The Zetas Lair in Comales

Military finds the lair of the Zetas with armored vehicles, arsenal of weapons, drugs and a "narcofosa."

Comales, Tamaulipas - Well, que les puedo decir? The cleanup of Comales and Camargo continues. The military has been conducting operations in the region that lately had been heavily saturated with narco activity.

Looks like the Zetas and the Gulf cartel have gone into hiding, but the town people are still leery as the sicarios are probably still lurking about, and are said to be monitoring the situation through the internet social networks and blogs.

The local media still will not cover any of the narco activity, not sure if that will ever change. The people are still cautious and are still keeping a low profile because the violence is still among their midst, contrary to the assurances of denial from the local politicians who don't dare show their faces even while heavily guarded by armed escorts.

Last night near the town of Comales the Mexican Army secured a narco-camp belonging to the alleged criminal group "Los Zetas", where they found 19 vehicles, some armored, an arsenal of weapons, drugs and a narco-grave (narcofosa) with two half-buried bodies.

According to sources of the Sedena, this refuge of the criminal group Zeta was discovered after the firefight between soldiers and sicarios last Tuesday night in the town of Comales, municipality of Camargo, in which four people were killed, including two soldiers.

In addition, there are rumors that two other soldiers were found dead in General Bravo, Nuevo León, who had previously been abducted by the Zetas during this same confrontation that took place in Comales.

The camp of the criminal organization was located in a dirt road about 15 miles Camargo, between the villages of Santa Gertrudis and Los Comales.

In a large warehouse they found 19 vehicles and a school bus, some marked with the letter "Z" and others with "Z-40" which is the code for Miguel Angel Trevino one of the leaders of the Zetas.

They also secured 10,000 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, 338 magazines, 9 long rifles mostly AR-15, a .556-caliber submachine gun, 3 handguns, 52 portable two way radios, 22 cellular phones, 6 wooden boards to torture and 2.5 kilos of marijuana.

About 40 meters from the warehouse, the soldiers found a mass grave in which the bodies of at least two men were half-buried.

This finding is consistent with last Monday's pleas for help from the residents of Comales who were claiming that the Zetas had taken refuge in the town and had virtually taken the whole town hostage. The Zetas were burning houses and businesses and blocking the entrances and exits to the town with heavy vehicles. Prior to the barricades, multitudes of people were fleeing to better secured areas.

People from both Comales and Camargo had asked for the presence of the military to protect them from the daily shootouts that were taking place between the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.

Most people don't think things will change anytime soon and the view of all the burned dwelling on the streets of Comales is a bleak reminder of what is ahead.

How did our country get to this point?

Below is the account of the confrontation between the military and Zetas around the town of Camargo. The ranch would turn out to be a huge warehouse where the Zetas had the headquartes of their operation.

The confrontation in Camargo leaves two sicarios and two soldiers dead.
April 14, 2010

A confrontation in the town of Comales, Municipality of Camargo, Tamaulipas, between members of the Mexican army and an armed group of sicarios left two sicarios and two soldiers dead. Three other soldiers were also reported injured.

According to information provided by the Ministry of National Defense, the shooting started in Doctor Coss, where the military from the Fourth Region were conducting a mobile checkpoint. the military detected a suspicious convoy of six trucks, which they followed.

This pursuit continued until reaching the village of Comales, where the organized crime group entered a ranch called "Los Martinez" and at that point the people of the convoy confronted the soldiers with gunfire. Given that the place was fenced in, the military personnel descended from their vehicles and engaged the attack from the sicarios.

An official statement said that as a result of the confrontation, two sicarios were killed and two elements of army were killed outside the ranch.

Three other soldiers were wounded and transported by air to the Regional Military Hospital for medical attention.

Several sicarios were also wounded all of which were rescued by their companions on board several vehicles, which managed to flee.

The military deployed an operation composed of 200 troops in the area surrounding the municipality of Camargo and the troops were provided support by two helicopters that were attempting to try to locate the gunmen.

Military commanders requested the assistance of the citizens to report any suspicious situations that could lead to the band of criminals.

They asked that the community share any reports of situations where men are seen with gunshot wounds or injured people seeking treatment in hospitals, clinics or medical facilities.

They also requested that they report any abandoned vehicles that may contain bullet holes or traces of blood.

The latest army casualty reported locally before Tuesday’s incident was late last month, when a soldier died during a shooting in Reynosa near the intersection of Boulevard Mil Cumbres and Avenida Central. Two other soldiers were injured and rushed from the scene to receive medical attention.

Last week, another clash resulted in at least one civilian fatality in Miguel Aleman. The same day, Tamaulipas authorities discovered the corpse of a man in a workshop in Camargo. The body was discovered in the Ampliación Gonzaleño subdivision, according to a statement posted on the Tamaulipas government’s emergency notification Web site. The victim was apparently shot to death.

Meanwhile, in Reynosa, no violence-related fatalities have been reported since April 2, when a prison break left three inmates dead and a gunfight killed five on the city’s southwest side.

The saga continues. . . . . .

Categories: los zetas, sicarios, tamaulipas, video