Border Violence Update

With all the nonsense that's going on around the world, and with the mainstream media obsessing over the non-story about Romney's secretly recorded comments, you probably didn't see these stories in the news recently.

Nuevo Laredo Death Toll Reaches 74

A rivalry between two organized crime groups in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, has left 11 dead over the last 48 hours, including seven on Saturday and four Monday.

“Between the seven killed on Saturday and the four on Monday we have now recorded 74 deaths since Sept. 5...”

74 dead in two weeks. That's an average of five per day. Not surprising for Chicago or Detroit, but Nuevo Laredo's population is only 375,000, not several million. The worst part is the 'collateral damage.'

Federal investigators say cartel violence has left many innocent victims dead. They cite, as an example a Sept. 11 house fire in which a family of three died. One of the dead was a 5-year-old girl.

That day, violence throughout the city resulted in several houses burning down. Twenty-seven deaths and 30 injuries were reported.

In related news: Convicts Hunted After Mexican Prison Break Near Border

The Texas border city of Eagle Pass and the surrounding county are on high alert after 132 inmates escaped Monday through a tunnel dug inside a prison near Piedras Negras, a Mexican city that borders the United States.

Piedras Negras (which translates to Black Stones or Black Rocks) is about 150 miles SW of where I live (near San Antonio), and about 100 miles NNW of where I work (Laredo).

“We are very concerned and we have tight security with our border patrol as well as state agencies,” says Maverick County, Texas, sheriff Tomas Herrera. “It would be easy to cross the border area where water is only knee high. We have 80 miles of river. In some places you can swim or walk across.”

In the U.S., the Texas Department of Public Safety has enlisted state troopers to patrol the border communities, and the U.S. Border Patrol has air boats patrolling the Rio Grande River. “They have choppers looking for them,” Sheriff Herrera says. “We are doing our part by keeping them from coming across.”

Long, isolated stretches of easily crossed border out there. Limited resources on our side. Drug smugglers familiar with the terrain. While I'm sure our LEOs are doing their best, I doubt if they'll stop all of them from crossing. Just one more reason to tote my .45 XD wherever I go.

Unfortunately, the folks featured in the following story don't have that option.

Mexican cattlemen opening a state-of-the-art inspection facility intended to speed livestock exports are facing a problem: U.S. veterinarians fear traveling to the complex.

The U.S. government inspectors in charge of checking the animals for dangerous diseases before the cattle are shipped north say they are afraid to show up at the inspection station south of the border near Laredo, Texas, because of drug-cartel-related violence.

"These folks are scared skinny," said Bill Hughes, a lawyer for National Association of Federal Veterinarians, which represents the inspectors, who are employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Scared skinny" ... that's a new one. But I don't blame them. 74 dead in two weeks. 130 escaped criminals running around. Our own government forbids its employees to travel in the area.

The U.S. State Department recommends that Americans defer nonessential trips to Nuevo León, where there has been drug violence, and prohibits personal travel by government employees on highways in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas "due to the risks posed by armed robbery and carjacking."

Of course, that's the same State Department that failed to heed warnings about planned attacks on U.S. embassies, but that's another story.

And in true government fashion, the left hand doesn't know -- or doesn't care -- what the right hand is doing.

The Agriculture Department, which has the final say on whether the U.S. inspectors would be sent to the facility in Nuevo León, hasn't yet made a decision.

When they do, any bets which way they'll rule? A spokesperson said officials from the Ag. Dept. "deem the veterinarians' assignment to be low risk."

I wonder how many of those officials will be working the cattle pens?

Sigh...