martes, 14 de febrero de 2012

In Mexico the first 60 minutes after a kidnapping are the most crucial. Read this article and plan ahead.

REPORTING FROM MEXICO

John Reed
reportingfrommexico.blogspot.com

I have learned in life that the most important time frame in every crises is the first hour after an emergency. The post 60-minutes determines how a situation will unfold. The statement that I have just made was confirmed in the life of a person whose family member was recently kidnapped here in Mexico.

Organized crime was behind the kidnapping of JAVIER (not the real name of the person).  The kidnappers bulldozed into his house while his family was present and dragged him into a vehicle.  This was not your standard Mexican kidnapping as most kidnapping in this country occur while you are on the move and out of your surroundings. The fact that the kidnappers bulldozed into his house makes this a different situation all together.

His family was completely in shock knowing that they could not trust the local authorities. Fear totally gripped the family and here is where the first 60 most precious minutes after the kidnapping were lost in indecision.

The reason organized crime in Mexico is strong is because it is ORGANIZED while the general population is not. Cool heads must prevail in a moment such as this and controlling personal emotions are the order of the day.  

For those reading this article, I would ask you to write an operational procedure on what you would do if something like this happened to your family. Does your family know what to do if you yourself were kidnapped?

Like the saying goes, "A bad plan is always better than not having a plan."

And if any Zeta is reading this article, do not even try to locate my ISP; do you not think I would voice out my opinion without having a plan?

Please.




miércoles, 8 de febrero de 2012

U.S. State Department Advisory for Tamaulipas, Coachuila, Durango and Nuevo Leon in Mexico

REPORTING FROM MEXICO

By Jared Taylor (The Monitor)
The U.S. State Department maintained a cautious tenor on traveling to Mexico’s border region in a new travel warning that discourages travel to cities south of the Rio Grande.
Published Wednesday, the warning advises U.S. citizens against taking non-essential trips to Tamaulipas, noting carjacking attempts and the January 2011 slaying of Monte Alto missionary Nancy Davis, who died at a McAllen hospital after suspected carjackers shot her in the head.
The State Department claims that “no highway routes through Tamaulipas are considered safe,” emphasizing routes between Matamoros and Tampico as hotspots for carjackings and other crimes.
Similar cautions are placed against travel in Nuevo León and Coahuila states in Northeast Mexico, which along with Tamaulipas are hotbeds of drug cartel activity.
The State Department cited homicide figures from the Mexican government that showed 47,515 people killed in narco-violence between late 2006 and through the first nine months of 2011, with nearly 13,000 homicides through Sept. 30, 2011, alone.
As with past travel warnings, the State Department warned about Mexican border cities, which have seen prolonged battles between the cartels that control lucrative drug smuggling routes into the United States. Many battles between cartel members and authorities have featured grenades and other improvised explosive devices, sometimes leaving bystanders injured or dead, officials said.
“Gun battles have occurred in broad daylight on streets and in other public venues, such as restaurants and clubs,” the warning states. “During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area.”
The warning does not specify the number of incidents in which U.S. citizens have been trapped, but a 2009 gun battle broke out in Nuevo Progreso that left dozens of Winter Texans fleeing for cover as shooters exchanged gunfire along the tourist spot’s main strip. No injuries to U.S. citizens were reported in that incident and no similar episodes of violence have been reported since.
The State Department noted the number of U.S. citizens slain in Mexico has risen from 35 in 2007 to 120 in 2011.
U.S. officials warned against carjackings that have occurred day and night on both free and toll (cuota) highways in Mexico, especially along the border, with criminals targeting newer and larger vehicles.
The travel warning published Wednesday replaces a similar advisory issued in April 2011.
The State Department’s more cautionary advisories have garnered skepticism and dismay from merchants and officials along the Tamaulipas border, who have claimed tourism business has been scared away.
The chamber of commerce in Matamoros raised eyebrows among officials in the Rio Grande Valley in August 2011, when it issued its own travel warning that advised Mexican visitors to be aware of possible extortions or cartel violence when visiting U.S. border towns. 
U.S. government employees continue to face travel restrictions and curfews because of the heightened security risks in Mexico.
In Tamaulipas, U.S. government workers are prohibited from traveling on highways outside Matamoros, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo. The government has also imposed a midnight to 6 a.m. curfew, with employees prohibited from frequenting casinos and strip clubs in Tamaulipas.
The new warning casts a dark taint on border areas, but says Mexico City and most tourist areas remain safe, as well as the states in the Yucatan Peninsula and far south of the country. 
--
Jared Taylor covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at jtaylor@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4439.

viernes, 3 de febrero de 2012

My Outrage at the killings of two elderly American missionaries in Nuevo Leon, Mexico

REPORTING FROM MEXICO

John Reed
reportingfrommexico.blogspot.com

Americans are dying in the war on drugs. Nothing new, right? I was not referring to Americans dying in the United States, they are dying in Mexico. John and Wanda Casias were not tourists, they were not vacationers or winter birds seeking retirement. The Casias were two elderly missionaries attempting to make a difference in the northern state of Nuevo Leon where they were found strangled in their homes.  John Casias was found dead with an electrical cord wrapped around his neck.


I am not a missionary, but I am an American living in Mexico who is making a difference in the community where I have been living close to a decade.  No one has forced us to live in Mexico, we do so on our own accord. We acknowledge that back home, whether New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, violence is everywhere and death could come from anywhere.  However John was 76 years old and his wife Wanda was 67 years old.

They were senior citizens!

These were not "collateral damage" deaths in a drug war, they were a direct consequence of it. Surely one of the drug cartels or organized crime simply could not deal with the message of change that they preached. A message where Jesus Christ forgives sins and transforms lives. A message that God wants a better life for all of us, a life of cleanliness, purity and holiness.

The deaths of John and Wanda Casias were not murders, they were better than that - they are martyrs.  One thing history teaches us is that when one martyr is killed 10 others spring up to take their place. It happened at the Coliseum in Rome during the Roman persecution and it is happening all over the world now.

John and Wanda knew for whom they were dying, I pity the hell bound thugs that killed these missionaries for they have never held convictions like the Casias.

Organized crime thought that by killing the Casias they would kill what they had in their heart.  You cannot kill Jesus because he resurrected from the death and surely he will be waiting for the murderers of John and Wanda Casias.

That day is called JUDGEMENT DAY. I pray that the killers find grace and mercy prior to that day.