A total of five gunmen and one soldier from the Mexican military were killed March 18 in a firefight along Highway 40 from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon to Reynosa, Tamaulipas state. These media reports were also accompanied by other reports that several highways in the region were blocked by seemingly random vehicles. It was later revealed that these roadblocks were coordinated by members of Los Zetas to prevent Mexican military units from responding to these firefights in a timely manner.
The following day saw a total of 31 street intersections and sections of highway in and around the Monterrey metro area blocked by some 42 abandoned vehicles. Cartel members had carjacked these vehicles, which included everything from sedans to tractor-trailers to city buses, drove them into blocking positions and immobilized them by slashing or shooting out the tires or even setting them on fire. The blockades began to appear around 3:00 a.m. and were finally cleared by 7:00 a.m. before the morning rush hour. While there were no media reports of corresponding confrontations between cartel gunmen and Mexican security forces, sensitive cartel operations likely were carried out at this time. (h/t Stratfor)
If you're stuck in cartel-generated traffic jams along the highways, you are completely immobilized, making you and everyone/anyone else easy targets for robberies or carjackings. It's not necessarily the cartel members who will rob you, but other criminal elements acting out crimes of opportunity.
It's not just the typical nightly murders in Juarez or the shooting gallery that Culiacan has become. It bleeds over. And keeping your head on a swivel and your eyes wide open may no longer be enough.
5 comments:
Huh, sounds a bit like New Orleans.
That sounds awful.
Take it easy LL, I want to read another one of your books not about you in the paper.
How does one say "DUCK!!" in Spanish?
Yikes. I've never been to Mexico. This post makes me want to keep it that way.
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