WITH DA MAYOR AS HER "GUARURA" LETY IN CHARRO PARADE

By Juan Montoya
What a difference a year makes.
Last year, in the wake of the death of three U.S. citizens and a Mexican national in Progreso, attention focused on Matamoros Mayor Lety Salazar's personal military force known as El Grupo Hercules.
The victims' mother charged that her children had been arrested, shot and their bodies dumped on the side of a rural road. Eyewitnesses came forward and said that they were last seen in the custody of the paramilitary group. And their cars were found in an impound lot belonging to Luis Bioasi, a former director of development under Salazar.
Calls by U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives that Mexico solve this crime have gone unheeded, as has the mother's calls for justice and that the Matamoros mayor be called to accou8nt for the acts of her paramilitary force.
Last year, the mother stood with a banner calling her an assassin as Salazar made her way down Elizabeth Street in the International Parade. The banner (see blow) was printed with red-blood letters and stunned Salazar when she was confronted.
This year, in the name of international good will, we assume, Salazar had her own personal bodyguard consisting of Brownsville mayor Tony Martinez surrounded by a beefy force of Brownsville Police.
Compared to the scene below, things have indeed changed. The death of the three siblings remains unsolved. Biasi is no longer in Matamoros government. And apparently, Mata's mayor enjoys the friendship (and protection) on our Browntown Mayor.