Violence on the border?

You know, I wonder sometimes if the media has brainwashed me into believing that Mexico is violent, just like it has brainwashed the rest of the country into believing that this side of the border is violent?

I mean, we see the news every day; the gruesome deaths; the kidnappings; the shootouts. 

The violence in Mexico is out of control!

So, why do I have family and friends who live over there telling me otherwise?

From my own experiences in Mexico in the last few months, I know it's not safe.

I'd never experienced being in the middle of a shoot out until a few months ago when we went over there to visit family.  Then, almost everyday since then there was always a shootout nearby to where we were staying.

And if it wasn't a shootout, it was roadblocks, but not the kind of roadblocks that Nancy Davis experienced when she was fatal shot to death.

No, these were big rig trucks, or buses, that would block the road to prevent traffic from going through, mainly, I believe, to prevent the military from getting by, or maybe because the cartel wanted to ensure that innocent civilians didn't get caught in the cross fire?  Or maybe these were civilians who knew something was going to happen down that road and they wanted to protect others?

I don't know, but I do know that the day we were there when we got caught in the crossfire, we didn't know where the shooting was taking place.  When my mother-in-law went to go and grab a taxi to get us out of the danger zone, our taxi, unknowingly, started driving into the area where the shootout was taking place.  If it hadn't been for some very big-hearted civilians stopping us and telling us to turn around, we would have probably gone right into the heart of the shooting, but I washed in amazement at the courage of these 3 guys, who a while before had been standing there under the bridge selling roses, now they were jumping right in front of vehicles, risking their lives to make sure others were safe with theirs!

It might not have been much of a gesture to some.  There are people in this world who have done greater deeds and we go on to call them heroes, but to me, those 3 guys were heroes.  Any other day I would have looked at them and thought they were bums or druggies looking for drugs, but that day, I swear I could see a golden heart shining through their chest.  The moment will forever touch me at just how great some people can be, even for such a small gesture as making sure we don't drive straight into a shoot out.

And, so after that experience, it was kind of hard for me to function properly.

I was constantly expecting to hear gunshots start ringing out at unexpectedly, or for a stray bullet to hit me.

And while the site of soldiers, at first, was welcoming, they had been our first warning the day of the shootout.  Not to mention the warning from the taxi driver that picked us up before the shooting.

Before the shooting, we were standing outside a store eating snacks and getting ready to hitch a ride in a taxi.

As we were standing there, we saw a caravan of soldiers driving by.   I thought they were the good guys, and like I always do, I try to teach my children to show their respect and gratitude for their service by waving and smiling.  On this occasion, I wasn't going to do it because I had heard rumors that the soldiers were just as bad as the cartel, but my mother-in-law had been living there all her life, and I assumed she knew more about these things, so when she told my kids to wave at them, I joined them and encouraged my kids to do the same.

We hailed the taxi that was driving right behind the caravan of soldiers.  Immediately upon getting in the taxi driver got after us.

"Don't ever wave at the soldiers!  They are not our friends!  People have gotten killed for waving at them.  The soldiers are crazy!  You wave at them and they think you are spies for the Zetas!  The other day they killed a mother and her children for waving at them.  They thought they were spies!"

It was the worst feeling in the world to hear that!

And not for the reasons that you would think.

You see, before I waved at the soldiers, I had thought about the possibility that we might be seen waving at them by their enemy, and the enemy might not like it and might want to retaliate against us.

And while the taxi driver was telling us this, my husband was sending off his own dire warnings to the taxi cab driver.

"You just don't know who to trust anymore.  I hear that the Zeta's have now taken control of the taxi's as well.  What a better way to keep an eye on the military, especially because not only do they get to travel around undercover, but they also learn from what people say when they hitch a ride.  Hey, don't I know you?  You look familiar.  I've seen you before!"

At this moment, the taxi driver gets nervous and tells us that he cannot continue giving us a ride.  We must get off!

"The military saw you guys getting in the ride with me!  They will retaliate against you guys and I don't want to be caught in the crossfire!  I cannot go any further.  Please get off!   You don't have to pay me, just get off!"

And with that, he was gone.

About 10 minutes later the shootings started.

Oddly enough, after we had hitched a ride and almost drove right back into the shooting, I saw the taxi driver again in front of us doing a turn around where those 3 guys were blocking traffic.  It was the most harrowing moments in my life because as the taxi driver was backing up to turn around, he had been looking back to make sure not to hit the car behind him, and for a brief moment, he looked up and our eyes locked.  There was recognition and I fervently prayed that he would overlook our ignorance and just leave us alone.

Maybe it was his past friendship with my in-laws, or maybe he just realized we were ignorant to the going on's of the cartel, but he never bothered us again, thankfully, but one thing was for sure, that taxi driver was working for someone, and his hate for the military only made it clear that he was working for the cartel!

So not knowing made it all the worse.  Not knowing who you were dealing with, or not knowing if something as innocent as waving might result in a violent reaction, all of it, scared me. 

I was not comfortable and I wanted to go home to safety!

And the day that we got to the Mexican side of the border, there were soldiers there at the bus stop.

The sight of soldiers quickly became one that was not welcoming, not because of whether or not they were the good guys.  That I'll never know, but because the sight of them meant that they were looking for someone in the vicinity, and it could be at any moment that a full fledged war could erupt.

To make matters worse, the moment we got there, the soldiers started acting all antsy.  It looked like something had happened and they were getting prepared for a fight.  We did not want to get caught in the middle of it, and we definitely didn't want to wait to see what happened, so as quickly as we could, we dashed across the bridge never looking back!

That was months ago.

Since then, important members of the cartel have either been killed or captured.

The result of that has led the dying cartel to take extreme measures.  In my opinion, the way they want to win is to scare their opponent away by making the death of their enemy as disgustingly horrible as possible, and making sure the world sees it so they can back away.

The reality of what goes on over there, I may never know.

What I do know is that recently family and friends who live over there are surprised when I say we can't go visit them because of the violence.

They don't see it like we do.

And it made me wonder.

Have I fallen victim to the lies of the media?

It didn't occur to me just because.

What happened is that I was doing research and wanted to capture a video from Roma, Texas looking out into Mexico.

The thing was that the Sheriff of Zapata had just recently told the nation that people in Starr County were living in fear and that one home there had been hit by a stray bullet from Mexico.

This was surprising to hear considering that most of the drug wars that occur on the border towns in Mexico, either happen in the city or at it's entrance coming in from deeper Mexico.  Rarely do they occur near the river, and I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I was just wondering how that could be possible in Starr County?

I mean, most of the cities/towns in Mexico that border Starr County are deeper in and away from the cities on this side.  Usually, when you stand on this side and look out into Mexico, all you see is either farm land or forest, so the chances of a house on this side getting hit by a stray bullet from a battle between the cartel are almost non-existent. 

However, there was one place where this might be possible, but I didn't see how, and that was Roma, Texas.

The Mexican town across from Roma, Texas is Ciudad Miguel Aleman, and the two border cities are almost touching each other had it not been for a river standing between them.

However, Roma sits on a hill overlooking Miguel Aleman, so I had to wonder about those stray bullets, and so I went out there to scope the place out to see if it was possible for a stray bullet to hit a building on this side, and I came to the conclusion that it was possible, but it would have to be coming from a very lousy shooter, or intentionally, neither of which I believe happened.

But to my surprise, when I reached Roma Bluffs and looked out into Mexico, I wasn't expecting to see people down by the river having a good time.

I had expected to see a grim looking city with few people out, and believe me, you can still see a little of the grimness in this video I captured:

To be honest, I don't know if I'm being sarcastic with that last comment.  The city in the backdrop does look dead and grim, but these people obviously don't really care, and believe it or not, some of the people down there by the river are American.

If it is so dangerous over there, what are they doing out like this in plain site?

That was the question that kept rolling through my mind, and let me make it clear that I in no way am saying it is safe to go to Mexico.  The video was meant to capture the safety on this side, but it did make me wonder if maybe, just maybe, I had fallen victim to the lies of the media.

What if it's not that bad across the border?

Sure, we have blogs like "El Blod del Narco" and "Borderland Beats" that talk about the gruesome happenings in places like Reynosa, et al., but that's what they are focused on.

Imagine if someone were to focus on all the crimes happening in the U.S.A.?  I bet you it would make us look like such a dangerous place, but the difference is that crime in Mexico has taken a gruesome turn with the beheadings and dismemberments, making the crimes look more serious, which they are, but it shifts the focus away from the reason for the crime.

Let me see if I can make my point clear:

Imagine for a moment that the gangs in our neighborhoods decided to fight each other like the cartel is doing in Mexico.

Imagine that, instead of just shooting each other, they are now focusing on making sure to scare off their rivals by making sure that once they capture the enemy, they make sure he suffers the most gruesome of deaths, by mutilating their bodies, etc.

Imagine if that were to happen. the reasons for the crime are the same.  It is gang against gang.  The crime being committed is between them, and along the way, they might murder someone because of mistaken identity, or they might kidnap a family member of the rival to get them to submit, or they might start fighting in public and hurt someone innocent unintentionally because of stray bullets.

The result would be that this was gang related violence.

Some neighborhoods hear about this gang related violence more than others, but for the most part, we are safe.  And when we hear about gang related violence, we mainly think that it is between gangs, and the only way a gang will hurt you intentionally is if you are a member of their rival's gang.  Or if you snitch on them, or try to walk away from gang life, etc.

Much the same is happening in Mexico, and I hope I'm making my point clear.

It's not that I'm trying to excuse any behavior, because I know I've been accused of that a lot, but rather, I'm trying to break it down to my point of view on things.  Is it really that dangerous in Mexico?

I don't know, to be honest with you.

From my experience, it was dangerous over there, but what about now?

We don't live there to know for sure, and several sources tell me I'm letting the media play with my head, and with this video I just recently recorded, it does make me wonder...

Have I fallen victim to the lies of the media?  Am I viewing Mexico like people up north view the Texas border?

I'm starting to think I am...what do you think?