How the Cartels operate.

Friday night, another week has passed at work. I want to add some stuff to my first post.
Dante, Keith and I got into a discussion at work about how Lolo (Isadoro) was robbed in front of the plant and how that relates to the situation in Mexico with the Cartel and the police and the soldiers. He said that Lolo must have done something to draw attention to himself. I repeated what Ruben had said: That it was because Lolo had tinted windows. Dante said "yes" that was probably it, plus maybe he was speeding or ran a red light, a common occurrence in Mexico. Dante went on to say that the Cartel guys have spotters all over Matamoros that are looking for members of the rival cartel. You cannot do something that will draw their attention. If Lolo had been a gang (cartel) member they probably would have killed him on the spot.
The two cartels here are the Gulfo de Mexico Cartel and the Zeta. The Zeta are trying to take over the territory all up and down the border. Dante call the Zeta the bad cartel and the Golfo Cartel the "good" cartel. I don't know why. I have seen pictures of killing by the cartel, the bodies are beheaded or dismembered or both. Dante showed me pictures of an SUV that was found in Sonora with body parts from 14 people. This was a message to the rival gang and the police. Horrible.
The story is the same from everyone that I talk to. The Cartel thugs are bold and brazen, they are better armed than the federales and they go about town as if they were the supreme power. The police for the most part are bought by the cartels.
I said that I thought the soldiers we bought also because the cartel guys go where ever they want in broad daylight.
Dante then explained how they are able to do that. He said wherever the cartel go they have spies, called Hawks, dispersed every where in a 5 or 6 square block area around where they are. If any soldiers get within a half mile of their location the Hawks will alert them and they disappear. He said the only hope that the soldiers have of catching them out and about is to swoop in with helicopters.
Dante also said to watch behind a convoy of soldiers next time we saw one. He explained that 2 or 3 cars behind the soldiers we would see a car with a couple of young men in it talking on a cell phone alerting the cartel bosses to the soldiers every move.
So this seems to put the soldiers in the catch up mode. The cartel appear to be one step ahead of them and they have the upper hand, at least this is the perception by the average man on the street. Denise heard this same story almost verbatim from a guy she was talking to in Progreso.
This somewhat illuminates the current situation here in Matamoros. The locals don't go out after 8:00 pm without a very compelling reason to do so. They don't dare flaunt anything that might show they have money and they don't do anything that might draw attention to themselves. How sad.
Next post I will try to talk about some of the wonderful people I have met here. I don't want to make it seem like every day is one of fear and cowering, it's just that you must be aware of your surroundings at all time. You can not let your guard down.
Peace.

The first post

Since Facebook limits your post to 422 characters I have started this blog. I am starting this to chronicle some of my "adventures" working in Mexico. I started working in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico in January of 2009 as the plant I worked at in Haysville, Kansas, USA was transferring all machines and product to Mexico. I volunteered to help train the people in Matamoros with the thought that if I liked it and they liked me I might be able to get a job there. I spent the next 7 months traveling back and forth and living in a hotel in Brownsville, Texas. For the first three months I never had a car so all I really got to see was the road back and forth to work. After I got a car on weekends I began to explore the surrounding area of South Texas and Mexico.
I had basically zero Spanish when I started this and have had no formal teaching yet. I learn what I can from people I talk to. It’s slow going but I do feel like I am progressing.
I am now working full time in Matamoros but it is far from routine. From the beginning I kept telling myself "Remember - It's an adventure" My son told me the same thing, hence the name of this blog.
Mexico is a far different place from the good old USA; I will try to illuminate some of that in this blog from time to time.
Today: 26 de Abril, 2010
This morning before work one of the technicians, Isadoro, that came in early to start up was followed to work. He knew he was being followed but didn't think much of it but when he got ready to park the guy pulled in front of him. Two more vehicles pulled in behind him and blocked his escape. He was robbed at gunpoint, by guy with automatic weapons. They took his tools, Cd's and whatever else he had in his car that they wanted; he told me that he didn't have any money, probably true.
The security guard popped out of his guard house and was told to get back in, they told him that he saw nothing. He is unarmed. Another tech, Alfredo, pulled up as this was going on and was told to drive away.
This is another example of a corrupt government that will not protect its citizens, also proves out the adage that when guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns. The citizens of Mexico are not allowed to arm themselves. No one called the police….they would not help apparently. There are large groups of armed thugs that have the run of town right now. They drive openly down the streets brandishing weapons and terrorizing the honest citizens. The police are bought off by the cartels and the news reporters are told that if they report the activities of the cartel they will be killed. This is reminiscent of the lawless days of the American west except at this point there is no Wyatt Earp coming to the rescue. All that the people here have are the soldiers and they are not to be 100% trusted either. They have the authority to shoot to kill and have been known to accidentally take out some of the civilians.