Boystown Trip - August 26, 2005

[Wayne A]

Good point. I'm certainly not aware of any mongers being killed there.
And, yes, I actually DO notice the inconsistencies in media stories and, as you might have noticed, I not only point them out, sometimes, but mock them quite creatively. They are still quite useful. Not as good as first hand accounts, not nearly as much fun as photos, but useful. Sort of like bread and butter instead of steak.
* * *
Also, I'm sure you've noticed that 1.) thread topics evolve with usage, despite initial titles, 2.) most threads are not "maintained" by anybody. But if you say, hey, MY THREAD it's cool with me.
* * *
I'll go out of my way to post the scary NL information on another thread, OK? We're cool, man, we're cool.
THIS THREAD IS A ROLL CALL. THIS THREAD IS FOR THOSE PLANNING TO GO TO NUEVO LAREDO, a.k.a. BOYS TOWN WHERE THERE IS NO KNOWN EVIDENCE, TO DATE, THAT A MONGER HAS EVER BEEN KILLED. IN THE FACE OF OVERBLOWN MEDIA HYPE, NOW IS THE TIME TO SUPPORT BOYS TOWN.

 

[herblaura]

Wow...yeah...slow down. I dont have ownership, so dont get cranky, but there is something called "TOPIC" which is what the post is based on, and this post was not designed to slam NL or tell anyone how supposedly dangerous it is. It was a roll call. So yeah, I still dont want it jacked - its simple rules of ettiquette on a message board!

As for a specific article...cmon man, dont twist what I am saying. I'm just saying that all you or anyone does by posting up MEDIA reports is enhance a bad situation. Besides, those who rely on the media as fact have more problems than how I can help! Havent you even noticed, in all of the cut-and-paste anyone (including yourself) might have put up, all of the inconsistencies? I have...

Dont post up to scare, but to inform. Make it based on fact, not media interjection or opinion. And back it up with reasoning:

FIND ONE FACTUAL SITUATION WHERE MONGERS OR BOYSTOWN VISITORS HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED OR KILLED IN THE LAST YEAR OR TWO AND I WONT GO!

 

[octavio247]

My bad. I read too fast. You weren't even directing that comment at me, were you?
All the same, the stuff I said still goes. In fact, I'll go further.
Let us rally. Let us rally to the defense of Boys Town.
* * *
I'm sure the two drug cartels don't want to destroy Boys Town, either. They are just fighting over lucrative turf and trade routes. It would be quite reassuring if the two cartels issued statements that Boys Town is safe, but that's not likely to happen as these are gangsters, not governments.
* * *
And here's ANOTHER thing. Anybody who goes into Boys Town right now has a pair of balls, and is a man among men to be admired. If somebody can post a live report out of Boys Town, preferably with pictures, then HELL...power and glory to him. I will come right to his thread and offer worship and say YOU ARE THE MAN.

 

[kss0098]

Didn't mean to upset you and wasn't aware you had "ownership" of a thread, since most people don't even stick around long enough to keep their thread going, let alone set up house, file deeds of ownership, pay taxes and so forth. Your thread is a superior, active and informative thread, (with an appropriate title) which was why it seemed appropriate for adding a bunch of info.
* * *
In regard to your criticism about what I supposedly failed to point out...I am not in the habit of adding information I do not have to reports. The reports are what they are, and they have a lot of details. I'm trying to keep the whole world updated, including countries where nobody has EVER contributed information (places like Botsw ana, Tog o, etc.) so I certainly didn't mean to be rude or "jack your thread." Obviously I post a lot of info containing assertions that I don't agree with, but the theory is that any information is better than no information and people can pick out the useful stuff, weigh one thing against another, make informed choices.
* * *
If there is an article out there saying the NL thing is blown way out of proportion, point it out to me and I'll post it, or you can post it, or whoever.
* * *
HOWEVER, I certainly am in hearty agreement with you that people should NOT be scared out of going to NL. It does appear, however, that it would be best to take care, undoubtedly more care than usual. And that reports on the area would be good, since undoubtedly *some* people ARE scared, and perhaps they don't need to be, since some of this appears to be hype.
* * *
We're all in this together. Thanks for your passionate defense of Boys Town, and I hope you have a great deal of fun, and I look forward to hearing about it, preferably with graphic pictures. Peace, brother monger.

 

[uksawatdii]

Yet again, with your post, you FAIL TO IDENTIFY that almost every one of these has been a drug-related abduction and EVERY ONE OF THESE people who turned up missing (almost none of which are still missing now) are mexican-american and related to the drug scene.

Period.

PS - DONT JACK MY THREAD ANYMORE! THIS THREAD WASNT DESIGNED TO IMPROPERLY SCARE PEOPLE, RATHER TO SET UP A ROLL-CALL!

 

[Pompal 09.]

ON THE ONE HAND, I've posted all this information about Nuevo Laredo because I think mongers need to know this, and need to take steps to keep themselves safe.
ON THE OTHER HAND, if we all get alarmed, and pull our business out of Nuevo Laredo, then the brothels and bars there might actually die or, more likely, see a drastic drop in quality and number. Boys Town has been a mongering staple not just for years, but for generations. Now this is our watch, and Boys Town sounds in danger of drying up if this violence does not halt soon. THEN AGAIN, there might be some really good deals there in light of the economic stressors!
PERHAPS we need to do anything we can to help Nuevo Laredo and make sure Boys Town doesn't die...without risking too much personal safety. Food for thought, gentlemen. If you have recent info about NL, this would be an opportune moment to contribute.

 

[Felisha S]

Tourism dries up after police chief shot in city caught in drug lords' war

By Dianne Solis and Alfredo Corchado

Dallas Morning News


NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - Bubba Littrell sidled up to his favorite bar stool to sip a chilly margarita at a place he calls his second home: the Cadillac Bar. To get to the storied watering hole of Texas hunters and shoppers in this city on the Rio Grande, the 69-year-old nudged past federal police, soldiers and a few olive-green Hummers.

He wondered: How did it come to this?

Now, many, like Littrell, fear that the Cadillac Bar may be drawing its last breath -- like many tourist-dependent businesses in this city under the siege of warring drug cartels. Shortly after the police chief here was gunned down June 8, the Mexican federal government placed the city under martial law and the entire police department under house arrest as a corruption investigation spread. A new police chief was sworn in Wednesday.

Inside the air-conditioned bar and restaurant, Littrell and his business partner, Alan Stafford, both salesmen of pool supplies, tend to their thirst. ``There are times when we come here, and it is really sad because we're the only two souls around,'' Littrell says.

Then Littrell cuts to the heart of the matter. ``It's the boys up north who just can't say no to drugs,'' he mutters through a handlebar mustache that spreads across his face like mini-antlers.

Drug cartels are fighting for control of a chief artery of commerce, the land port through Laredo, Texas, and Interstate 35. The turf war has shriveled tourism in Nuevo Laredo, a city created 157 years ago when Mexicans decided to split allegiances to the flags and leave the Spanish colonial settlement of Laredo on the north banks of the river after a bitter war ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

In recent decades, Texans flowed into Nuevo Laredo, too. Downtown, shoppers found jewelry, goblets and pottery. On the outskirts, hunters found dove, deer and quail. And in between, others found brothels, collectively known as Boys' Town.

As the sun would set in a persimmon glow, many ended up at the Cadillac Bar. Gin fizzes and fajitas could be enjoyed, as glass-eyed deer looked out from their wall mounts. Customers would find bartenders and waiters in white jackets and black bow ties solicitous to every whim.

Waiter Vicente Santos pines for the old days, especially Decembers, when Christmas shopping and whitetail deer season kicked up tips. Now, with the bloodshed, ``It's like a live movie, a Schwarzenegger movie,'' says Santos, referring to the action-movie actor who now is the governor of California.

He fears for his job. Across the street, the Victoria 3020 restaurant, with its distinctive periwinkle blue walls, is shuttered. An entire building on the once-busy Belden plaza is for sale. Seٌor Frog's restaurant and bar closed at the end of June.

Ramَn Salido Longoria, the Cadillac Bar's 75-year-old owner, says he can't bear to close it. Four months ago, it was painful enough to close his restaurant, the Victoria. It's located in the house he grew up in, a few blocks from his grandfather's bank.

Salido Longoria is the grandson of Octaviano ``Chito'' Longoria, the patriarch of one of northern Mexico's most famous business dynasties.

Now, Salido Longoria can only cover payroll for his Cadillac Bar two days a week. ``I can't close it,'' he says. ``It is something that represents such history.

``When you talk about San Antonio, you talk about the Alamo. When you talk about Nuevo Laredo, you talk about the Cadillac Bar.''

 

[Zorro]

July 29, 2005
Drug cartels battle it out in Nuevo Laredo
Reuters News Service

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico -- Rival drug cartel gunmen fired bazookas, tossed hand grenades and raked each other with machine gun fire in a battle at a home near the U.S. border, police said today.

[Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Al Pacino? Scarface? SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!!!!]


The battle erupted late Thursday when a squad of about 30 masked men opened fire on a suspected drug cartel safe house on a residential street in Nuevo Laredo, across the Rio Grande from Laredo, blasting off its doors and strafing the facade with bullets.

Police and witnesses said six men trapped in the house returned fire in a gun battle that raged for 20 minutes, littering the street with spent cartridges and sending neighbors diving for cover, although no one was killed. Witnesses said at least three bazooka rounds were fired.

"I grabbed my daughter tight ... and we hid under the bed until the explosions stopped," one neighbor, who identified himself as Carlos, told Reuters as he gazed at the blasted facade of the single-story house.

Nuevo Laredo is a key hub for trade in goods and illegal drugs bound for Texas. It is currently in the grip of a war between powerful drug cartels seeking control of lucrative cocaine, marijuana and amphetamine smuggling routes.

At least 79 people, including 18 police officers, have been shot to death in the city this year in the battle between powerful and well-armed gangs from the western state of Sinaloa and the local Gulf cartel.

The U.S. State Department issued two warnings to American citizens traveling to Mexico this year. The caution was repeated this week by U.S. ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza, who singled out Nuevo Laredo as a crime black spot.

The sun-blasted city of 330,000 people has long been notorious for drug crime and kidnappings and last month suspected cartel hitmen killed the city's new police chief just hours after he was sworn in.

The government sent troops and federal police to take over Nuevo Laredo in the following days, although more than 20 people have since been shot dead.

The city's entire police force was suspended for investigations into the links between local police and the drug gangs. Officers from the purged municipal force only returned to duty this week, decked out in new black-and-white uniforms to distance them from their graft-tainted predecessors.

 

[Allison D]

Early August, 2005.

Two men found beaten, shot to death in Nuevo Laredo

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - Police in this violence-wracked city on the Mexico-U.S. border found the bodies of two men who had been savagely beaten and shot to death, authorities said Tuesday.

The men, who have not been identified, were found late Monday along a desolate road leading to an international bridge, said Jose Gaznares, a police commander for Tamaulipas state, which includes Nuevo Laredo.

One of the men had his head covered in tape and the other was blindfolded. Both men were brutally beaten and shot in the back, Gaznares said.

Since January, more than 100 people have been slain in Nuevo Laredo, a city of about 350,000 people across U.S. border from Laredo, Texas.

Authorities say the violence stems from a war between two of Mexico's most powerful drug cartels for control of key smuggling routes into the United States.

On June 8, the Nuevo Laredo police chief was gunned down within hours of taking office, prompting President Vicente Fox to send hundreds of soldiers and federal agents in to restore order. Killings have continued, however, despite the president's order.

 

[Tara C]

Aug. 02, 2005

Entire Nuevo Laredo police force to return to streets

Associated Press


NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - The entire, newly vetted Nuevo Laredo police force will be back on the streets of this violent border city this week, city officials said Tuesday.

Mayor Daniel Pena said the Mexican army has returned the police department's weapons, allowing all 460 officers to begin patrolling the city streets Wednesday.

The officers will wear new black-and-white uniforms, replacing their blue outfits, and some will get new patrol cars, the mayor said.

"All police officers will be wearing their new uniforms and carrying the weapons recently returned by the (Mexican) army," Pena said.

Last week, about a fourth of the police force was sent to patrol the city's downtown area after receiving 40 guns, but the lack of weapons prevented officers from patrolling the whole city.

In June, the city's police chief was gunned down hours after taking office, and municipal police opened fire on a group of federal agents sent in to restore order, forcing President Vicente Fox's government to launch a purge of local officers.

All city police officers were stripped of their guns and pulled off their beats for drug testing and background checks.

Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas, had more than 700 police officers, but nearly a third of the force was fired during an effort to weed out corruption and links to drug traffickers.

"They are renewing operations with a new mentality," said Omar Pimentel, who was sworn in as police chief last month. "We will give them everything they need, and they will have to always keep a clean image."

Since January, more than 100 people have been killed here, including 15 police officers. Authorities say the violence stems from a turf battle between two powerful drug gangs vying for control of key drug smuggling corridors around Nuevo Laredo.

 

[COD.warrior]

Nuevo Laredo councilman gunned down

U.S. to reopen consulate despite cartel turf war
By S. Lynne Walker
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
August 6, 2005

Leopoldo Ramos
MEXICO CITY – Only an hour after a city councilman was gunned down in Nuevo Laredo yesterday, the U.S. ambassador announced that the U.S. consulate – which was closed after a wave of violence – will reopen Monday morning.

Ambassador Tony Garza ordered the consulate shut last week because of the unrelenting killings that have made the border city a symbol of the lawlessness incited by Mexican drug cartels.

The latest victim was Councilman Leopoldo Ramos, 44, who headed Nuevo Laredo's Public Security Commission. He and a police bodyguard died instantly when gunmen armed with AK-47s opened fire on Ramos' pickup in a residential neighborhood near his home. His personal secretary, who was also in the truck, remains in critical condition.

Garza fielded a barrage of questions throughout the day about the impact of Ramos' murder, but the ambassador stood by his decision to reopen the consulate.

"This morning's tragic event highlights the need for Mexico to stand resolute in its effort to rescue Nuevo Laredo from the hands of the kingpins and the capos that are actively undermining the fabric of life in both our countries," Garza said in a statement.

In the past week, the U.S. government has taken steps to protect its employees as well as the daily stream of Mexicans who apply for visas at the consulate. Details about the new security measures will not be released, but one U.S. official said people "are going to be much safer than they were in the past. We can't have long lines of people outside the consulate when we're having these public gunbattles erupting during the day around the city."

Relatives of Nuevo Laredo City Councilman Leopoldo Ramos grieved near the site where he and his bodyguard were shot to death yesterday.
Diplomatic security experts flew in from Washington, D.C., to advise the consulate. And the Mexican government promised to increase protection for the one-story brick building, which is surrounded by a grassy lawn in a tony section of Nuevo Laredo.

President Vicente Fox's government announced that today it will launch the second phase of a program known as "Mexico Seguro," or "Safe Mexico," which was initiated in June when Nuevo Laredo's police chief was shot to death hours after taking office.

The government said it will expand and strengthen the program, which has sent hundreds of federal agents and soldiers to Nuevo Laredo in an effort to curb drug trafficking, which it branded "a cancer that affects the population."

For nearly three years, the border city of 350,000 has been caught in a deadly war between two drug cartels trying to control the lucrative corridor between Nuevo Laredo and its U.S. sister city, Laredo, Texas.

One of the cartels is led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmلn, who escaped from a maximum-security prison in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart. The other is headed by Osiel Cلrdenas, who is locked in a maximum-security prison near Mexico City, but whose reach still extends to the border.

In recent weeks, the violence has escalated as a third cartel, headed by imprisoned drug kingpin Armando Valencia, joined forces with Guzmلn to defeat Cلrdenas and his squad of hit men known as the "Zetas," according to U.S. law enforcement officials.

Valencia, who was arrested two years ago, had close ties to traffickers in Medellin, Colombia, and was once a crucial go-between for the Colombians and distributors in northern Mexico, Mexican authorities said.

Fox's government was stung by Garza's decision to close the consulate. The United States has not closed an American installation in Mexico since 1986, when the U.S. Embassy was shut down for four months after the Guadalajara slaying of U.S. drug agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena.

A spokesman for Mexican Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca criticized the closing, saying such actions should only be taken "by countries in a situation of war."

But drug-fighting experts said the Fox government can't control the border. Ironically, part of problem can be traced to the government's success in rounding up kingpins such as Valencia, Cلrdenas and Tijuana cartel leader Benjamيn Arellano Félix.

Those arrests prompted a "shift from large cartels to boutique cartels, smaller organizations which have proliferated the border states and who are locked in an internecine battle for control over turf and routes and profits," said Bruce Bagley, a professor of international studies at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.

"Fox hammered the Arellano Félix brothers and the Tijuana cartel, he nailed Osiel Cلrdenas, and he's been harassing the inheritors of the Juarez cartel," Bagley said. "What we are seeing are the consequences, unintended, of course, of these earlier successes which were so highly applauded in Washington."

The drug war in Nuevo Laredo began two years ago, when Guzmلn moved 200 hit men to the border city to confront Cardenas and his Zetas, according to testimony given in January by a protected witness in a Mexican court.

The witness testified that he was ordered to rent 15 or 20 houses in Nuevo Laredo, each furnished with 15 mattresses.

On Aug. 20, 2003, one of Guzmلn's top lieutenants proclaimed, "the war for Nuevo Laredo has begun."

As the cartels fought for territory, the bodies began to pile up. At first, little attention was paid to Nuevo Laredo. But 101 people have been killed so far this year – including nine police commanders and the police chief.

Valencia's cartel apparently has joined forces with Guzmلn to push Cلrdenas out of Nuevo Laredo. At the time of his arrest, Valencia, who once ran a successful produce packaging business, was said to be responsible for smuggling 30 percent of the cocaine, heroin and marijuana sold in the United States.

"These guys are fighting it out, but not just for control of the business, but in Hatfield and McCoy-style feuds. It is a very complex struggle where you don't know who's on whose side," Bagley said. "Much of the violence comes from the efforts of Chapo Guzmلn to seize control of this chaotic situation."

Bagley says Fox and his top officials haven't responded quickly enough to the increasing violence.

"They reacted slowly and defensively," he said. "They have militarized part of the border area, then immediately demilitarized it. They don't provide continuous patrols or protection for local-level authorities. This is affecting the tourist trade. It's slowing down commerce, and it's giving Mexico a major black eye."

The Fox administration contends that part of the blame rests with the United States, which is the source of many of the weapons used in Mexican crimes.

"The paradox is that if an American dies in a Mexican border state, the gun that killed him probably came from the U.S.," said Jorge Chabat, an expert on organized crime at the Center for Economic Research in Mexico City.

One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the weapons question "is a completely separate issue than bringing the border under control."

But the official said the United States has "agencies actively working to interdict the exportation of illegal weapons."

With the violence now reaching a crescendo, "the Fox administration has no alternative but to send federal-level authorities to the border and station them there permanently in order to control this violence," Bagley said.

"It's going to require some kind of state of emergency and a thorough purging of institutions and their rebuilding," he said. "You can't do that in a matter of days or a matter of weeks. This is going to take years."

 

[bort]

[From Fox News, which has pictures, video, etc.]

Kidnapping, Murder Sweep Nuevo Laredo
Friday, August 05, 2005

•Blood and Glass Everywhere •Drug Lords Overrun Mexican Border Town•Lawless Nuevo Laredo

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — A city official in charge of public security was gunned down along with another man in the downtown area of the embattled city of Nuevo Laredo (search) on Friday.

According to reports, it appeared to be an organized hit involving two cars.

Nuevo Laredo, just cross the border from the United States, has become one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Rival drug cartels have turned the city into a war zone as they battle for control of the lucrative illegal drug market in the U.S.

Gun battles in broad daylight are common, and the U.S. Consulate (search) has shut down, at least temporarily.

The drug gangs have killed the city's last two police chiefs, the second of whom lasted only six hours on the job. Widespread police corruption has compounded the problem. The entire 700-officer force was fired for corruption this summer, though many were hired back.

In addition to the killings, there has been an epidemic of kidnappings. There have been over 400 in the past year, including dozens of Americans.

FOX News’ Steve Harrigan talked to the families of one of the kidnapping victims.

“You could be walking down the street with your daughter and somebody comes up with an AK-47 and says, ‘I am taking your daughter, what are you going to do?'” said one man whose daughter was kidnapped 11 months ago.

Often, there are no ransom demands. Both of Rosita Gonzalez' sons were kidnapped, and she has no idea why.

"It's a pain that you can't have no appeal for it," said Gonzalez.

The Nuevo Laredo story that has gone largely unreported, as many journalists say the drug wars in there are too dangerous to cover, especially after a number of their colleagues have been gunned down.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (search), D-Texas, says it's time Americans became aware of what's going on just south of the border.

"We need to let the American public know about this particular situation," Cuellar said.

"Forty-one missing Americans is just too much."

 

[Hoof Hearted]

BS guys, you're stupid to go there. The 2nd Sheriff recently was killed on his first day on the job. Over 40 U.S citizens have been kidnapped in this city in the last year. These are facts, it is not safe.

 

[Stanchez]

sigh...another soul poisoned by the remarks of the uneducated!

Most of the violent crime has always been, and will continue to be between the people involved in the border-town territorial wars, which dont usually include us and have always been/will always be there. As for the Police vs. Federales situation, that is under control.

Dont let the media and unsubstantiated remarks here get to ya! Every American for the last three years, up till the other month when many were found or just as a dated guideline, were mexican-american and most likely tied into the above-mentioned territorial wars. Gringo mongers have pretty much consistently only dealt with the petty theives and fraud by small time ciminals or old Policia - this will always be there, you just need to be smart!

B

 

[John Murdock]

How's the safety issue, i.e. shootouts b/t the cartels, these days in Nuevo Laredo. I love going down, but do appreciate life at the same time.

 

[Account--Suspended]

He's probably talking about #2....

 

[James J]

Is that bridge one or bridge two (pedestrian)?

 

[jeff rockout]

Im up for the b town trip

 

[Susanna M]

I stayed at a hotel called manson del ray, or something close to that. It was directly across the street on the West side of the main plaza (park) in downtown. Clean, sparce, rooms with decent A/C for around $40. It was only about 1/2 mile from the bridge, an easy walk.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Vincen - Awesome dude. I am up for something different that first night, so count me in. I always look forward to trying something new!

Monkey - Staying in NL? Cool... I personally prefer to stay on the US side whenever I go to any border towns. Not to say that I always make it back that night, but I like having a safe haven to go back to, away from everything. PLUS - I drive a company car 24/7 and if I stayed over there I would want a car, not taxis all the time, however my job wont let me take it over. I already have a room booked for those nights just off the highway 4 miles N of the border, as usual for me.