Pirates kill Texas man? What do you think?

[Simba's Mom]

I came kinda late to the party (or whatever). But I'm amazed they're questioning her motives. We live just down the way, have been many times on Falcon Lake (it's not called Lake Falcon around here, just on the news). When I first heard of this (since it's local news for us), it made so much sense-this stuff happens. When I saw it last night (cuz I'm at WDW, kind of sheltered from the outside world), I was in shock. I couldn't believe they're questioning that poor woman's motives. But DH says I'm too trusting-I felt bad for poor Scott Peterson at first too-how could they think he killed his wife. So maybe she is guilty! Subscribing to keep posted.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Isnt it the border towns where the crime is?...My Ds17 spent 6 weeks this summer working in Mexico city at the embassy.he travelled with mY BIL and his family to the Pacific side beach resorts also. Although I have to admit Iam soooo glad he is now safely back!

Not quite- border towns and surrounding towns with incredible crime thanks to the drug cartels (mainly Zetas). Welcome to my world. Hmmm....maybe I'll stay in WDW!

 

[DawnCt1]

Just this week, a UT Brownsville student was murdered while taking a bus in Mexico to visit relatives. Odds are, if an American citizen hadn't been killed in this cartel attack, we would never had heard of it.

http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=521966

We used to go to Mexico almost every year, but no more. Not worth the very real risk. When even the wealthy people from gated communities are fleeing in droves, I don't need to go there.

We are taking a cruise in January. I probably will get off of the ship at both stops but frankly I will feel safer in Haiti.

 

[Darcy03231]

An excellent post. How about Cancun? I don't think I'd trust anywhere there now. My DD(22) is working as a nanny and the family is considering a Christmas trip to Cancun and taking her.

There have been incidents in Cancun too. Not publicized because they don't want the tourists to stop coming! Again, I'd consider going IF I were going from the airport, to the resort, staying there for the duration of my trip and then going back to the airport. There's no way I would wander around on my own.

We had friends that did an all inclusive on the Mexican Rivieria in July, 2009 and they had a great time with no incidents at all. They did say that there were a lot of armed soldiers around. I don't know if it was more than usual, or if they just have never been somewhere were there are armed soldiers patrolling.

 

[dodukes]

There have been incidents in Cancun too. Not publicized because they don't want the tourists to stop coming! Again, I'd consider going IF I were going from the airport, to the resort, staying there for the duration of my trip and then going back to the airport. There's no way I would wander around on my own.

We had friends that did an all inclusive on the Mexican Rivieria in July, 2009 and they had a great time with no incidents at all. They did say that there were a lot of armed soldiers around. I don't know if it was more than usual, or if they just have never been somewhere were there are armed soldiers patrolling.

The problem with this is that its all possible for the to "get you" on the way there or back.

 

[VickiVM]

The violence is spreading to regions that have never experienced this before. I am on the board of a non-profit that currently works in the Pame region of east-central Mexico in the state of San Luis Potossi. Thes are indigenous villagers that did not have electricity in any form until several years ago (and only in schools). Stick/mud homes, no running water, and VERY little support from the municipality. They are extremely isolated in the Sierra Madre mountains - way, way, way off the beaten path.

Our volunteers there tell us that now the cartels are sending men out into these regions recruiting young boys and they now have regular "visitors" coming into the villages. We have not been able to go to the village in a few years, mostly because of the violence on the border, but now it's come directly to the villages.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Just this week, a UT Brownsville student was murdered while taking a bus in Mexico to visit relatives. Odds are, if an American citizen hadn't been killed in this cartel attack, we would never had heard of it.

http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=521966

We used to go to Mexico almost every year, but no more. Not worth the very real risk. When even the wealthy people from gated communities are fleeing in droves, I don't need to go there.

OMG! Thanks for that info. We rent office space at UT Brownsville and interact with many UTB students. If not for the DIS, I might not have known of this.

Did you know that the drug cartels kill Mexican reporters for reporting on the drug-related violence? Several Mexican newspapers now have a policy not to report this sort of thing, in fear for their lives.. We only know in this case because the drug cartels can't touch the American newspapers/reporters. So that's why you hear things from US news, not Mexican news. And US news has less desire to report on a foreigner killed than on an American killed (although, if I remember, he lived in Matamoros, not the US).

 

[Simba's Mom]

I did hear the call/interview of the witness and I have to say he sounds like thousands of other Hispanic Texans. I didn't notice anything odd about the accent. In fact, he sounded suspiciously like my neighbor 2 houses down. That neighbor was born and mostly raised in Mexico, but spent about half his childhoood in the US with relatives and has lived in the US since adulthood, even being in the US Army. There are various accents and that's just one of them. As for not not wanting his face shown.....No one in his right mind would want his face shown or his ID given if he believes this story to be true. He might as well go ahead and pre-plan his funeral and pay up the life insurance policy.

Still haven't had time to assess the wife. Sorry, but I'm busy planning a party. But let me make it clear that it would be in the best interest of Mexican law enforcement to NEVER identify any shooters or even find a body. They do not want an international incident. It's bad enough that the body count from the drug cartels on the Mexican side of the border is staggering, but most Americans don't really hear about it and aren't that upset about it. (Just those of us on the border who are scared because we hear about it all the time.) But this incident, if true, would bring all sorts of unwanted attention to the fact that Mexico is helpless against the cartels. It would be an embarrassment all the way up to the Mexican president's office. And that's just the PR angle.

There's a good chance at least some of local law enforcement are on the paytroll of the cartels. Good heavens, at the end of August 1/10 of Mexico's FEDERAL police force was fired for "not doing their work or for corruption." Translation: Tied to cartels. Can you imagine if 1/10 of our federal agents were fired in one day for corruption? And if Mexican law enforcement isn't being paid off, they still don't want to point the finger at the cartels because the finger that points back will probably be holding an AK47. Police are regularly murdered down there, and not in the line of duty. BTW, "kidnapping" doesn't work the way we tend to think of it. If someone is actually taken, the chances of ever seeing them alive are slim and none....closer to none.

I did catch the US side local police chief. (?) He essentially said that there was no way they were going to take their lives in their hands and cross over the border to investigate this. It was too dangerous and he feared a gun battle. No duh. Smart guy.

All I am trying to say to those who cannot fathom why a police force would cast doubt on someone's story unless they truly doubted that story is.......Because they prefer to stay alive another day. If they weigh their own lives and that of their wives, children, parents, etc. against that of an American tourist, it's not hard to see why it would be in their best interest to make the wife look less than credible.

If the wife did do in her DH, then she may be one smart cookie because she has a better grasp of the politics than most. The Mexicans will cast doubt and never search in earnest (or at least delay as long as possible) for fear of actually finding evidence a cartel was responsible. If that happened, they'd be in a real bind. The US government will never call the Mexicans on it because goodness knows we can't offend them. The US can't really send our own people to investigate because it's MEXICO and even if we could, they don't want to go because the risk of death is too dang high. Basically, too many people who have power and matter just want this story to GO AWAY. By any means necessary.

EMom, I agree with everything you've said 1000%. Do you also live down here in the Falcon Lake/Brownsville area? I honestly believe you have an excellent understanding of this area-and it IS unique!

 

[dennis99ss]

Agree with Simba's mom. While the story sounds odd to someone not in S. Tx, anyone who has been in the area can understand how this could happen as described. Why did they stop chasing, maybe they were getting over the border, maybe the other boaters in the area, maybe they just didn't want to bother anymore, they do not need to worry about the law on the south side.

Re travel to Mexico....we live in a community that has seen a fair amount of mexican citizens move in in the last couple of years, and, while they are all likely in the upper class, those who I know and am friends with all say the same thing....Don't go. They don't go. While the men need to commute at times for their businesses, their families stay put.

 

[JessicaR]

Based only on listening to her 911 call and watching the interview there is no doubt in my mind that she is telling the truth.

 

[EMom]

EMom, I agree with everything you've said 1000%. Do you also live down here in the Falcon Lake/Brownsville area? I honestly believe you have an excellent understanding of this area-and it IS unique!

No, but my family has been in TX since before the Revolution, so we're super-Native Texans. I have been to Brownsville/Matamoros before, but I wouldn't cross the border now for love nor money. Some of the insight I have comes from the many, many neighbors we have gained recently. We live in an affluent town and it's being flooded by upper class Mexicans fleeing the violence.....and not from the border towns. It's just as dennis99ss said....They move here, the women and children stay, and the men go home only as often as necessary to keep the business going/money coming in. We've seen them move in on multiple occasions with nothing but a few suitcases....They left in THAT big of a hurry. They lease or buy fairly expensive homes and move in with nothing because they got the hellouttadodge with no notice. Before long, they've bought a fleet of new luxury cars, all new furniture, clothes and everything else. You've got to have a ton of cash to buy EVERYTHING new. They will not go back. They are too scared.

Additionally, we have a few Mexican friends who have gained US citizenship from serving in the Army. Each of them go home as little as possible and are armed every second when they are in Mexico. One of them who went to West Point and was Special Services (so he's no chicken) likened the border town he grew up in to being "as bad as Iraq....a war zone." Another is from Monterrey, which used to be known as a lovely, sophisticated university city. People are running scared there too. The cartels are everywhere.

As for the resorts, you're probably safe WITHIN the resort. But don't think they won't hush up bad news to keep the tourists coming. And more and more cartel activity is becoming water (lake, sea, ocean, etc.) based as it gets harder and harder to smuggle across land. Where are resort towns located? By the water. Sometimes they are ports. Acapulco has already had some mass killings. Near...as in just outside....Cancun, a few months ago, 12 bodies were discovered in a cenote. (like an underground cavern with water....tourists visit them)

Last month, bullets from the Juarez side struck some buildings on the UT El Paso campus. Who wants to send their kid to school when they might have to dodge bullets from across the border? In June, bullets from across the border hit El Paso's City Hall.

Once the bullets cross the border, we'll hear about it. If an American is killed, we'll hear about it....most likely. But now that the Mexican journalists have been silenced for fear of their lives, it will be more of a free for all down there than ever.

So if the wife is telling the truth, some of you wonder why a grieving widow would go on TV to talk about the incident over and over? Because that's the only way ANYTHING will (really, might) ever be done about it. Unless the family is the ultimate squeaky wheel, the Mexican authorities will make sure this case fades away. The sooner the dead man is forgotten, the better. Anyone who is from Texas can tell you that. If the wife is telling the truth, she knows that if she does not get as much attention as possible right now, her husband will rot away somewhere. Forget about anyone being brought to justice. That's just reality.

 

[tikilyn]

Yes the violence has spilled over the border already. Last week two Mexican men we found shot to death and left in their truck about 5 miles from my house and I live about 15 miles from the border. They were found in Olmito next to a
Border Patrol station. From what I have heard is that the shooting is cartel related.

I hope they find her husband but I don't think he'll turn up. As sad as that is.

 

[EMom]

Just a window into our world as a border state........

"US Officials Confirm Cartels Thwarted Jet Skier Search"

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7236619.html

 

[rie'smom]

If the people across the border don't stop the violence and if Washington doesn't step in and beef up the borders, we may all start hearing "Remember the Alamo".

 

[RadioNate]

Just a window into our world as a border state........

"US Officials Confirm Cartels Thwarted Jet Skier Search"

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7236619.html

Excellent article. I hope they return the body if it is still able to be returned.

My neighbors are going to Mexico next week. I'm scared for them.

I think the cartel was expecting someone else or they ventured into something they shouldn't have. I think they let her go once they realized she was American & just in the wrong place, wrong time. She's a warning for people to stay out of 'their' part of the lake.

 

[PixieDust32]

After more that 1000 women raped and brutally kill in Juarez and all the violence of the last couple of years, everything is possible.

 

[Mermaid02]

I just heard on the news they found blood on her life vest and the authorities believe her. As sad as I am for the family, I'll be glad if she isn't lying. She still averts her eyes oddly though....

 

[Art 1]

It's getting curiouser and curiouser.

 

[DawnCt1]

Based only on listening to her 911 call and watching the interview there is no doubt in my mind that she is telling the truth.

I agree with you. The witness said that he saw a boat chasing her jet ski. The stress on her face is also apparent. If you see still pictures of her and her husband together, she doesn't look like the same young woman now.
I don't understand the reluctance to believe the Mexican government over our own citizens, when we KNOW what they are about. A sheriff's deputy was recently accused of staging his own shooting when he encountered members of a drug cartel just over the border. Forensics have cleared him of that allegation.

 

[Rora]

I just heard on the news they found blood on her life vest and the authorities believe her. As sad as I am for the family, I'll be glad if she isn't lying. She still averts her eyes oddly though....

I'm starting to believe her. I was very skeptical but after reading some posts here, reading the posted article, and hearing the same thing on the news, it looks like she's telling the truth.

And, I guess, what a great example of someone who handles grief very differently than the majority. She still "looks" suspicious however, again, I doubt she is anymore.