[Sixstrings]

Police: Cartel claims they have kidnapped Border Patrol agent

A person claiming to be a member of a cartel said they have kidnapped a border agent and threatened the agent's life, according to police.

Border Patrol is making contact with all personnel in the Rio Grande Valley sector at this time.

They have now confirmed that all agents working the day of the threat have been accounted for.

Now, they are working to verify all those off-duty at the time of the threat are safe.

The caller dialed 9-1-1 yesterday and said they have kidnapped a Border Patrol agent, La Joya Police Chief Geovanni Hernandez confirms.

The La Joya Police Department contacted Border Patrol and the FBI, Hernandez said.

A Border Patrol spokesperson did not confirm the threat, but they did confirm the agency is doing an accountability check of all agents stationed in the RGV sector.

Right now there are more than 3,000 Border Patrol Agents stationed in the Rio Grande Valley.

Action 4 News will continue to follow this story.

Check back for updates.

Statement from Border Patrol:

As of 10 am local time all on duty RGV sector agents have been accounted for. At this time RGV sector has not been able to corroborate the authenticity of the phone call received by the La Joya Police Department. Nevertheless through an abundance of caution the sector continues to pursue existing protocols to account for all RGV sector agents. The sector is also communicating with the CBP office of internal affairs, FBI, the La Joya PD and the government of Mexico regarding the original call. The sector employs approximately 3100 agents.
http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=1141227#.VJ2P2ADE8

We'll have to see where this goes, shouldn't take long to figure out if all agents are accounted for or not.

Generally, the cartel problem has been brewing for a long time now. If they really do start kidnapping border agents, and start doing in US border towns what they do in Mexico, then obviously that can't be tolerated.

That would be a time for some gunboat foreign policy and move the army into mexico and clean that place up. We cannot allow contagion into the US and for the USA to be like Mexico with cartels doing kidnappings and assassinating proesecutors and all the bribery of police and government.

And when I say contagion I'm not talking about immigrants, I'm talking about how things are done in Mexico and they are trying to bring that here and it cannot be allowed.

[BobInget]

I knew it. Eventually someone would notice. Mexico is at war, with itself.
Most Americans, unlike any Canadian provence, actually know how to find Mexico on a map. This makes invasion simpler. There are Greyhound Buses leaving LA bound for Mexico hourly, for any of you Irish Catholics who feel the need to take action, rat now.

Since the US is already at war in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, soon Venezuela,
Mexico is a next logical place to invade. Looking into it but i'm fairly certain,
Mexico is closer, easier to locate than any of those other 'foreign' places.

This is the first time in centuries US (and Canadian) Catholics boys can make difference. Why should Muslims have all the excitement in Syria and Iraq?

If Mexican gangs walked off with one of our Wall Monitors, I, like six strings,
say 'go get em boys'!

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Sixstrings

That would be a time for some gunboat foreign policy and move the army into mexico and clean that place up.

American arrogance at its finest.

Cheers.

[basil_hayden]

Yair . . . Sixstrings

That would be a time for some gunboat foreign policy and move the army into mexico and clean that place up.

American arrogance at its finest.

Cheers.

No dookey, I'm still waiting for THEM to clean up a city HERE nevermind a country down THERE.

[Sixstrings]

Since the US is already at war in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, soon Venezuela,
Mexico is a next logical place to invade. Looking into it but i'm fairly certain,
Mexico is closer, easier to locate than any of those other 'foreign' places.

This is the kind of issue that people in Texas will start to get really up in arms about, as it gets worse, whereas the rest of the country really doesn't care enough about it to get worked up.

What's needed though is leadership, and somebody looking out for this country.

The USA has had to intervene militarily in Mexico before, in the past. That's what the marine corps anthem is about, "from the halls of montezuma to the shores of tripoli."

I'm not drumbeating for war in Mexico, but, I am just saying, I SEE WHERE THIS THING IS HEADED and we have been so sloppy with that border and we have so much ignored foreign policy with mexico that IT IS GOING to develop into a real national security problem for us.

This is not like the middle east, or Russia, or anything else, this one is right on our border and spilling over our border. This one threatens to turn US into a banana republic like mexico is, if we don't do anything about it, and we too will have to live with government bribed by cartels. And cartels doing political assassinations, and we'll have all the horrors here that mexico has in it right now.

You can't tell me that's not concerning or that I'm a nazi fascist for being concerned about it.

The Eagle has two claws, in one are olive branches and in the other are arrows, and it looks to the olive branches first but is ready to turn on a dime and do what needs done when it is necessary.

I honestly think it's going to get to the point, with Mexico. Their entire government is now corrupt through and through, by the cartels. If their domestic MESS spills over OUR BORDER then there will be no choice but to go in there militarily and reshape the Mexican government and get the cartels out of it, it's the only way, they won't be able to do it themselves at this point.

Obviously Mexico is not our enemy and we just need to pay more attention and their government would voluntarily work with US forces to get things there under control.

The cartel corruption though is a bad problem, I don't know how that can be addressed other than CIA ops and such. Mexico DEFINITELY needs a lot more foreign policy attention, it's evolving into a national security threat.

Things aren't quite there yet, but it's getting there, so I'm just sayin' is all. The US gov will have to start doing something if it gets worse, it's fine to wait a bit longer before doing "the halls of montezuma," we aren't actually nazis just looking to take something, we only defend ourselves.

[Sixstrings]

Yair . . . Sixstrings

That would be a time for some gunboat foreign policy and move the army into mexico and clean that place up.

American arrogance at its finest.

Cheers.

No dookey, I'm still waiting for THEM to clean up a city HERE nevermind a country down THERE.

Maybe cities HERE are a mess and have not been cleaned up, because Mexico over THERE walked across the border HERE and filled the cities up HERE.

I have zero issues with latino immigrants -- but I DO NOT WANT TO SEE what goes on in Mexico to BECOME THE NORM in the United States. For Crying out loud. Their cartel corruption and cartel wars are spilling over the border. It's a foreign problem from another nation, on our border, you either ignore it and go down with the ship with them and we look like a piss pot poor 3rd world mess with cartels kidnapping people, or you do something about it.

Things are not quite there yet, but when the next president says we have to do something about it, I'll agree -- I don't live in Texas, but it would just spread to the rest of the US, you cannot accept this we cannot have this here in the USA.

P.S. I only get angry about these things because I hate being right, this thing has been brewing for a long time, it's very clear where it is headed to. So that's why I'm mad, that the Obama admin and congress is not out in front on this and it will just continue to get worse.

As it does get worse, it's going to affect Texas the most at first. There's certainly a lot Texas voters could do to force their state gov to start doing something, even if the federal gov continues to ignore it.

[Withnail]

That would be a time for some gunboat foreign policy and move the army into mexico and clean that place up.

Too late for that. You'd have a Mexican rebellion on your hands in the US if you attacked Mexico.

America's power is waning. Its options are limited.

[Sixstrings]

Too late for that. You'd have a Mexican rebellion on your hands in the US if you attacked Mexico.

You don't know the US, it's not like that. Even the Mexicans in Mexico don't like the cartel situation either or their government, so you're not going to have any Mexican Americans rebelling to support the mess that's in Mexico for crying out loud -- that's why they came HERE in the first place, to get away from THERE.

Unfortunately though, so much Mexican population has transferred en masse that the cartel system is now following along with them, and that's the problem.

And we have elections in this country that are fair and there's rule of law so there's no excuse for armed rebellion anyway, any rebellions will be put down.

America's power is waning. Its options are limited.

You're incorrect, sir. The Mexican government is all bribed and / or weak, but the US gov is not -- once it has strong leadership again.

Seriously man, Americans will not tolerate this, we will not have our South turn into Mexico -- it's not about their language or skin color, what I'm talking about is the cartel system and that will not be allowed.

And if we do allow it, then we truly are fools. It will be the same as ceding away our country, just gone forever, there will be a Old Mexico and Nuevo Mexico and both will be a mess if we don't do something about it.

And the US isn't weak. It spends more on military than the rest of the world combined. It has the best military there has ever been, in history. Best navy, most advanced systems, best special ops.

[Sixstrings]

There's a possibility here that kidnapper could be a nutcase, and there was no kidnapping, except for the fact that authorities believe the man is cartel for sure.

What they have to do is account for every border agent, and that's a lot of people and state authorities too. Really there should be some system to account for personnel quickly, one would think -- use text messages on peoples phones, something.

Texas investigating claim that Mexican cartel kidnapped Border Patrol agent

The man called back eight more times on Christmas, Hernandez said, repeatedly cursing at and threatening dispatchers in Spanish.

The man mentioned a Border Patrol agent on the ninth and final call.

In a voice recording released by La Joya police, a man’s voice is heard speaking in Spanish, saying he has a Border Patrol agent.

Hernandez says he believes the man’s claimed affiliation with a cartel, which authorities are not identifying, is legitimate, but Border Patrol officials say they are still trying to authenticate the kidnapping claim.

Oscar Zamora, a Border Patrol spokesman, says the agency is reaching out to more than 3,000 agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector, which includes La Joya, “out of an abundance of caution." Zamora says the agency has accounted for all on-duty agents, but officials are still trying to confirm the whereabouts of all off-duty agents, a task that has proved challenging with many of the agents off for the holidays.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-texas-border-patrol-threat-20141226-story.html

And just to walk back from being over the top about this, all I am saying is:

1) You all know all the news that's come out of Mexico for a few years now, and what a mess it is

2) If you start seeing news in Texas looking just like the news in Mexico, then I'm sorry the US gov will have to do something about it

That can mean several different things other than "halls of montezuma." Here's what would need to be done:

1. Finally get serious about the border and securing it
2. "with us or against us" conversation with Mexican government. They've cooperated before and allowed some US military in to help with the cartels. They will have to agree to that assistance again.
3. If the Mexican government is hopelessly corrupted by the cartels, then I don't know what you can do about that, other than CIA ops and ultimately regime change if things get that bad.

Do you guys understand the situation, generally? That Texas is starting to get the same cartel stuff that Mexico has?

And that the government in Mexico can't fight the cartels, because they are either intimidated or have been bribed?

This is what cannot be allowed to spread to the US:

Third priest is killed in southern Mexico during a series of abductions and attacks against Roman Catholic clerics
Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta was found dead of a gunshot would to the head in Guerrero state, Mexico
He is the third Catholic priest to be killed in this region this year
The motive for his killing is not clear
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2887766/Kidnapped-priest-Mexico-dead.html

[SeaGypsy]

How naive are you really 6? The cartel system has been operating in the USA for more than a while, I guess you may have seen the Godfather movies? Do you think Hollywood just made that stuff up?

In a similar time frame mafia/ cartel activity crackdown has been the trend in the first world, it has thrived in the developing countries. Anywhere the main source of income is in contraband will be a population ripe for gangsterism. For as long as the USG keeps up the absurdity known as the war on drugs, these populations will keep producing & marketing contraband at massive markups, with a scale of profit worth dying or killing for.

I don't believe there is any aggression based solution to the Mexican situation, the soldiers of the cartels being run of the mill community members, an overwhelming military confrontation would see these forces simply melt & fade into the backdrop; re-emerging as soon as the coast clears.

There are two huge intractable issues here, drug profits & movement of people. No government or likely government in the USA is about to admit the war on drugs is a trillion dollar failure which cannot win. No government has a realistic solution to the human trafficking issues on the border. The more crackdown on either, the more profits to those able to exploit holes in the system.

Have a look at the maps of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, compare the area dominated by IS or the Taliban, with the areas of Mexico dominated by drug cartel militia. The latter covers areas many times larger. The logistics of trying to secure these regions are fundamentally impossible.

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . .

an overwhelming military confrontation would see these forces simply melt & fade into the backdrop; re-emerging as soon as the coast clears.

Well put SeaGypsy. There seems to be a blind spot in the thinking of the military and special forces types . . . and it washes off on folks like Sixstrings.

They can't get it through their thick heads that fighting insurgents and cartels is impossible and all the training and hardware is useless to the extent that we have what, hundred million dollar aircraft? . . . expending fifty thousand dollar munitions to take out clapped out Toyotas and the like.

Cheers.

[Withnail]

Seriously man, Americans will not tolerate this, we will not have our South turn into Mexico -- it's not about their language or skin color, what I'm talking about is the cartel system and that will not be allowed.

The South West USA already is Mexico.

[Sixstrings]

How naive are you really 6? The cartel system has been operating in the USA for more than a while, I guess you may have seen the Godfather movies? Do you think Hollywood just made that stuff up?

Seagypsy.

You do not understand.

You do not know what's been going on in Mexico. The kidnappings, the murders of people. The cartels have much of the government directly on their payroll. Those not bribed are intimidated.

That's what I mean by "the cartel system," it's just a bunch of Nicaragua 3rd world crap going on in Mexico and it's way out of control with full on cartel wars for years now -- and it has now spread into Texas, that is my point.

The cartels had the GALL to put up a "take the silver or take the lead" billboard in Texas. It was a message to cops to take their bribes or else. It's really crazy stuff, we cannot allow it in the US, and Australia wouldn't tolerate it either.

[Sixstrings]

Protests against the cartel murder of 43 students continue. Protesters blame the government for it, a government and military that is controlled by the drug cartels murdering and kidnapping, beheading, warring and running amok:

‘Here are the murderers’: Mexico protesters storm & graffiti military base

Protesters in Mexico, marking three months since the disappearance of 43 students, have turned their anger on a military base in the city of Iguala. They knocked down a door at the facility and left its walls covered in graffiti.

READ MORE: Mexico feds directly involved in student massacre, witness torture – independent probe

Protesters threw petrol bombs, fireworks and stones at the facilities of the 41st Infantry Battalion of the Mexican Army on Friday, La Prensa reported.
http://rt.com/news/218047-mexico-protests-iguala-base/

Mexicans in Mexico have HAD IT with their drug cartel-owned government.

If this crap spreads more into the US, then it really may be necessary for the USA to regime change and throw the whole government out of Mexico and start fresh, there may be no other way to get rid of the cartel-controlled -- they are mostly all on the cartel payroll now, they've all gotta go.

Liberal left wing in Mexico is the most corrupt, and most controlled by the drug cartels:

Mexico crisis engulfs major institutions but hits the left hardest

When a president is in crisis, it is usually a propitious time for political opponents to pounce. But in Mexico, the controversies, failings and crisis of confidence engulfing President Enrique Peña Nieto have tarred not just his 2-year-old administration but the entire political establishment.

No party has emerged unscathed, nor barely an institution, including universities and the traditionally respected military. The attitude is a general pox on all their houses.

And no political realm has suffered more than the left, some of whose politicians have been exposed as corrupt and in cahoots with drug traffickers. The mayor in Guerrero state who is accused of having ordered the police attack that led to the likely slaying of 43 college students hailed from the main leftist party, the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD.

And so did the now-disgraced governor of the state, who is believed to have turned a blind eye to the collusion of local politicians with drug traffickers and has been forced to resign.

That goes a long way in explaining why the left has not been able to capitalize on the unrest and widespread protests against Peña Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, government, even though public demonstrations have been filled with revolutionary slogans and the kinds of demands for justice favored by the left.
http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-left-20141227-story.html

[Sixstrings]

They can't get it through their thick heads that fighting insurgents and cartels is impossible and all the training and hardware is useless to the extent that we have what, hundred million dollar aircraft? . . . expending fifty thousand dollar munitions to take out clapped out Toyotas and the like.

That's not true that there is nothing to be done, for starters the border could be sealed tight -- for real, this time. Put the military on the border.

And start doing deportations. Stop allowing millions of illegal immigrants in -- IT'S TOO MANY OF THEM, and *they are bringing the cartel system in with them*, it's got to be stopped.

Secondly, the US has put military and ATF agents and DEA and such in Mexico before, with cooperation of Mexican government.

The problem right now though is that so much of their government is WITH the drug cartels, on the cartel payroll, so obviously it may be impossible to work with the Mexican government.

The drug cartels are a law enforcement problem, it's not impossible to solve it. And you have to fight it, if we don't then we'll wind up as bad as Mexico is, with the drug cartels owning all the police and politicians and then they get away with the kidnappings and beheadings and murders.

As the search for the 42 missing students continues, Mexico’s deep-seated history of corruption and impunity is unearthed.

This past October, while savoring a fancy quinoa salad in one of Mexico City’s trendiest neighborhoods, I heard the news that Toño, the longtime doorman of a nearby building I’d once lived in, had been fatally beaten. A rebar, shoved through his eye and skull, is what eventually caused his death.

A group of franeleros — individuals who secure street parking spaces and then demand pay for their use, often in collaboration with local police, are the presumed murderers.
http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-left-20141227-story.html

[Withnail]

If this crap spreads more into the US, then it really may be necessary for the USA to regime change and throw the whole government out of Mexico and start fresh, there may be no other way to get rid of the cartel-controlled -- they are mostly all on the cartel payroll now, they've all gotta go.

The US will not attack Mexico.

It's just one of your masturbatory fantasies.

[dolanbaker]

It appears to me that if the US attacked Mexico that it would trigger an uprising leading to a civil war in the "Mexican quarter" of the US.

[SeaGypsy]

Don't try to tell me I don't know something I am sure I know about 6, I track extremists for a hobby & your neighbours there are only barely outdone by ME salafists. You have no answers is your answer, just noise.

[Withnail]

It appears to me that if the US attacked Mexico that it would trigger an uprising leading to a civil war in the "Mexican quarter" of the US.

I suggested the same thing but Six Strings claimed Mexicans in America would support such an attack.