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'Four trucks filled with bodies' after Reynosa firefight


Posted on March 11, 2013
by Ildefonso Ortiz

REYNOSA — Fear and panic filled the streets of Reynosa on Sunday night as rival gunmen battled during a three-hour firefight that saw automatic weapons and grenades used. Surprisingly, Mexican authorities were absent for most of the melee.

The opening clashes were reported just before 9 p.m. Sunday, when rival factions of the Gulf Cartel consummated what appeared to be a yet another rift within the criminal organization.

During the protracted gunbattle, dozens of gunmen were killed, but authorities Monday would only confirm the deaths of two bystanders and the injury of a third.

A Tamaulipas law enforcement official, who asked to not be named citing security reasons, confirmed that the death toll was about three dozen, however the exact figures were not known because cartel gunmen picked up their own people’s bodies during the struggle.

In a news release, the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office, known as the PGJE, confirmed that the two slain bystanders were a taxi driver and a teenager who was riding a vehicle with his father. The release confirms one person was injured and seven gunmen arrested, and it states that authorities seized 22 vehicles that were used in the melee, but it doesn’t mention any gunmen dying.

The Tamaulipas law enforcement agent called the new release issued by his superiors an insult to common sense.

“There were four trucks filled with bodies that (members of organized crime) picked up,” the official said. “That is not counting the (bodies) that were left behind.”

The news release doesn’t mention a bullet-riddled SUV that was left along Boulevard Hidalgo, one of the city’s main avenues, just south of Vista Hermosa Avenue near the local headquarters of Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, known as the PGR. Inside the truck, four bloodied bodies could be seen from a distance hours after sundown Sunday. Just north of that location near the Fiesta Inn Hotel along Boulevard Hidalgo, another bullet-riddled vehicle could be seen with three bodies inside.

Most of the city’s main avenues had been blocked off with hijacked trailers or buses, and road spikes were littered in other areas to stop traffic.



MEDIA BLACKOUT

While online the shootout in Reynosa has become common knowledge, mainstream news media have remained mum about it, said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, chair of the Government Department at the University of Texas at Brownsville.

“This has me very worried because this blackout is coming from both sides,” Correa Cabrera said. “Not only are we seeing organized crime shushing the media but now we are seeing the government at all levels put a lid on the media where you now have virtually no mainstream coverage of a battle of this magnitude.”

More ->http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...a4bcf6878.html

Since it's mainly hoods killing each other, they shouldn't get press exposure.
Who cares.

Originally Posted by edinnopolo

Since it's mainly hoods killing each other, they shouldn't get press exposure.
Who cares.

For the most part I agree. Newspapers are stopping all "drug" coverage to stay alive. Maybe it is better not to know this is happening. Not sure about that. What I am not comfortable with is little law enforcement or military was involved in a three hour gun battle that killed two bystanders. The narcos filled 4 trucks with the dead bodies of their comrades and drove away. More uncounted dead in Mexico.

Once lawlessness of this scale takes over without the public being protected and newspapers being afraid to report it, it's pretty much Game Over for Mexico. They can't contain it. The narcos have the money and money is power. Tough to fix that. Glad I'm not there. jmho

Gotta disagree; strongly.

One thing for sure about media being intimidated into silence is someone benefits.

I just saw a story about the USAF not including any more drone stats in their official press releases.

No coffin photos allowed out of Dover AFB; "embedded" press given controlled propaganda data...

But the best laugh/charade of all is mainstream media's faux puzzlement over their own decline.

When more accurate facts are found by cobbling together online blogger/gossip mongers instead of "official" news sources, you know your system is but a rotten front for corporate PR.

Someone. Benefits.

Originally Posted by Marty Cortez

Gotta disagree; strongly.

One thing for sure about media being intimidated into silence is someone benefits.

I just saw a story about the USAF not including any more drone stats in their official press releases.

No coffin photos allowed out of Dover AFB; "embedded" press given controlled propaganda data...

But the best laugh/charade of all is mainstream media's faux puzzlement over their own decline.

When more accurate facts are found by cobbling together online blogger/gossip mongers instead of "official" news sources, you know your system is but a rotten front for corporate PR.

Someone. Benefits.

Of course someone benefits: narcos, the military, politicians, bankers, bureaucrats, lobbyist, the talking heads and the 24/7/365 news cycle. Silencing and/or manipulating the media does not come cheaply though. There must be a significant benefit or why spend the money, tear the social fabric and spill the blood? What do they want and how much damage will they do to get it?

Actually, it only costs money to maipulate the media when you want the story to go somewhere the media doesn't. All it takes is fear to spike a story.
Obviously the major players in Woooosh's list have different goals, but they all can be achieved through the same means. The narcos want a blackout, the politicians and cops either need to be seen as winning, or at least not loosing. The media doesn't care what the story is, as long as there's a story (even if they have to make one up) to fill the 24/7 news channels.
The Mexican media has gotten the message, publish or air a story that shines light into the dark world of the drug lords, and they kill you and your family.

Originally Posted by Islander

The Mexican media has gotten the message, publish or air a story that shines light into the dark world of the drug lords, and they kill you and your family.

And I believe the narcos are threatening social media groups in that area. A narco group put out a 600,000 peso reward for the "Valor por Tamaulipus" FaceBook group owner who was documenting narco crimes and local corruption-because no one else was. There is a YouTube allegedly showing the mans execution (not this video). Not sure if it was real, but it worked.

All they get now for news is gossip.

This seems like a great opportunity for a group of hackers with a social consionsious to make an impact. I heard that one group had the goods on the cops who were on the narcos payroll, and were going to publish it.

Then the narcos kidnapped some of the groups members (what part of anonymous didn't they understand?) and the hackers backed off.

I am of the opinion that legalizing most recreational drugs in the US will remove the heat from the boiling pot (no pun intended) of drug violence, and at a far lower financial and societal cost than the current policy.