Armed Mexican Pirates Terrorize Texas Lake

Source: ABC News

Mexican drug cartel pirates have made their debut on Falcon Lake in Zapata County, Texas.

Texans have reported seeing armed boatmen on the lake, which hosts some of the largest bass fishing tournaments in the U.S. and shares a border with the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Not unlike the infamous Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, pirates on this lake have reportedly wielded high-powered rifles and automatic weapons.

After several incidents in the past month, including armed robbery and attempted armed robbery, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Zapata County Sheriff's Department are urging all boaters to stay out of Mexican waters. (The international border is in the middle of the lake.)

"It's piracy," said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez. "It may not be on the high seas, but they are taking advantage of people on this lake by threatening and robbing them."



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/Media/armed-mexican-pirates-terrorize-texas-lake/story?id=10737629

They could have legal problems if caught with guns. Not sure what the law is in this kind of situation.

should that stop the gun ho Texans? Soon or later one of these broader states will have a real life shoot out.

We try to keep it 1820 ish around here, this is a broader State you know...

Of course, it's hard to keep everyone in line. This guy has been told numerous times not to go out without his mini-gun mounted :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

waiting until you can write cogently before you try to wade into an adult conversation?

Now I live in PA and don't own a boat so I'm not 100% on this.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

to dig buck shot out of the fish-ruins the flavour. Now if you could carry blasting caps......


This is now different than drug cartels stealing yachts and other pleasure craft in the 80's and early 90's. The border is getting more unfriendly these days-on both sides. I know folks that use to travel back and forth frequently have now all but stopped.

I wonder why there were all those "blasting cap" commercials on tv in the 50's and 60's

I think one of their more visible uses was for making road cuts for Interstate and other highways that were being constructed back then. Such areas attracted kids who wanted to play in the dirt, or watch the big machinery. Thus the public service announcements asking kids not to play with blasting caps that they might find.

that was in the day of unsupervised kid play time. We would always scrounge for raw material to build what we wanted to play with. It was the time of home made forts and clubhouses. It was natural for kids to be seen around construction sites.

... poor flavor is a hallmark of largemouth bass. Fun to catch, not so fun to eat.

This is a joke, right?

ZAPATA, TEXAS -- It sounds like something out of yesteryear: Pirates attacking boats and sailors, robbing them of their treasures. But it's not on the high seas, but in deep South Texas.

With machine guns in hand, Mexico's deadliest cartel is patrolling the waters of a Texas border lake.

These pirates already have hit several boats on Falcon Lake near Zapata, which is about an hour south of Laredo.

If you go too far across the lake and past the international boundary bouy, you are in Mexican territory and subject to attacks by pirates toting assault weapons.

"It is unsafe in Mexico. Don't go to Mexico," warned Game Warden Capt. Fernando Cervantes. "We can not cross over onto that side. If a boat goes across, that's it. We stop there at the line."

http://www.kens5.com/news/pirates-94535754.html

Hey maybe sovereign state Rick Perry should order up some armed Predator Drones.

..."there's a war, and people on drugs are winning it".... Bill Hicks.

And someone deserves to be flogged or keelhauled...

Unfortunately it is the headline writer for ABC.The lake apparently contains both US and Mexican waters and the pirates have not appeared in either the US, Texas, or Zapata county waters...

And the truth IS supposed to count for something,and the headline is a LIE.

Say it ain't so....

:eyes:

Despite its inaccuracy.

Let me know when they start sinking cargo ships.

ROFLOL

Pirates no less – operating on lakes! Oh me – oh my!

God save Mom, Apple Pie and the red white and blue.

Hilarious

Thanks for posting!

especially on and along the rivers.

http://www.newsouthernview.com/pages/nsv_shm_ms_pirates.html

Oh wait:

build a fence! That will magically solve all our problems!

:eyes:

What do ya need the Feds for ya pussy? LOL

it will really grab attention when some yankee tourist gets his 30k bass boat stolen.

You'd be feeling TERROR during a common mugging, too, but "TERRORISM" really takes it to another level.

Look at the 3 comments to the story, quoted below. The first two underscore that the Americans involved in the incidents had crossed into the Mexican side of the lake. The 3rd comment about Rethugs hyping the story is hilarious and dead on.


**********QUOTE********

I would like to point out that two of the reported icidents that you are complaining about are Americans that have gone deep into Mexican waters and because of that the Texas authority has NO jurisdiction to protect these fishermen. This is why triing to place a boarder fence is so impractical on the Meixcan / American boarder. When you have a lake such as this that lays between both countries it is hard to patrol. This can be said for the lakes that run along the Canadian / US boarders as well. If you fish smart as the pro's said in the story you should be fine.
Posted by:
K.McClure May-27


We'd be outraged if "illegals" were fishing in US waters, why should Americans cross into Mexico and expect to be protected? Stay the H out of a foreign country without papers!
Posted by:
jehow May-27



I don't believe this story. Probably white republicans disgused in Mexican face.
Posted by:
laland69 May-27

http://www.ksat.com/news/23627984/detail.html

.... "The lake is still safe," said Gonzalez, "as long as you stay on the U.S. side of the river or the lake right now. It's very important you stay on the U.S. side." ....

"It used to be all I fished was the Mexican side," said Reisdorph. "I like it over there, but not no more." ....


********UNQUOTE********

The comments I left on his website: You are feeding the wingnut border frenzy with your hyperbole. Substitute "pirates" for "armed robbers" and you get "TERRORISM"! You would feel "terror" in ANY mugging, but you take it to another level in today's climate with your language. All of the terrorists since 9-11 and before entered the U.S. from the NORTHERN border. Oh, well... you got your big splash.



**********QUOTE********

http://ampena954.wordpress.com/about/

My Newsroom with Alex Pena

NAHJ Student Fellow at NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams

Student journalist/multi-media reporter at FGCU. Pursuing an international reporting career with a focus on Latin America and the Middle East.

Stories aired and featured on CNN Newsroom, ABC News International, BBC WHYS, NBC-2 WBBH, Naples Daily News and WGCU Public Radio.

********UNQUOTE********

I bet all you libruls are gonna want amnesty for all them "Bueno Bass".

Hey, somebody had to say it!

The robbers' MO is the same as the Federales, extort the gringos.

The U.S. fishermen told them that they were just fishing and taking photos. They ended up giving the men $200 in cash before leaving the area.

I had to Western Union $$$$ to my friend down there so he could pay them off.

.........................................................

If many Americans think "Texas-Mexico border" and envision a war zone, it's thanks in no small part to the stories spread by border sheriffs like West and Zapata County's Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez. Gonzalez, who organized the first meeting of the sheriff's coalition in 2005, has been a higher-profile media figure than West. In November 2005, shortly before the "Al-Qaeda terrorist" story started to spread, Gonzalez took NBC reporter Rita Cosby (wearing a bulletproof vest) down to the Rio Grande at night. He was armed with a pistol and an AR-15. Along for the fun was Congressman Ted Poe, a Republican from Temple.

Gonzalez memorably told Cosby and her viewers that just on the other side of the river, drug lords were grinding up men and feeding the meat to dogs.

snip>

In August 2006, Gonzalez told Fox News' Sean Hannity that al-Qaeda members were learning Spanish in Mexico to blend in with undocumented immigrants and swim across the Rio Grande. Hannity drew that unsubstantiated fact out to its logical extension:

Hannity: Now, I just am speculating. You're the law-enforcement expert here. But if they're coming from al-Qaida-linked countries, or countries where we know al-Qaida is operating, if they're going through this enormous effort to learn Spanish, to blend into the community, and then being smuggled across, we've got to assume and believe that we're fairly certain that they're here to create terror cells in the United States and commit acts of terrorism. Wouldn't that be right?

Gonzalez: Well, that's correct. A lot of the things that we're seeing along the border are these people are being smuggled into the country with armed guards, bodyguards. Several persons have reported these people coming into the country with three or four individuals that are armed, bringing them into the country. A person looking for employment in the United States would not need to hire a coyote of that higher caliber to bring them into the country.

Gonzalez now heads the Southwest Border Sheriff's Coalition, which includes sheriffs from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. I catch up with him in late September at the coalition's conference in Yuma, Arizona, where he is serving as emcee. Asked about the claims he's made over the years regarding terrorists, Gonzalez says it came from "intelligence" he received as a law-enforcement officer. When I ask whether it is possible to see any, he says it can't be shared with non-law enforcement.

..........................................................

http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/boots-on-the-ground

http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/boots-on-the-ground .


Sigifredo GONZALEZ is a shill for Governor GOODHAIR, he who has fanned "secessionist" flames, who does the Shrub jig of TAWKIN' TOUGH, and like most Rethugs, hangs on to power by appealing to people's fears. It's like when Shrub took over with his "compassionate Conservatism" scam and funneled money into minority churches: There will always be those who will PROFIT from whatever the current process of funneling cash is, so there were, predictably, a slew of minority ministers signing on to do "faith based" counseling for drugs or whatever, replacing secular (PROFESSIONAL) social workers. So here you have this Sheriff Sigifredo GONZALEZ, head of the "Southwest Border Sheriffs' Coalition," meaning that he is gaining prominence/prestige and CASH, and therefore SPREADS INFLAMMATORY hysterical garbage to Sean HANNITY of Fox News and Rita COSBY before she was with Fox News, who LIVE by Right Wing inflammatory hysteria. He might really BELIEVE his own crap: SOMEbody has to, and therefore be the head of the "Southwest Border Sheriffs' Coalition."

Notice the other, reality based sheriff in the piece, Lupe TREVINO of Hidalgo County:

************QUOTE**********

Lupe Treviño, sheriff of Hidalgo County, is among the coalition members who say that the inflammatory rhetoric has brought the coalition and the border region nothing but a lot of headlines and bad publicity. "One of the things you have to be careful about is, if you are going to give your perspective and you want somebody to take you serious, you need to have your evidence, your statistics, to show that you aren't making this up and it is really happening," he says.

Treviño has also testified before Congress, offering a different take than Gonzalez or West on the border's vulnerabilities. He says most members of Congress assume he lives in a "battle zone." Few realize that his county, the second-most populous on the Texas border, was ranked as the state's fourth-safest last year.

Frustrated with misrepresentation of border realities, Treviño created an hour-long PowerPoint presentation called "Border Violence: Rhetoric vs. Reality." He makes his case at luncheons and to any audience that will listen. ....

*************UNQUOTE************

what are they gonna rob boaters of?

bait?
fish?
coolers full of ice and beer?
plaid shirts?
water skis and bikini tops?