Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Tamaulipas: the first casualty of war is the truth

CALLA TAMAULIPAS NARCOEJECUCIONES
El Norte

The evidence that crosses the wall of silence erected across the U.S-Mexico border suggests that the death toll in Tamaulipas may surpass that of Chihuahua.



Tamaulipas reporters speak quietly of days of fighting with 200 dead. Of stretches of highways with landscapes of dead teenagers, almost children, scattered continously every several meters. Bodies are no longer delivered to the state’s medical forensic service (Semefo), funeral homes or cemeteries but are buried in mass clandestine graves.

Puddles of blood in the streets are the only evidence of the murders that escape the funerary statistics.

It is difficult to prove the claims. Unlike cities such as Ciudad Juárez, in Tamaulipas the number of killings are not published because that figure is unknown. The authorities deny any knowledge of that information. The Center for Border Studies and Promotion of Human Rights (CEFPRODHAC), the organization that took the inventory of deaths, stopped doing so last year.

"I was investigating where the dead were being taken, but they don’t enp up in any of the cemeteries, the cemetery workers I spoke with said they aren’t there. The funeral homes do not want to give any information. Asking the police is like asking the drug traffickers and if they know we’re reporters, well that’s not good. For two years I collected statistics of the deaths but that’s no longer possible,” laments a Hispanic reporter that works for a Texas newspaper, who requested his name be omitted for his security. He says Texas reporters are also threatened just like their Mexican counterparts. He even has his will made.

Tamaulipas is the closest thing to a criminal dictatorship, with areas controlled by the Gulf Cartel and others by Los Zetas that since February are fighting for control of the state. For over a decade Tamaulipas has been a “zone of silence”. Businessmen, Governors, journalists, mayors, police and an army of informants have been on the drug cartel payroll; they have training camps for new assassins and the local media under censorship.

Tamaulipas has even consored the media located on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande.

Texas newspaper publishers, such as the San Antonio Express-News and the Laredo Morning Times, have sent their reporters to the Mexican side to document information as basic as the number of dead after the fiercest clashes between gangs or between gangs against federal forces, but for the last two years they do not get reliable figures.

"The day after the gunbattle in Matamoros in which Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén ‘Tony Tormenta’ died, the government reported 10 deaths, the border media reported 40 to 50 deaths, and U.S. officials told us there were 100. We had to report there were at least 10 and a maximum of 100 deaths. In United States newspapers it is unthinkable to report such vague figures but we are forced to,” complains Nora Lopez, state editor of San Antonio Express-News.

(This contributor was told by a Matamoros business owner claiming to have been in the city during the death of “Tony Tormenta” that the death toll was somewhere between 100 and 200; that most of the deaths were caused by indiscriminate gunfire by soldiers who could not differentiate between civilians and Gulf Cartel gunmen and that the cartel gunmen displayed better fire control. Of course, there was no way to confirm this so we did not include it in Borderland Beat’s coverage. Another source that claimed to have witnessed the recent fighting in Ciudad Mier described dozens of bodies being burned in pyres but this was also impossible to verify.)



Cartel State

In Tamaulipas more news is censored that what is published. Most of the local press is muzzled. Reporters from national and foreign media who wish to investigate in the state should have a logistical plan in place before arriving but even that is no guarantee they will come out unscathed. Several outside reporters have been taken hostage by criminals, beaten for several hours and expelled with the caveat that they will pay with their life if they return.

Even the most experienced journalists covering the border say that entering Tamaulipas is like stepping into quicksand, according to Alfredo Corchado, veteran correspondent for The Dallas Morning News.

In February, when the war started between Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, managed to enter Reynosa for a couple of hours and reported that dozens of people had died the previous weeks and eight journalists were missing.

"There are regions where silence dominates, where fear is felt and seen among the people. And I saw that in Reynosa, I was very impressed. Organized crime in the region has emerged as a parallel government that dominates even the press. You feel the helplessness of society and the government," says the journalist who was recently recognized for his coverage of the Mexican drug wars with the 2010 Lovejoy Award.

Although since 2007 Ciudad Juárez is considered the most dangerous city in Mexico, most correspondents feel more secure in the Chihuahuan border city than in Tamaulipas.

"Ciudad Juarez is too large, it is hard to dominate the city and a journalist there has more space. Ironically, I feel more relaxed in Juarez, unlike Matamoros, Reynosa, Ciudad Aleman, Nuevo Laredo and other Tamaulipas municipalities where you do not trust anyone, except for only a very few people and where the tactics of Los Zetas has created a much more raw, more brutal, more sophisticated urban warfare,” says Corchado.


Transnational Censorship

According to Mexican journalist Jorge Luis Sierra, founder of McAllenTimes.com, a bilingual news outlet, this year more people may have died in Tamaulipas than in Ciudad Juárez, when considered in proportionate terms.

According to Sierra, "The bulk of the violence has occurred since the split between Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, which has sparked a wave of violence since February. In Ciudad Juarez, where violence is older, local media have shown more independence and have continued to report the violence, but in Tamaulipas this is not so."

Sierra also stated that when CEFPRODHAC in Reynosa stopped counting the violent deaths, independent sources to corroborate the information also disappeared.

“The Texas media continues reporting but it is not so easy to cross the border. In these times of increased violence they have refrained from entering. There was no guarantee of safety, some American journalists had been threatened, and for them it is difficult to go unnoticed. The three major newspapers on this side of the border, the Brownsville Herald, the Monitor and the Laredo Morning Times are still reporting the news, trying to build sources on the other side of the border and crossing when they can."

The San Antonio Express-News was forced to withdraw a reporter from Nuevo Laredo and has not crossed the border since last February, explains Nora Lopez.

Lopez thinks that this lack of knowledge of the reality is very serious because if the gravity of the situation cannot be measured there will be no solidarity within the society to organize.


Criminal Dictatorship

Heriberto Deandar, editor of El Mañana, the leading newspaper in Tamaulipas, complains about the government’s silence.

"For a year and a half no one knows for certain how many people have been killed and wounded in armed clashes. The Army does not issue these figures in its press bulletins, state authorities are overwhelmed, the PGR (Mexico’s Attorney General’s office) only e-mails releases mentioning detainees throughout the country and our municipalities only report ‘situations of risk’ through their Facebook and Twitter pages.”

An anonymous Matamoros reporter quotes the rules imposed on them by criminals.

"We can not give precise data in an article or footnote to name any of the cartels, or expand on information, nor to mention the violence (nothing about the appearance of dead bodies on roads or wearing t-shirts naming a cartel). The only thing we have been allowed to report is the assassination of the PRI candidate for Governor, Rodolfo Torre Cantu.


a link to El Norte was not included since this is a subscription only newspaper website. The Spanish language article can be found here:
http://guerracontraelnarco.blogspot.com/2010/12/calla-tamaulipas-narcoejecuciones.html
Video of aftermath of an encounter between Mexican soldiers and Zeta gunmen in Nuevo Laredo, July 2010

Truth, another casualty of war: Mexican media sources portrayed this encounter as a group of Zetas that were killed after they had stopped and shot some of the occupants of this bus in an attempt to hijack it to create a blockade. Witnesses to this encounter stated the pickup was being pursued by troops who opened fire after it crashed into the bus, killing the gunmen and two passengers, and wounding several others. The real truth may never be known.

43 comments:

  1. I like to think that I (and we) are getting good, mostly accurate information, but maybe we aren't always. It's pretty damn hard though, between the cartels, the military, their propaganda, plus their censorship, the rumors, it gets hard to distinguish fact from fiction. I know I sometimes don't know what to believe.

    On a related note, great article, I've been wondering what the situation in Matamorros has been since Tormenta's death. Better/worse? Was he a good leader, or taking advantage? Extortion? Kidnappings? Have CDG held the line in the state/city?

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  2. The McAllen Times website appears not to be current. The most recent article appears to be from October 3. Is it still active?

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  3. It is confusing to me sometime, when there is the letter Z on dead people does that mean they were Zeta's, or does it mean Zeta's killed them?

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  4. Was he a good leader? J-I only know what i read about the gangster but i would say he was a no good murdering SOB.I hope this doesn't ruin your day!.

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  5. Capo, i think it usually means zeta's killed them

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  6. Mexicos culture is one of misinformation,manipulationand and deciet it has always been that way. Can you trust the media,no,can you trust the govt,no,can you trust narcos,no,can you trust anybody who thinks he can make a buck off you,no, just like in the US,but in Mexico its on steroids.One good thing about the body count being higher fewer narco/criminals whatever their ages,by now even idiots should think twice about a career in crime. Just 18 days left this year to kill narcos.

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  7. When the dead are marked with the letter "Z" , it means that they are being labeled as Z members or supporters. It does not mean that they were killed by the Zeta organization.

    Sometimes they will paint a Z on their bare skin, so the people will know what cartel they belonged to.

    Morosboy

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  8. those was zetas killed on that highway and i know of atleast 3 other times where zetas was killed n marked with z

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  9. CAPO- It is the opposite. when they have Z's on them it means they were zetas. Everytime zetas kill CDG they usually leave a message.

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  10. I wonder if there are any articles comparing and contrasting the cultures of Americans and Mexicans. Obviously the law here in the U.S. is applied to a greater degree than in Mex. whereas it appears there is none over there, almost as if they're making it up as it goes. We here in the U.S. whether of European, African, Asian, Middle-Eastern, or Hispanic descent, recognize that life can only be worthwhile as long as there is a mutual understanding that the law is to protect us. It is our law, not the government's.

    What has led Mexico and Central and South America to not be able to recognize this fundamental virtue? We are only 34 years older than Mexico as well as next door neighbors yet there are great disparities in our outlooks towards life, community, and society. What went wrong?

    We must admit our country is no angel. We see degeneracy everywhere we turn, whether in the media such as crime-investigation shows, reality shows, late-night tv, news shows, video-games, etc., or in actual reality such as our military destroying other countries for profit, CPS workers abusing the children they're supposed to protect, crime in the inner-cities, drug-addiction, police-brutality, warrantless searches at airports, anti-terrorism laws..etc.

    One could say we are dying of two different diseases. One, ours, of blind over-consumption, and the other, of a blighted and hungry culture. This of course is an oversimplification of the cultures that exist in both countries but they do exist.

    Wouldn't we all like to interview president Calderon and simply ask him...Why? Why has this problem been allowed to grow to these monstrous proportions? What can you tell us about your country without pointing the finger at ours as you so constantly do to avert the question? What does this problem, these intensifying problems tell us about the type of government you have there in Mexico?

    Embarrassing would be an understatement wouldn't it? What is it that your government or your people do not understand about a functioning society? There are many examples you could use as a guide on how to go about to making your communities work but it appears you are unwilling to look elsewhere unless it is to blame and point the finger.

    Imagine having a neighbor whose front yard is never mowed, whose family is constantly fighting, of their children both physically and sexually abused. You know it's making your block look bad, people are talking but nobody's doing anything. If you say something you're just gonna get the finger and told to fuck off. What does one do, ignore it? Wish it goes away by itself?

    I'm sure many here wish they could do something or if not be able to get a message across to the people of Mexico that they have to change their ways from the ground up and not expect their government to help them. Some here like Buela have taken the initiative to actually do something and I commend her for that. I don't know if that's part of her American spirit of helping others or just the way she was brought up.

    One thing's for sure there are a lot more people saying "That's not my problem, that's between poor people, that's not my business." The apathy that exists on both sides of the border simply rolls its eyes at the thought that this could ever end.

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  11. @December 14, 2010 3:40 PM

    "Why has this problem been allowed to grow to these monstrous proportions? "

    If you want the answers to your questions study Mexican history cuz obviously you have no clue anything about Mexico except what you read on Borderland Beat. I will narrow it down for you its called 70 years of el PRI. Thats why!!!

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  12. I think these guys are eventually going to run out of manpower, i read on some other blog some guy talking about that he lives in tamps. and that he noticed how the z and cdg are becoming very desperate in getting more recruits. now that nobody wants to join and how the little halcones are ditching and moving somewhere else in fear of getting murked..i think this is going to change for better. but who know.

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  13. @ 3:40
    I'd say the Spanish and the catholic church had a good deal to do with it, then again upon their arrival the Mayan civilization was in decline with people gathering in large population centers that in the end could not support so many people, ripe for the picking. Then there is the fact that they worshiped idols and had little to no morals or societal values. Mexico has been screwed for centuries and to deny it is simply horse shit, the Europeans were not tossing babys into cenotes to make it rain. Colonialism is still alive and well in Mexico, there are 2 classes the rich who exploit the poor and look to profit no matter what the cost, the narcos are but a symptom of the larger problem, greedy fucking people. My thought is the people need to drag their mayors and elected officials, bankers, generals and the lot into the streets and stone them to death for a start. It will take decades to undo the harm. The Catholic church cares more about tithes than they do the lives of people, again you have Spain to thank for that. They plundered a country in the name of god in order to steal all that gold. The church opposes birth control because it assures generations of believers to toss money into the plate, it is not rocket science. Even in the Mayan civilization there was the royalty and then there were the commoners. Still today the Mayans in southern Mexico who claim to cling to old beliefs have incorporated christain idols and traits into their religion (Mayan Church in Tulum). It was fairly easy for the Spanish to win them over, be it by force or by replacing their Mayan icons with those of the catholic church. Not to be racist or rude but the majority of the people in Mexico are still prone to be simpleton in thinking and prone to worship icons not to mention highly superstitious. Silly candles and shit like the Santa Muerte is just the tip of the iceberg. Couple all of it together and you end up with a nation full of people who are easily ruled and controlled. A perfect example is the idiots in Michoacan marching in favor of the fucking cartel, where are these peoples principles, do they have any? If my son were to be shot by the narcos and the officials did nothing I'd be on the news holding a knife at the throat of someone of importance and demanding change. Innocent people are going to have to die in the effort to bring about change, there will have to be sacrifices made as they are already outgunned. You cannot simply blame all this on the PRI, it is much broader than that, generations have been duped and the people have been rendered ignorant and helpless for centuries. What puzzles me is how a people like the Mayans could map the stars and build the pyramids yet be so blind on social issues, who knows maybe they would have got their shit together had the spaniards not showed up. I hate to sound cliche but it may be time for a revolution to begin, question is who will lead it?

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  14. i myself, think that taumalipas is a crazier place than juarez, even tough their are more reported deaths in juarez. in juarez, the violence is sporadic and inner. the shootings are many times hit and runs or ambushes. but the perpetrators always sneak away. in taumalipas, there are major long shootouts between three rival groups and the military where bodies are left all over the streets. in juarez, the cartels don't drive around in trucks advertising their gang initials. there is a little more order in juarez, or at least, more structure. the cartels in juarez still hide from the police. it does'nt seem as chaotic in juarez as it does in taumalipas. los zetas have to be the filthiest, dirtiest, criminals in the world. these men are the type of men who ate dirt when they were kids. los zetas is a group that contains the dirtiest men from mexico, guatemala, el salvador, honduras and nicaruaga. plus they worship santa muerte.

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  15. In the age of the internet, there is no reason the 'truth' is not out.

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  16. I wish the Sinaloa cartel would take out the Los Zetas cartel. At least Chapo Guzman's crew doesn't kill innocent people and keep it strictly business. I don't like any Narco traffickers, but the Zetas are just straight up putos.

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  17. @December 14, 2010 8:13 PM

    "Not to be racist or rude but the majority of the people in Mexico are still prone to be simpleton in thinking and prone to worship icons not to mention highly superstitious. Silly candles and shit like the Santa Muerte is just the tip of the iceberg."

    Obviously by that statement I'm guessing your white. Funny how you think you know a lot about Mexican culture and The MAYANS??? Seriously???? Did you forget that Mexico City is built upon where the Aztecs used to rule? And not only the Aztecs but many other tribes use to rule Mexico as well. Ulimately you know nothing about Mexico and it was the PRI who did this with all their corruption and impunity that led to what Mexico has become today. Felipe Calderon is only trying to keep shit up!!

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  18. @12:36

    The Caste Wars signaled the end of NATIVE Mexico. The Mayans were the last hold outs and rebelled against the Spaniards and Mestizos. Look up the definition of colonialism if you want to discuss the long term problem, then read up on neo-colonialism and the industrial revolution, you will learn how Mexico became dependant on other nations and stagnated. To blame the PRI alone is absurd, they helped but the boulder started rolling downhill long before the PRI held power. Again the Spaniards and their military organization along with the Catholic church started the downward spiral. As to whether or not I am white, what the hell does it matter? I try not to judge but I have little patience for PC bullshit. Put the race card back in the deck, it is a sign of weakness and polarizing as well. Are you Maya, Spanish, Mestizo, Mescalero, Apache, or even German? Who knows and who really cares. YOu should look to the past in order to prepare for the future, otherwise you might repeat the same mistakes again and again.

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  19. 4 hours ago, a huge shootout happened in gonzalez, Tamps. Bodies everywhere, mostly zetas. Nobody is saying a word. 2 days ago at the gas station closet to the airport on the new highway from cd. victoria, gulf cartel gunmen ambushed a convoy of 3 zeta vehicles. 15 dead, all zetas and nobody is saying a word. The first casualty of war is the truth. How true it is.

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  20. The Mayan group of SEPARATE societies,tribes, city states, and regions extended into Southern Mexico of today, but when the Europeans arrived Mayans were principally a group of separate peoples speaking separate languages and were located mainly in Central America.

    Today there are about 55 separate languages spoken by the different Mayan peoples in Guatemala and to speak of Mayans is a lot like speaking of Indo-Europeans (a huge and totally varied group of folk majority connected originally from the Indian sub continent to now large parts of Europe all speaking different languages and having different cultures).

    To generalize about such differing peoples who speak and have spoken so many numerous languages grouped into a least 5 major sub divisions is kind of wrong headed. Especially when 'Mayans' are generalized about in relation to Mexico, where most of them do not live and did not ever live. It would be like trying to find and show commonalities between Norwegians, Romanians, Hungarians, and Latvians, along with another hundred or so groups of Europeans.

    This idea is totally wrong and outright weird...

    'Then there is the fact that they worshiped idols and had little to no morals or societal values.'

    I could say that about the US Catholics and Protestants alike who seem to worship some wooden Jesus who is as pale as a ghost (an idol) and who are prone to slaughter other peoples (millions of them) with hardly a thought about it (lacking in morals and societal values).

    Ernest1

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  21. @December 15, 2010 6:23 PM

    "As to whether or not I am white, what the hell does it matter? I try not to judge but I have little patience for PC bullshit. Put the race card back in the deck, it is a sign of weakness and polarizing as well."

    A wise man once told me...I write about my own country, past and present time, because it's more or less all I know about!” No, I don't throw the race card. I just wanted to confirm it was some white guy trying to tell a Mexican about his own history. You want to know how I know my own history because I actually live in Mexico and two, I am studying to become a history major but that's why I needed to know your race because you most likely got your views from reading Keen and Haynes, A History of Latin America which basically has the same views you have but they are wrong. Ultimately and I will repeat this..ITS WAS THE PRI...at one point it was called the "perfect dictatorship" But again you wouldn't know nothing about that because you don't live here haha...good day sir.

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    Replies
    1. Stupid fucking comment. There a lot of whites living in Mexico as well. In case you weren't aware of it, most Spaniards are white. And many Mexicans are descendants of Spaniards. So actually, you can determine nothing about what a person knows, or does not know, about Mexico, by their race. Fucking idiot.

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  22. Irresponsible reporting by el Norte on this one.

    Does anyone realize the sheer amount of manpower it takes to bury 200+ bodies? We're not talking about a couple of guys with shovels here.
    And this supposedly happened on more than one occasion? Just the amount of people required to move the bodies would almost guarantee a leak of some kind. A shitty quality cell phone pic at least.

    Just because there is a "black hole" of information in the border areas doesn't mean that the void needs to be filled with unverifiable stories and exaggerated rumors.

    /J1/

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  23. This is totally sad. I am from Matamoros, and I thank God everyday for giving my mother the courage to risk her life to come to the USA and ultimately bringing me here at the age of 11. I wanted to pursue journalism, mostly because I realized that in Matamoros, the truth is always silenced, because it is bought, or forced by intimidation.

    the bodies are not buried, they are burnt.

    May GOD help those who are stuck in Matamoros and have no choice but to stay put.

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  24. There are many of those here who hate you and your mom for that.... She ruffled the papers and didn't perhaps abide by those 'laws' for the poor of the world though, did she?

    'Anonymous said...
    This is totally sad. I am from Matamoros, and I thank God everyday for giving my mother the courage to risk her life to come to the USA and ultimately bringing me here at the age of 11.'

    I am not one of those all so jawful folk though. As long as the rich, powerful, and corrupted can travel almost anywhere,I am not going to be a big USA! USA! USA! fan of those 'laws' who go after the homeless and vagrants.

    Ernest1

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  25. ernest you are an American,,,

    wherever in the world you go you will still be an American...no matter what you say , what you think...still the same....you are an American...

    whatever affects the USA also affects you directly...you care enough about your country to be concerned about it's policys and about what the men who are governing it are doing...

    good

    that makes you a patriot...

    you should cheer your country on, it is the only one you have

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  26. @ Ernesto101 and 'brito,
    The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in time of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. Dante, “The Inferno”.

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  27. You see how ernesto distorts and instigates at every opportunity?

    10:39 AM is glad his mother brought him to the US. ernesto jumps on that sentiment and reminds him that there are those who hate him AND his mother. But ernest doesn't even know if 10:39 is legal so he asks, "did she?" Then he reassures 10:39 that he is not one of those who hate and for the millionth time whips out his hard-on for the rich, the powerful and for the USA where he lives in comfortable security.

    ernesto you are one pitiful, hypocritical asshole. If you didn't have the US to hate you would dry up and blow away. Without your negativity you wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning. Sad.

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  28. amigostamalipas.com

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  29. @ matanzas....

    good one...jajjaaja

    well i am off the hook on that one ...i have never been called nuetral...


    i have a plethora of crimes to answer for though


    but all the best partys will be in hell

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  30. to the person from Matamoros

    i am happy for you ..the USA needs to make it easier to be here legally..i think it is too difficult for Mexicans to enter the USA...this needs to change...

    but due to the present situation we need to guard our borders


    tight borders and a sane immigration policy would hurt not only the drug smuggling business but the human smuggling as well

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  31. I've been slapped down by another 'American' anonymous type for what?.... stating solidarity with those that the witch hunting anti- immigrant crowd want to hunt down like they were some type of wild animals instead of the real people they are? Well just toooo bad folk, since not each and every US citizen is simply going to hop aboard your witch hunt express against Latino immigrants arriving here poor and basically friendless and without defenses.

    Unlike many of you, I have helped people without papers out rather than joining groups of meatheaded Anglos out as they play paintball games in South Texan and Arizonan wastelands. I have helped old grandmothers cross and little Shirley Temple kids out, Colombians and peasants from the Yucatan.... and you know what I'm PROUD I'm not you instead of me.

    Now snicker and snort all you want, Redneckers and gliberal types alike. Like I give a hoot!

    Ernest1

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  32. well ernie i hope you made sure these people were alright after you helped them

    ...and didn't fall prey to greedy employers who exploit them ...

    hope someone in Mexico will help you out when you sneak across...and help you get a good job as well...

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  33. i can see you there ernie...

    the wind whipping your beard and pony tail underneath a hand crocheted natural dyed, rainbow hemp "tam"...

    yoga toned muscles showing through a torn, unbleached hemp, one size fits all pullover shirt...

    the water raging...tearing at your drawstring guaty pants...

    search lights, dogs...uniformed men with guns searching, running this way and that way...

    yelling orders in a southern accent...

    but the dogs can't smell you ..the curry and ginger mask your scent

    scared women and children huddled under your protective wing...

    but you stand their hero...helping them attain sanctuary in the USA ...the greatest country on earth

    and you... the fortunate son ..the native son...the natural born citizen of the USA...

    more blessed by circumstances...

    and as you exchange looks with them

    ...they can see in your eyes humble pride ...the pride you have in your country and in being an AMERICAN

    and they know that some day they will have the same look

    jeeezzzz...the whole scenario just makes my patriotic heart beat ...


    that is if you hang with them and help them become citizens and don't abandon them because you have satisfied some ego trip...

    but that's not the case.., because you are in it for the long run....right ?

    where do you stand on immigration reform?...

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  34. I'm sorry but borderland beat wouldnt be the same without Ernest1 haha...by the way where is buela...im starting to miss her???

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  35. 'lito 'brito said...
    well ernie i hope you made sure these people were alright after you helped them ...and didn't fall prey to greedy employers who exploit them ...

    Huh, Brito? You know damn well that you and I both can't even protect our own selves from 'greedy employers', now can we? They're all over the place, shit on the whole world, and are running all over Mexicans and US citizens alike. Not even to mention the rest of the world.

    Ernest1

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  36. '...the wind whipping your beard and pony tail underneath a hand crocheted natural dyed, rainbow hemp "tam"...'

    Brito, sorry to disappoint you, but I have a crew cut. PLUS, last time I had a crocheted piece of clothing in my hand it was a bikini bottom for the woman I love to wear at the beach...

    'but you stand their hero...helping them attain sanctuary in the USA ...the greatest country on earth ..and you... the fortunate son ..the native son...the natural born citizen of the USA...more blessed by circumstances...'

    Actually, the Shirley Temple kid and her grandmother I helped out wandered into my place of employment lost and scared after wandering in from Tijuana in the early night, Migra helicopters overhead. I was asked to translate from my co-corkers at the time, and when I figured out that they were being hunted by La Migra I told them to just hold on for an hour until I got off work, and then took them to where they wanted to be at. MY, MY, MY!!! What a horrible criminal I am to the great patriots here on board at BB!

    Some of the others folk traveled in the trunk of my car.... Isn't that my bad? But, Brito, with your big heart I know that you would have done the same. Now let the KKKers burn a cross on my front lawn!

    Ernest1

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  37. Poor E-1

    the man must be weary hauling around all that hate wrapped it nonsense propaganda left over from the 60s.

    He is awashed in tired, archaic rhetoric...his rants are always the same few talking points. ONE SONG SAM...He hears Bogart each time he writes, "sing it again Sam...."

    I tried to be respectful and engaging, he is incapable...thank god he is a rare breed, most all the left over lefties of the 60s have seen the light and folly of their former ideology. going on to embrace the very ideals they protested against.

    Socialism does not work
    communism does not work
    facism does not work

    staying stuck is sad, lonely and ugly.
    I will pray to my brown wooden jesus on the cross that E-1 has a epiphany..someday....somehow....soon.

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  38. yeah... yer a good sort ernie...

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  39. Thanks, Brito... And Buela, I cannot conjecture openly too much about you personally, you know? It would be impolite of me if I were to do so... So I will just respond quietly now...

    You said, Buela,....

    'Socialism does not work
    communism does not work
    facism does not work'

    What you have yet to figure out though, is the capitalism we live under DOES NOT work either. It is destroying the entire ecological base of the planet because its standard is to allow big owners to not only rob their fellow citizens of the value of their work, but to rob nature of what it built up over eons for all of human, animal, and plant 'society' to profit from.

    A system that glorifies this sort of theft is one that can only disintegrate, and take all of us down with itself if we allow it to happen. A religion gluing itself to American capitalism is a sick religion indeed. I'm talking about the brand name of 'Christianity' that you are pushing, Buela.

    Ernest1

    From your words alone, I see very little love and mainly hate in it...

    ReplyDelete
  40. the KKK really burnt a cross on your lawn......damn...that kinda shit usually makes the news ..when was this?...

    ReplyDelete
  41. aww ernie.... ya big 'o soft hearted American lug you

    lookatcha now , tryin ta help the less fortunate


    yer a credit ta good patriotic Americans everywhere

    i am a big hearted sot my self you know


    but what is this about a CREW CUT.....now ya got me scared ..

    now i am thinkin you are ex cia or something

    mebbe seen too much...got a conscience...out to warn the public...

    ReplyDelete
  42. Hey Ernie...may I call you Ernie this once?

    This is what I know, not from the E1s not from the left nor right or even center, not from an outside source, from me in the first person.

    A little mexican girl born to a farm worker father and mother who cleaned fish at starkist. Hard working folks wanting only better for their children. They moved to the tinest 500 sq ft house in the best neighborhood rather than the largest in the colonia. So she could go to the best schools. SHe went to an all white school, was class president, sucessful, well respected and never had to apologize for anything.. She went to college by working her way through. She never sought a handout. or a pass. SHe had a series of great employment opportunities and saved to buy a home. SHe married and with that home she mortaged 150K to began a business 35 yrs ago. The business was hugely sucessful in 12 coun tries. Earning way too much money for one family so, she decided to create two foundations that children of the world could benefit by. Personal responsibilty.

    I tell you this story because there is not one other country in the entire world that a granddaughter of immigrants, daughter of a farm worker could this story have happened. You, nor anyone can tell me differently. I KNOW this I LIVED this. But I did not go thru life with a hair up my ass and hate in my heart. I don't hate you, I hate circumstance and actions not people. You cannot define the difference.

    You are a silly person in my opinion because you present yourself so repetiously that it smacks of cult brainwashing.

    You hold yourself out to be some big risk taker for the undocumented folks you so graciously allowed the best seat in your trunk. WOW ERNIE I am calling CNN HEROES...your a fool, and a lawbreaker, a coyote, because it is against the law and if you do not like the law that is where your fight should be not the damn trunk of your car. You want to be a hero? Then create the change you want for that lady and the child. And begin in Mexico to create change so that people will not have to risk coming into the US illegally, risking their lives. Oh I forgot you said it is not so simple. yeah well if I would have said that years ago thousands of children would not have benefited by my work. One can make a huge differnce.

    you know what I think Ernie???? I think you should have had a heart to heart with the lady. Tell her the shit you rant about here, tell her " hurry Sra, go back you must go back it is evil here, and hell, and everyone has hate and killing the eco systems everything is very bad here....

    why didn't you tell her Ernie???

    ReplyDelete

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