Forums > General > Traveling Mexico

Rolly

Jan 24, 2011, 10:54 AM

Post #1 of 13 (7924 views)

Shortcut

Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

Borderland Beat is reporting considerable gang violence on highway 57 between Matehuala and San Luis Potosi, as well as in the city of SLP.

"Confrontation between gunmen and federal police officers and Mexican army troops on Friday, January 21 resulted in at least 8 deaths including six criminals, one kidnapping victim and one federal police officer.
At least four criminals were captured by the army and several vehicles seized. There were at least two shootouts on national highway 57 between San Luis Potosi and the city of Matehuala as well as seizures of weapons and vehicles at various checkpoints between both cities."

There is much more, and it's all bad.

Rolly Pirate

Reefhound

Jan 24, 2011, 11:23 AM

Post #2 of 13 (7908 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Rolly] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

That is disturbing. I had always considered Mx57 (south of Saltillo) to be pretty safe. Not that a single outburst changes that but this is a very major corridor. I had not heard of much happening in SLP (the city) and figured it was maybe spared so far. Can anybody support or refute what BB said is going on silently in SLP?

Brian

Jan 24, 2011, 11:50 AM

Post #3 of 13 (7894 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Reefhound] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

Of course it is purely anecdotal, but a participant in an ESL group in Austin recently told me that her parents who live near the Gogorron hot springs in SLP have been extorted and threatened by Zetas whom, she says, control the area. Her children long to visit their grandparents but she is adamant that it is not safe to do so. As the BB article mentions, not all that is going on is reported in the newspapers. But for the local Mexicans, it's " un secreto a voces".

chinagringo

Jan 24, 2011, 12:00 PM

Post #4 of 13 (7890 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Reefhound] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

During a period when I was watching the news out of various sections of MX, I did run across a few news reports out of the SLP area. It just so happened that I had a friend travel through there in Oct. and ran across an article detailing what happened on 10/24. Here is a direct quote from a news report that I included in an email to my friend on 10/25:
"Troops and gunmen clashed in the historic center of the city of San Luis Potosi, killing at least ten detainees the early hours of Sunday, on Avenida Carranza, including the stretch of Bolivar and Independence Streets, where military forces were conducting a surveillance Rondin and encountered three armed men who manned trucks."
Sorry but I didn't include a link in my email which have told me where I located the article.

The newspapers in the area appear to be a bit lame with probably the best being:
http://www.oem.com.mx/...anluis/justicia.aspx
Regards,
Neil
Albuquerque, NM

robt65

Jan 24, 2011, 1:24 PM

Post #5 of 13 (7866 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Reefhound] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

Support - It has been in the newspaper "Sol de San Juan" and on www.blogdelnarco.com also on one of the Mexican news channels. Why do these things seem to happen just as I am headed that way? Now I am going to Texas again for some additional eye & residual limb surgery on Saturday and again the dust is stirring. Oh well! I'll let you all know which way I will be going and how it was AFTER I get there. Again a dive for the beans and hoping to miss the "black one".

robt65

Brian

Jan 24, 2011, 2:49 PM

Post #6 of 13 (7846 views)

Shortcut

Re: [robt65] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

True. The Entronque de Huizache is the crossroad where folks choose to head east to Reynosa/Matamoros (free road) or continue north on 57 towards Monterrey/Laredo. The scenery in the movie "El Infierno" seemed familiar to me since I have passed there so often. It could have been filmed just as easily in Caborca, Sinaloa, another desert community taken over by the cartels. My standard rule of thumb was to always try to avoid towns about which a narco-corrido has been written. It seems to be getting harder with the passage of time.

bfwpdx

Jan 24, 2011, 3:44 PM

Post #7 of 13 (7810 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Brian] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

Don't you mean Caborca, SONORA?

Guavagto

Jan 24, 2011, 3:45 PM

Post #8 of 13 (7808 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Brian] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

I saw this information this morning and went sort of wild trying to find more info.

We have driven this route to the border about 4 times a year for the last 10 years.

I knew there was trouble in SLP and heard about the bodies being dumped along highway 57 coming from the South in the last week or so.

Even after the area around Monterrey etc. exploded I felt safe on 57 untill we passed Saltillo going North or South.

I patched together what happened in the Chapala area and what group seemed to be involved.

Every morning I seem to spend hours trying to put the last couple of days action together.

Brian

Jan 24, 2011, 3:57 PM

Post #9 of 13 (7803 views)

Shortcut

Re: [bfwpdx] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

In Reply To

Don't you mean Caborca, SONORA?

Yep, thanks.

Altahabana

Jan 24, 2011, 3:58 PM

Post #10 of 13 (7801 views)

Shortcut

Re: [chinagringo] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

Most incidents don't make the news--ironic since the mantra on many Mexican forums is that cartel activities are exaggerated and/or sensationalized by the media. The international press only picks up the most notorious incidents and local papers are openly intimidated by the cartels, especially by the Zetas. In Nuevo Laredo, the Zs not only tell the papers what they can't report, but actually order them to write certain stories---most notably two message/retaliation atrocities (the bodies at the bull ring and the decapitation of the woman who ratted out a group of them during the October balacera).

I was in Reynosa yesterday afternoon (2:45 p.m.) visiting some business associates and while we were returning from a restaurant we had an unsettling experience. Two SUVs full of sicarios brandishing assault weapons outside their vehicles passed us on Miguel Hidalgo weaving in and out of traffic at high speed. About a minute later three heavily armed army humvees passed us obviously in pursuit. There were reports in the Reforma Rojo forum of balaceras, but no public acknowledgement of an incident (samples below). The SUVs were heading toward el centro not far from the exit to La Rivereña (the infamous Hwy 2).

23 Ene
14:55 hrs. Hay balacera por Boulevard Hidalgo. vivos
23 Ene
14:57 hrs. balacera para la rivereña

I see trucks with armed men occasionally in Nuevo Laredo, but this was the first time I have seen mala gente being chased by the military. That is the situation that could result in being in the proverbial wrong place at wrong time. It's incidents like yesterday that cause me to respond contemptuously at times to posters who think the cartel problem is exaggerated because they haven't personally seen anything during their travels along the highways.

(This post was edited by Altahabana on Jan 24, 2011, 4:08 PM)

robt65

Jan 24, 2011, 7:49 PM

Post #11 of 13 (7751 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Altahabana] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

I personally agree with altahabana. Just think if the military was getting too close to the bad guys what a neat roadblock a couple of rounds from those assult weapons would make after hitting about two or three cars with family's on their way to grandma's house for a picnic, or a few folks coming back from a business meeting. It doesn't take many rounds folks.

robt65

mensamia

Jan 31, 2011, 6:33 PM

Post #12 of 13 (7416 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Rolly] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

My experience. I was in SLP in mid-December, 2010, driving on 57 to the airport and thinking how great it was to be in a safe area of Mexico. While waiting for the early morning connecting flight to Mexico City I spoke with a middle class Mexican couple in their early 60's who spoke enough English to tell me their story. He owned a small business in SLP, she was a housewife. They were returning to Austin Texas where they had moved because they were afraid to live in SLP. I said that I thought the SLP area was not part of the crime wave. They smiled sadly at my naivité and described how they had been victims of phone extortion and threats. Fearing kidnapping and death, they fled their homes with their children in the middle of the night in 2009. They said they felt more comfortable in Austin but were very afraid for their family members back in SLP. When they visit their relatives who remain in SLP, they give no notice of their visit and only stay for a few hours. They said so many people they once trusted are now employed by the criminals and would report their whereabouts if they knew they were visiting. What a way to live, and these are Mexicans, not involved with the drug trade and not rich. Just middle class and terrified.

Brian

Feb 18, 2011, 4:45 AM

Post #13 of 13 (6817 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mensamia] Gun battles on highway 57 and SLP

Can't Post | Private Reply

A new warden's message has been issued for travelers in the area where the two US agents were attacked on Hwy 57. I think it is likely that there will be armed confrontations between the Feds and the Zetas and travelers to San Miguel would be wise to either fly to and from the USA or take a more western route in the immediate future. The Zetas have stirred up a hornets nest. Pardon the pun, but heads will definitely roll following this desmadre within their ranks.

http://correo-gto.com.mx/notas.asp?id=210430