which had occurred “sometime in May”. I think it’s interesting the Washington Post report, dated May 30th, didn’t mention the Los Zetas plot to blow up the dam, an incident which occurred “sometime in May”. The Houston Chronicle report on June 2nd, failing to mention to actual date the incident occurred. The local media, failing to report the incident. Based on these facts, one could surmise there could potentially be an incident occurring in Webb County, TX, involving Los Zetas gang members with the federal authorities exhibiting the very same behavior of not reporting it to the press, keeping it secret until they’re ready to report it to the press. Based on the Chronicle report, they didn’t find out about the Los Zetas Falcon Dam incident until they were informed by the federal government. In the Chronicle report, the missing info of when the incident actually occurred leaving us to assume either the Chronicle was too lazy to find out the actual date or the federal government was unwilling to give a specific date. Which is bizarre and leads to more questions.

Before we officially declare the Digger’s Realm and Examiner story a hoax we believe, 1) Based on the Falcon Dam incident there’s the possibility the federal government and local authorities may not divulge this story for “weeks”, and 2) The local media may not be the best source for this story.

by LBG

LATEST: At Big J, more on why we’re waiting out the story: The MSM in the Fog of War: What’s Going On in Laredo, Tex.?

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by LBG

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Tags: Los Zetas, Mexican military, ranches, Texas, war