TERROR REIGNS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE RIVER

By Juan Montoya
This weekend residents on both sides of the border were reminded that the horrors of northern Mexico and Tamaulipas are very much present among us.
In one case, the encounter with the horror proved fatal to two men on the Mexican side of the river. In the other, the potential victim was spared his life but the families involved now exist in deep trepidation not knowing whether more is to follow.

The first involved Mexican civil engineer and businessman Fernando Lugo Nieto and an unidentified fellow worker on contract with the FINSA group in Matamoros. Lugo and his companion were abducted at gunpoint a week ago and and whisked away by armed men and held for a $50,000 in Mexican pesos ransom since early week. The ransom was dutifully paid and on Saturday their bodies were found floating in a sewage canal along La Avenida de los Niños in Matamoros with gunshot wounds to the head. In one fell swoop, years of study and dedication to honest work were wiped out by armed thugs who hold the lives of the local populace at their whim.
Despite the outpouring of protest and angst created by the senseless violence of the horrendous crime, it is doubtful those responsible will be brought to justice. That has become the way of life here.
Also this weekend, on this side of the Rio Grande, a group of friends – mostly St. Joseph Academy alumni – were having a get together at a home in the upper-middle class Land O'Lakes neighborhood when one, Guillermo Rico Jr., was leaving when he was accosted by a three armed me who alighted from a passing car.
The young Rico was taken at gunpoint and dispossessed of his cell phone, some $50 in cash, and then taken away by the group.
A few hours later, he called home to let his parents know he had been dropped off in rural Los Fresnos much the worse for wear.
While he was in the hands of the armed group, it is unknown what kind of personal information was elicited from his captors for future criminal acts.
The brazen kidnapping of a young man in a supposedly safe neighborhood, in a respectable home, and surrounded by blocks full of watchful neighbors have given many resident room for pause. Rico happens to be related through marriage to Cameron County Carlos Cascos (his sister is married to a Rico) and he is a nephew of University of Texas President at Brownsville Julieta Garcia whose daughter is married to German Rico, marketing agent for the Port of Brownsville, although he is said not be German's son.

Who were the armed men and what do they have in mind in the future for young Rico of his family? Some speculate they were mere thugs from a gang in San Benito. Others say they were members of a Mexican cartel casing out potential targets for future criminal activity. Either way, the uncertainty of their motives remains unclear. Was this merely a random kidnapping in a respectable neighborhood? Or was it a deliberate act meant to instill fear into their victim?
The terror for Lugo and his companion in Matamoros are fatally over, but the lingering fear that must be in the minds of the kidnapping Rico may not be over until the perpetrators are finally brought to justice and their motives discovered.
In both cases, these acts on either side of the Rio Grande show that the river is no longer a deterrence for terror and that the thugs are active on both sides of the border.