REYNOSA: The Truth of The Government...and the Real Truth

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

There is a scary new reporting policy forming in Mexico.  Beginning with the announcement of President Enrique Peña Nieto that the Calderon style of reporting  will cease.  No more video footage or still shots of military and police operations and captures, ditto to the perp presentations.

 

He requested that states follow suit, though states have an autonomy similar to the United States, one would expect those states governed by PRI party loyalists to comply with the example of the new president's murky style of reporting.

 

The recent capture of the Sinaloa cartel boss of sicarios known by his moniker of "El Fantasma"    turned into a keystone cops version of reporting as people scrambled to get confirmation and photos. 

 

It was eventually confirmed by the state sans photos or footage of the capture.  The state provided a photo of a person they identified as Fantasma. however to those of us familiar with what Fantasma looks like, clearly the photo was not of him.

The little photo mix-up and the story behind the photo was not as frustrating as the lack of transparency surrounding the incident.

 

From that point on it was apparent that there is a new method of reporting taking hold  in Mexico rendering the only reliable and truthful reporting being  reduced to social networks, generated by organized groups of brave citizen reporters, and individuals on the ground. 

 

They tweet reports,  Facebook updates, videos and photos from cell phones out to the masses, to inform but more importantly to warn of areas of danger.

 

And above all...to get the truth out.

 

On Sunday the devil was front and center in Tamaulipas, Mexico, as reports of violence and clashes between organized crime groups in several cities with the hardest hit being the NE city of Reynosa.  

 

The Reynosa conflict lasted for three to four hours, yet if one was to search mainstream media on both sides the border, or announcements/warnings from government agencies you would come up empty. 

 

As for EPN it would appear he does not know that there is a state in Mexico named Tamaulipas that experienced severe violence that resulted in dozens of deaths, because there has been no word from his office.

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New Video Below

 

State Attorney Office...The Big Lie

Yesterday the Tamaulipas State Attorney's office issued a statement that if were it not such a disgusting outrage  it may have been  funny.  Here it is translated into English:

Child killed and father shot through the neck

"Staff Attorney investigating these facts, states that at 23:00 pm on Sunday, received report of a collateral victim of the clashes in Hidalgo and Avenida Cima Boulevard, at the entrance to a convenience store along to a gas station.

This is a child who was hit by a bullet that killed him when he was traveling with his father in a private vehicle. The victim's father was also with neck injury caused by firearm shot. His health was reported as stable by doctors who treated him.

Later, at 23:23 pm and reported on the Bypass to Matamoros, across the bridge Peripheral, the death of a taxi service worker whose body was found inside a Nissan Tsuru 2009 model, with 1443VSL plates. He was identified as Jose Luis Vargas Hernandez, 37 years old. It had a bullet wound in the neck, then the bullet went through the windshield of the taxi he was driving.

The mobilization of security forces allowed the assurance of 22 vehicles and the arrest of seven people linked to the established facts, same that were made available to the delegation of the Attorney General's office in Tamaulipas"

 

And Now for a Taste of the Truth as Reported Yesterday in the McAllen Texas Monitor  [and was translated into Spanish and republished countless times on social networks):

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.”

 

TAKING CARE OF STRANGERS

 

In a city where the constant threat of extortion by criminal organizations has caused citizens to be wary of their own shadow, when the shots started flying Sunday night, the community came together in an effort to protect bystanders.

 

While social media users began pointing out the areas of potential danger, average citizens took matters into their own hands to warn the public. In a gated community along Boulevard Hidalgo, a man stood by the gate warning residents to stay inside because of the ongoing firefight.

 

In the Wal-Mart store just a few blocks away, also along Boulevard Hidalgo, store employees locked the doors and asked their customers to remain calm as gunmen chased each other up and down the road.

 

“Please don’t go out, young man,” an employee said in Spanish to one patron. “It’s really ugly out there and it’s been going for more than 30 minutes.”

 

In a shopping plaza called Soriana Periférico near the city’s Southwestern side, the customers were also asked to stay inside for more than three hours until the roads cleared.

“It was a very long night,” said a Reynosa teenager who refused to give his name. The teen had gone to the movies with his friends but was not able to leave. “I already called my mom so she won’t worry.

 

“What the hell is going on?” he exclaimed.

 

GRILLING

As gunmen battled it out in the streets Sunday night, Ramiro Hernandez was busy in his garage. The maquila supervisor didn’t have work the next morning, so he was firing up the grill to cook a few steaks.

 

“What can you do?” Hernandez said in Spanish. “I’m not going to go out there right now. (My family and I) are all here so I might as well just go on and enjoy my day off.”

"El Gringo" Rumor Still Persistent:

 

No confirmation on the rumor that El Gringo was killed in the clash.  This is the third time that the rumor of his death spread.  However, this time it was fast and furious.  One would think a killing of El Gringo the government both federal and state would at least confirm via statement.   Alternatively, a manta as done  by United ZTAS when Tormenta was killed.


 

See Administrator "DD's" post on forum