Cartel Shootout - Sounds like it was Southwest of Nogales

[jerry]

Hey Russ feel like leading a tour to Caborca and eastward today? I'm sorry but you guys have your head in the sand.Last week rumors were flying that their was a Zeta connection to the police chief in RP's shooting...now there are dead Zetas within 20 minutes of Caborca.Last year when I'd mention the violence you guys would say "this is all the way across the state" guess what? This is coming our way.
Guys were beheaded in this fight by a group of hired gunmen that have trained in Americas best counter insurgency schools.....do not minimize this ....

 

[mexicomama]

Fox news (Channel 10) just reported on this shootout saying 21 people were confirmed dead. They did not give a specific location, only "12 miles from the border in an area known for drug and human smuggling." Still the graphic they showed looked VERY close to Sonoita. Not good at all. Just hearing that is going to make the average gringo think there is a war going on. Hell, THERE IS a war going on if 21 people are dead!!

So getting ready to book my condo for July 18, now I'm scared again. Stuart, you seem like you are in the know. What are your thoughts on traveling down to PP? I realize this occured closer to nogales.

 

[InkaRoads]

.....but we're not talking a citizenry that is armed the way we are in the US......

I do not think they were armed in Colombia as we are armed in USA neither!! in comparacense you might say that Mexico is closer to resemble any thing on Colombia than USA.
Anita, stop giving us wrong info!!!!

 

[jerry]

I do not think they were armed in Colombia as we are armed in USA neither!! in comparacense you might say that Mexico is closer to resemble any thing on Colombia than USA.
Anita, stop giving us wrong info!!!!

yep go to the gun show at the Pima County Fairgrounds and stick around for the day. Mexican guys buy assault rifles from" individual" sellers and goes to car and dumps it in the trunk with the other 10 he's already bought. Hey I like and own lots of weapons but this gun show sales scam arms the lower level narcos.

 

[rockyptjoe]

yep go to the gun show at the Pima County Fairgrounds and stick around for the day. Mexican guys buy assault rifles from" individual" sellers and goes to car and dumps it in the trunk with the other 10 he's already bought. Hey I like and own lots of weapons but this gun show sales scam arms the lower level narcos.

But's it's not the "common folk'', the normal citizens who are doing the buying...at least not for themselves....????

 

[jerry]

No the shows funnel guns to the the mexican gangs. The funny thing is they are run by the black helicopter types that think the USA is under threat of invasion by Mexico...so they help solve this problem by arming the mexican criminals!

 

[jerry]

Hey just me but I'd still go.This is a growing problem that needs way more man power to deal with

So getting ready to book my condo for July 18, now I'm scared again. Stuart, you seem like you are in the know. What are your thoughts on traveling down to PP? I realize this occured closer to nogales.

 

[azdiva]

If this happened to our troops in Afganistan, you bet this would escalate into a fierce conflict. Revolutions and Coup's can occur from
within military,roving gangs,vigilante citizens, or any resistance. Wait till next Mex Presidente election. Worst scenario is firefight between
National Guard and Mexican Gangsters this will get ugly real fast.

 

[Senor Pescado]

So I watched to national news reports this morning on the shootout. First MSNBC talked about it and how it was close to the Arizona border. They put a general map of the southwest up and the only city labled was Hermosillo - the dumb anchor then says you can see how close the shooting was to the border - unfortunatley the only thing labled was Hermosillo which is hours from the border. Next, I saw a report on Fox - they had 2 maps, first, a map labeling Nogales, which, on their map, looks far enough way from PP as to not scare anyone, they then showed a close up shot map of Nogales and the area 12 miles away were the shooting occured - again, looks pretty remote.

I will say this, I think the Mexican Govt needs to send a bigger contigent of their military to the border region and just lock the place down. I think the reason they don't is corruption and infiltration of the cartels at the highest level and the same reason that our govt. doesn't do it, they want a certain back and forth black labor market.

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

Rosy, you missed my point completely. It could have been on Mars! The news report on TV last night DID NOT give a location. They put up a graphic with a red dot on it. The dot was just south of the border and, for anyone that has ever been to Rocky Point, looked to be VERY close to Sonoita. Probably the same graphic they use whenever they talk about Rocky Point. Media distortion? Maybe. Misinformation? Definitely.

"Caborca and Nogales have actually seen a decrease in violent deaths so far this year." Uhhhhh... there's something missing here, too. "...while Sonoita and Puerto Penasco have seen a marked increase."

Let's be honest, shall we, instead of trying to spin things away? I'm actually starting to understand Sub's frustration. 21 people dead is a major deal. Yet, it gets laughed off here as "an old West shootout" and "don't worry, they weren't trying to shoot YOU"?? What in the hell??

I think you misunderstood my post, Stuart. I'm not making light of this or downplaying it at all, but there are people reading this who would look at that map and not know that where this happened is hours away from RP. That violence has increased in Sonoyta and Penasco is common knowledge and scattered on threads throughout this forum, I should have included that in my sentence, as you point out, but I wan't talking about Penasco. In fact, when I wrote that I wasn't in "defend Penasco"-mode. I was just talking about Caborca and Nogales.

I happen to agree with you that this is serious. I'm writing an editorial (in Spanish because I now have a weekly segment on internet radio) about this. I'm not in spin-mode. You've all read my other posts and know that I love that entire part of Sonora. There are two issues here. We seem to agree that this tragedy shouldn't affect travel plans for those coming to Penasco this weekend. Aside from that, we need to pay attention to what happens next in this entire region...

If Sub is gone, let him rest in peace. You know how to be frustrated on your own without invoking him. That's just kind of like saying, "now I see why so-and-so was so bothered by you" to someone. Not cool.

 

[tequilatodd]

So getting ready to book my condo for July 18, now I'm scared again. Stuart, you seem like you are in the know. What are your thoughts on traveling down to PP? I realize this occured closer to nogales.

So Stuart.......what do you say? Personally, I don't have an issue with going. But mexicomama is my wife
Some people were worried about Swine Flu last year and we still went. Granted, flying bullets are a bit more to think about. But if they are not actually flying around in RP, I say lets go.

 

[Terry C]

CBS news
The fire fight occurred in a sparsely populated area about 12 miles from the Arizona border, near the city of Nogales, that is considered a prime corridor for immigrant and drug smuggling.

 

[Stuart]

So getting ready to book my condo for July 18, now I'm scared again. Stuart, you seem like you are in the know. What are your thoughts on traveling down to PP? I realize this occured closer to nogales.

Dear Ms. Mama,

I'm only "in the know" based on my own travels, my friends travels, and a network of other folks that all share information, including this forum. My thoughts are this at the moment - you'll probably be just fine. Personally, I was planning on going this weekend, but cancelled yesterday. This had nothing to do with the shootings and everything to do with the weather, which was showing strong winds and high seas for the weekend, which ruins the fishing trip I had planned. I don't go to just lay on the beach or hang out and drink; I can do that much cheaper in the pool in my backyard! God cursed me with this addiction called "fishing" and if I can't do that while I'm in Penasco, I'm like a junkie without a fix.

I say go, enjoy the time with your husband, and have fun! My wife and I flew to Mazatlan for a week last month and we had a great time. Not for one second did I not feel safe. Everyone was super friendly, welcoming and glad to see us. Too glad to see us, in some cases (damned timeshare salesmen would not take NO for an answer when they approached you on the street). I'm sure you'll find the same in Penasco (the atmosphere that is, not timeshare salesmen).

 

[Ladyjeeper]

Go on down, you two. I'm looking forward to meeting both of you some day!

 

[Stuart]

I happen to agree with you that this is serious. I'm writing an editorial (in Spanish because I now have a weekly segment on internet radio) about this. I'm not in spin-mode. You've all read my other posts and know that I love that entire part of Sonora. There are two issues here. We seem to agree that this tragedy shouldn't affect travel plans for those coming to Penasco this weekend. Aside from that, we need to pay attention to what happens next in this entire region...

If Sub is gone, let him rest in peace. You know how to be frustrated on your own without invoking him. That's just kind of like saying, "now I see why so-and-so was so bothered by you" to someone. Not cool.

Part of the problem of this medium as a form of communication - interpretation. I'm glad you agree this is serious; I know that you do.

My comment about Sub was not directed at you in particular. It was directed at the forum as a whole because of some of the comments I was reading that simply seemed to be rationalizing the event away. But yes, let's leave Sub out of it, my bad.

 

[tequilatodd]

Stuart....thank you for your encouraging words in your post to mexicomama. Sorry to hear you had to cancel you trip due to bad weather. I also enjoy fishing.....but not as much as you do :fish::fish::fish:.
Right now, I am just interested in getting the &%** out of dodge for some R&R. Bad weather or not.
And if the weather permits, I will take some time to fish.

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

If I get any more information about this or other events, I'll be sure to bring them to you guys. Hey Tyler, too bad we can't get the posts to go directly to my phone...can we? Didn't we used to have a way to get an email whenever anyone responded to a thread we were interested in? How do I make that happen?

 

[mexicomama]

Dear Ms. Mama,

I'm only "in the know" based on my own travels, my friends travels, and a network of other folks that all share information, including this forum. My thoughts are this at the moment - you'll probably be just fine. Personally, I was planning on going this weekend, but cancelled yesterday. This had nothing to do with the shootings and everything to do with the weather, which was showing strong winds and high seas for the weekend, which ruins the fishing trip I had planned. I don't go to just lay on the beach or hang out and drink; I can do that much cheaper in the pool in my backyard! God cursed me with this addiction called "fishing" and if I can't do that while I'm in Penasco, I'm like a junkie without a fix.

I say go, enjoy the time with your husband, and have fun! My wife and I flew to Mazatlan for a week last month and we had a great time. Not for one second did I not feel safe. Everyone was super friendly, welcoming and glad to see us. Too glad to see us, in some cases (damned timeshare salesmen would not take NO for an answer when they approached you on the street). I'm sure you'll find the same in Penasco (the atmosphere that is, not timeshare salesmen).

Thanks Stuart. I just needed a little extra pep talk. We have been going down for 6 years, and haven't been recently. Some of the things happening there were giving me some worries. Tequilatodd will be happy to know I will be booking the condo! Thanks again!

 

[tequilatodd]

Thanks Stuart. I just needed a little extra pep talk. We have been going down for 6 years, and haven't been recently. Some of the things happening there were giving me some worries. Tequilatodd will be happy to know I will be booking the condo! Thanks again!

:woo::woo:

I know I should be working........but this is important too

 

[Stuart]

Beyond AK-47s...

yep go to the gun show at the Pima County Fairgrounds and stick around for the day. Mexican guys buy assault rifles from" individual" sellers and goes to car and dumps it in the trunk with the other 10 he's already bought. Hey I like and own lots of weapons but this gun show sales scam arms the lower level narcos.

Perhaps the low-level street guys, yes. But the kind of hardware these Zeta guys are using is not bought at gun shows. We're talking serious military hardware. RPGs, grenades, M-16s. The pictures in this link show a recent bust (in May) of a Zeta camp south of the Texas border, not Arizona. Some serious, serious hardware and LOTS of it! For any of you that don't think this a war, this is likely to change your mind. These aren't some peasants with sombreros, banderos, and a Winchester rifle. These are well-trained guerrilla fighters with enough weaponry to take on the military or police in a head-to-head fire fight and totally outgun them.