Mexican and U.S. authorities were “secretly scrambling” last month to thwart a Mexican drug cartel’s plot to blow up a Texas dam that would have flooded an area with about 4 million inhabitants, according to the Houston Chronicle’s Dane Schiller and James Pinkerton.
Law enforcement officials were reportedly tipped off to a plot when they found one of the handbills that the drug cartel Los Zetas was distributing on the Mexican side of the river, warning residents to clear out ahead of the explosion. Authorities found “small amounts of dynamite near the dam,” the Chronicle said.
Los Zetas wanted to blow up the Falcon dam not to hurt civilians, but to exact revenge on a rival gang called the Gulf Cartel, which smuggles drugs in the area, local authorities said. The gang has also been implicated in armed robberies of Texan fishermen in Lake Falcon, the reservoir behind the dam.
U.S. officials said they had “serious and reliable sources” informing them of the plot, the Chronicle reported. Officers placed hidden cameras on the dam and hid in the brush to watch.
Police Capt. Francisco Garcia of Roma, Texas, told the Chronicle that the traffickers would have needed a tractor-trailer full of dynamite to pull off the explosion.
In a related story, Mexico opens a consular office in California to provide identification to illegals. Nothing to see here people…move along. All the bad guys are in Afghanistan.
Well Pedro, you good catholic charity is pretty thin these days? What an opportunity to show a little grace.
Maybe next time.
Bobbo #32 -I do love learning new words and their usage. I could be pedantic and say I did not accuse Pedro of misusing the word. I merely made a pun. But that would be a lie. So thank you for your lupine observations. However, Pedro being Pedro, I will not apologize.
Animby–“actually” I was going to comment that even in more stultified English the phrase “supine ignorance” would have an appropriate meaning to me. As you say: supine, to lay down meaning it is not up on all fours, (or all two for the bipeds), it is not “agressive” and ready to attack/defend, it is asleep, down for the count. So–even taking your own more pedantic preference for the words definition, you are still “wrong.”
Words are interesting things. Should they be straight jackets or wings? Or in Pedro’s case, a taco?
Hah, hah. I crack myself up. BTW–I did finally understand your compliment on the swine flu thread. Mindset: a dangerous thing. Pedro: mindset: a dangerous thing.
We always look so much better when we actually try to look better?
# 40 bobbo, “…you are still “wrong.”
Wrong? Wrong! I am a doctor, sir. I am never wrong. There are times I am not totally correct but never wrong.
Wait, I’m sorry. I was wrong that one time I thought I’d made a mistake.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m packing. Off to visit a clinic in the Cambodian mountains. I’ll miss your pastries.
Ahh, what a noble profession, saving lives.
I saved a life once. I was drunk and called a taxi. Yes, it feels powerful to hold life and death in your own two hands. Or in Pedro’s case, a taco.
Baaaa – dump!
What can you say, Americans love their drugs.