Americans Killed in Mexico

And Nicaraguan Busted in Kinney County

Good Morning friends,

We’ve been keeping our mouths closed the last couple of days— trying to make sense out of this horrible story from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, where a carload of Americans were attacked, kidnapped, and some killed.

Kidnapping Scene in Matamoros, March 3, 2023, Image Courtesy: Elefante Blanco

Tonight, two are back in the States, one of them receiving treatment in a hospital— two others were murdered in Mexico.

By now, most have heard that they were apparently looking for a cheap tummy tuck surgery.

A lot of the story hasn’t seemed to add up to many around here. The last twenty years or so, it’s become common for many border residents to assume that people immediately kidnapped and spirited away in such a fashion must have some kind of link to organized crime. It is freely assumed that such situations involve people who sell drugs or are otherwise already known to the cartels.

But the sad truth is— that’s no longer the case in Mexico today. In Mexico today, cartels and others will kidnap anyone they think might have money. Period. And they don’t care if you don’t have much. We’ve heard of people being ransomed for less than $20,000.

In the past, they might’ve kidnapped a criminal American associate and taken them across to be tortured— but law-enforcement sources tell us that’s too much hassle now, what with how easily they are able to operate in the United States. We’re told they take care of such business Stateside now. If police in your town or state are investigating a “stone-cold whodunnit” where the victim’s head and hands were chopped off, odds are decent that was a cartel-related killing.

No, in this case, we find it very plausible that Latayvia McGee and her three friends were in Mexico for exactly the reason they’ve stated.

Some have speculated that they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time— caught up in a gang battle and grabbed by opportunistic criminals who saw a chance to make some easy ransom money. There have been reports that the Cartel del Golfo mistook the group for a gang of Haitian drug smugglers.

One of the things highlighted by the incident is the fact that Tamaulipas is one of a handful of Mexican states that the U.S. Government is advising Americans not to visit, saying it is too dangerous.

Coahuila, across the river from Del Rio and Eagle Pass is not on that list, but even so, we wouldn’t recommend traveling there for tummy tuck surgery either. Coahuila is on the U.S. Government’s ‘exercise caution’ list.

We linked to a British paper up above for their coverage of things. For some reason— perhaps because they’re an ocean away, it just seems to read a bit crisper. Less bogged down with US mores and concerns and political correctness. Of course, the UK has its own political correctness issues, but even so, the coverage just reads better to us this morning.

Also too, the page in question is kind of nifty, with how editors are keeping the freshest stuff up top, while also presenting pertinent sidebar information, like how various U.S. Republican politicians are calling for some kind of military intervention in Mexico because of this incident.

Color us skeptical. There would seem to be very little appetite for that kind of adventurism around here— indeed, if lawmakers can’t bring themselves to actually secure the border, how on Earth are they going to go about “Militarily Intervening” in Mexico?

Sadly, for Latayvia McGee and her friends, such posturing will probably not result in any kind of legislation that reaches the floor for a vote let alone result in any positive developments for them, Mexico, or the United States. Just some hot air during Prime Time, until it’s time for some different hot air next week.

Wouldn’t mind being wrong about that.

Take a look at this guy:

He’s identified as Alix Arial Ortega Mendez.

Here’s some of the paperwork he was carrying:

He was busted in Kinney County recently, accused of smuggling illegal foreign nationals.

The Sheriff tells us Ortega Mendez’s papers indicate he may be a member of the Nicaraguan National Police.

"He has the ID card, is he really a member?  Haven't checked," said Sheriff Brad Coe, Monday.

Looking more closely at the cards in the photo, they look like a regular driver’s license and a voter registration card to us. It may be that the police ID is not pictured, or we just don’t know what we’re looking at.

The NNP is a component of the Nicaraguan military that performs police duties in Nicaragua.  In March of 2020, the US Government imposed sanctions on Nicaragua's National Police, claiming they used live ammo on protestors, operated death squads, and took part in extrajudicial killings and kidnappings.  

All total, Deputies busted 11 different smugglers over the weekend.  2 were women, one from Texas and one from Arkansas.  Another smuggler was a 16-year-old boy from Austin, TX.

A 21-year old from the Texas Panhandle will be spending just under 3 1/2 years behind bars, for smuggling illegal aliens— he was busted in Kinney County.

The sentencing was in Federal Court, yesterday, in Del Rio.

21-year-old Caleb Hernandez has already been locked up for almost 2 years awaiting trial.

Here’s a link to the official news release.

Hernandez led Border Patrol and Kinney County Sheriff'‘s deputies on a high speed chase on Highway 90, allowing multiple aliens to bail out of the vehicle as he slowed down and sped away again and again.

At one point during the pursuit, Hernandez drove into opposite lanes of traffic and onto the shoulder.  He eventually lost control of the vehicle, rolling over and landing upside down.  Hernandez and four undocumented noncitizens were removed from the vehicle.

—U.S. Attorney’s Office News Release, unsigned

After he finishes his 41-month sentence, Hernandez will also spend three years under what’s called “supervised release.” He also has to pay a $3,000 fine.

“Human smugglers have no respect for human life, as demonstrated by this defendant,” said Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee of the Western District of Texas.  “Those responsible for illegally moving people into and through our country place their personal profit above everything else. They are driven by greed with little regard for the health and well-being of their passengers. HSI is committed to investigating smugglers and holding them accountable for their actions.”

—U.S. Attorney’s Office News Release, unsigned

We thought we recognized this incident— but it actually predates the inception of the newsletter, which was in August 2021. There’s just been so many rollovers and high-speed pursuits, they’re all starting to run together.

If you haven’t been keeping up with Todd Bensman lately, you’ve been missing out.

His book has finally arrived in bookstores.

He’s been doing press in support of the thing since the new year, pretty much.

Think about that: The border crisis has been raging on long enough that someone wrote a book about it.

At what point does a crisis just become situation usual? When does the new normal become plain jane normal?

The Washington Times has a pretty good excerpt from the book here.

In it, Bensman lays out the intersection between open borders advocates, violent protestors, and the about-face by leading Democrats that he says has created the current crisis.

Along the way, he also takes a look at some history that many seem to have forgotten— exploring Latino and Democrat hero Cesar Chavez’s take on illegal immigration:

Chavez reserved special ire for illegal Mexican migrant workers, whom he routinely called by the charged, derogatory term “wetbacks.” In 1974, Chavez went so far as to dispatch 300 thugs to establish a “wet line” near Yuma, Arizona. The vigilantes organized into patrols to intercept migrant workers and “persuade them to turn back.” But the patrols quickly turned violent. They beat at least thirty-seven migrants as they crossed the border to discourage others from breaking a lemon-pickers strike that year. The UFW also bribed Mexican officials in San Luis to stop border crossers on their side.

“There’s an awful lot of illegals coming in,” Chavez said in a 1974 interview. “They’re coming in by the thousands. It’s just unbelievable. It’s a vicious attack on the local worker. The workers themselves, even though a lot of them are Mexican descendants are very upset and very worried and very mad about the illegals coming to break their strike. It takes away their jobs and livelihood and so on.”

—Todd Bensman, Chapter 4 of “Overrun” as excerpted by the Washington Times

Interesting.

When activists talk about violent incidents on the border, that one never comes up.

After that historical digression, Bensman then goes on to chart how Chavez-fans and supporters like President Joe Biden, seem to have turned their backs on him and his positions, embracing what Bensman calls a fringe element that is now firmly entrenched in the White House and other parts of the Government.

That should do it for now. By all accounts we’ve heard, Fort Clark Days last weekend seemed to be a smashing success. It was probably no coincidence that local ATM’s were either out of cash or out of service.

As metrics go, headcount might be a better one, but it’s hard to argue with signs that people were emptying their wallets to support local crafters, food vendors, and learning a little about the history of Texas along Las Moras Creek.

As always, the newsletter is as independent as we can make it, given our day job with Kinney County. It is produced without oversight or editorial input, and no one should mistake it for any kind of an official communication.

Indeed, any mistakes, errors, or expressions of bias are entirely our own.

Have a great morning— we’ll see you again soon.