MEXICO MUZZLES MEDIA; HERALD REMAINS SILENT

By Juan Montoya

The listeners of "La Voz" (990 AM) in Dallas heard about the Thursday shootout in Valle Hermoso between rival gangs of narcos last Saturday.
The announcers had a live telephone caller from that city tell of how the Mexican marines came into town in force and tried to disarm everyone they could find. Then, less than an hour after they left, a convoy of 40 to 50 SUVs and late-model pickup trucks rolled into town and the shooting began between the two rival drug-gang soldiers.The caller said that scores of dead were lying on the main streets of that city located in northeastern Tamaulipas with a population of 47,696 inhabitants about 35 miles south of Matamoros.
A Brownsville business woman who runs a beauty salon and spa confirmed that report and said the city was closed up by the military and state and federal police after the inferno and no one dared walk the streets.
"There were bodies lying in pools of blood on the main streets," said one of her workers. "We haven't been able to open for business since because everybody is afraid."
The owner, A Brownsville resident, says she might close her business there as a result.
And yet, if border residents on either side of the border (Matamoros and Brownsville), read their newspaper, there is absolutely no mention of the fatalities or the role of the military in this gruesome shootout.

El Bravo and El Manana instead bannered government-paid articles featuring the governor of Tamaulipas Eugenio Hernandez Flores assuring the people that these were only rumors from unknown quarters seeking to tarnish the good name of Tamaulipas and its peaceful inhabitants.
"They want to create a psychosis of fear," he charged as he toured beleaguered Reynosa and Rio Bravo upriver from Matamoros surrounded by a heavy security contingent.
Yet, even the U.S. Department of State couldn't ignore the danger.
In a travel advisory listed on the Matamoros, Reynosa and Valle Hermoso travel agencies' web sites, the advisory read:
"Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades. Large firefights have taken place in towns and cities across Mexico, but occur mostly in northern Mexico, including Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, Chihuahua City, Nogales, Matamoros, Reynosa and Monterrey."
And while the governor and the mayors continue to gear up the public relations machine, the Mexican Secretariat of Security quietly issued an advisory of its own, but this time it was to selected small businessmen and citizens.
(For full contents ofthe advisory in Spanish, see El RrunRrun posting "What to do if you're stopped in Mexico published 2-26-10.)
The advisory is a frightening document that basically tells the citizenry that they should just let the government security forces, the military and the cartel and Maña operatives do what they want. In other words, don't resist.
"EL QUE NADA DEBE NADA TEME," (He who has nothing to hide, has nothing to fear) the flyer starts. This is an important announcement derived from the violent confrontations between federal forces and groups of organized crime in this state.
It then goes on to instruct the citizens on how to behave if approached by the military and armed groups (sicarios) and what to do if you get caught up in a gun battle between armed groups (sicarios and sicarios, or sicarios and the military or security forces).
Among the warnings is one not to venture out after dark, carry only the necessary items in your car, and to place your hands on the dashboard of your car and switch on the interior light so they can see you are not dangerous.
"No one goes out anymore after dark," said a recipient of one of the government flyers. "We only go out if it's absolutely necessary."
The situation is so dangerous, that a family with a flourishing bakery business had to shut its panaderias and move them to Brownsville.
"They (La Maña") were shaking us down every week to the point where we were just working for them," he said. "The entire city is permeated with their operatives. If one of their operatives sees that you got a new truck, they come to see you and ask you for the keys. There's nothing you can do."
There apparently is no recourse for the average citizen because these victims say the organization is an umbrella group made up of police, state, cartel, and criminal elements all working together.
Frustrated, the family has already bought a home in Brownsville and is closing their restaurants in Matamoros. They plan to start a small business in Brownsville.
"We hope that this situation will be resolved soon," the flyer continues. "But while this persists, stay informed and be alert at all times. Don't expose yourself or expose third parties. Please share this information with your personnel that does not have access to E-mail. Your security is very important to us. Please follow the recommendations and remember that WE NEED YOU in your home and at your work. If you know of someone who is involved directly or indirectly with organized crime, don't hesitate to report them anonymously at 089. It is your civil duty if you want your city to recover its security and that your children live in peace. If you don't report them, you become an accomplice to delinquency."