Truck Driver Glad He Survived Car Chase, Assault By Zeta Gunmen

Truck Driver Glad He Survived Car Chase, Assault By Zeta Gunmen

www.brownsvilleherald.com

January 31, 2011 10:38 PM

THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD

"A Georgia truck driver is glad to be alive and on American soil Monday as he survived an attempted carjacking at the hands of Zeta gunmen over the weekend.".....

(visit the link for the full news article)

The article goes on to say:

"Alberto Muñoz, 37, was travelling to Veracruz to visit relatives on Sunday when a group of Zetas attempted to steal his truck near San Fernando, the same town where missionary Nancy Davis was fatally shot last Wednesday during a carjacking attempt."

Ok so another American in Mexico is assaulted and almost robbed of his truck in the same area where
an American missionary was shot and died last week; a story which received international attention, and obviously there has been no attention paid to that area by the Mexican army or police?

You would think after one recent international incident, they would at least make an attempt to look like they were trying to resolve the problem......

www.brownsvilleherald.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by manta78


You copied the headline from the article (as we are supposed to do) and from that I'd assumed it was a semi driver. But, this was just a guy in a red Ford pick up truck.

From the article in the OP

According to Muñoz, it all began when he was travelling south along Mexican Highway 101 in his late model red Ford pickup and came across a Zeta roadblock about 10 to 15 miles from San Fernando. The Zetas were described as being between the ages of 18-25, all dressed in camouflage pants and black T-shirts as they hijacked other vehicles and robbed their occupants.

The situation sounds really out of hand there if the gangs are able to set up roadblocks in broad daylight.

I'm not sure the government can successfully stamp them out given the current methods and environment to be honest. When there is that much money to be made there will always be people willing to make it.

That guy is INSANE for driving in that part of Mexico - known drug smuggling territory and drug cartel activity. I wouldn't drive in Mexico, period.

It's great he lived, but hopefully he's learned his lesson to think before driving his big, much wanted, American truck into the heart of darkness.

Gas isn't that cheap, why not just fly?

reply to post by Frogs


The question that remains however is whether or not the Mexican government
really even cares......???

reply to post by manta78


What would you have them do? Take a look at Pablo Escobar.. Theycan go in, arrest a few but its just a vacume and someone fills the spot.

If we want less violence in mexico the US should legalize pot but i wouldnt count on the US helping the situation, too busy crying and attempting to kick mexicans out of Arizona.

Originally posted by manta78
reply to post by Frogs

 

The question that remains however is whether or not the Mexican government really even cares......???

...thats not a valid question... its an evasive tactic at best... a pro-usofa-military invasion sentiment at worst... crime is running rampant here in the usofa too and has been for decades - but - we're not supposed to give credence to that... no, let's concentrate on how mexico refuses to handle rampant crime and lets pretend it doesnt happen here... anyone need more koolaid?...

reply to post by ShogunAssassins


What would you have them do? Take a look at Pablo Escobar.. Theycan go in, arrest a few but its just a vacume and someone fills the spot.

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manta78 reply:
The could have saturated the immediate problem area with at least 100 or more army troops, and put the word out that any further attempted carjackings will be dealt with severly and immediately...not like they haven't done that before in their history. Acknowledging that the effect might only be temporary, but it would at least show the world that some effort is being made to resolve these kinds of problems.

Actually having 300-400 troops in one concentrated area, and then keep moving them on to the next problem area, might solve some of their problems with the cartels also..... although I would think you would need more of a special forces team to be effective.

Originally posted by Wyn Hawks

Originally posted by manta78
reply to post by Frogs

 

The question that remains however is whether or not the Mexican government really even cares......???

...thats not a valid question... its an evasive tactic at best... a pro-usofa-military invasion sentiment at worst... crime is running rampant here in the usofa too and has been for decades - but - we're not supposed to give credence to that... no, let's concentrate on how mexico refuses to handle rampant crime and lets pretend it doesnt happen here... anyone need more koolaid?...

We are not talking about a crime which occured in the U.S. , or the problem of crime in the U.S. or any involvement by U.S. troops; nice attempted diversion tactic. .

First thing about travelling in Mexico, don't run roadblocks! That doesn't go over to well in the US either. Whether the roadblock is conducted by bandits or a local militia looking for bandits your chances of outrunning them is slim, and they are not typically friendly when they do catch up with you. That goes for running a police roadblock in the US as well. Bad idea.

The missionary that was shot a week ago was also trying to elude a roadblock. Running a US roadblock would most likely get you tazed and beat-up without apology. If lucky you might be let go being captured but most likely would be held to answer charges for eluding and resisting.

After all he describes happened, if they wanted his truck they would have taken it. If they wanted to rob him they would have. And if they wanted to kill him he would be dead and still missing. If he had stopped at the road block he would in all probabilities be eating tamales with his family in Vera Cruz tomorrow for Candelaria cena.

Not sure how he knew they were "Zeta", if they had a banner saying "Zeta Roadblock" or if it were written on their uniforms. Perhaps after capture the "boss" told Muñoz they were Zetas, but I would be reluctant to believe that.

Muñoz story seems odd in that he U-turned twice, one time heading back toward the roadblock. Also, I am curious how long he was able to observe the roadblock to determine they were robbing and carjacking the people being stopped in it. It seems unlikely the soldiers would all abandon their roadblock along with everyone being robbed in order to pursue him, so it seems rather foolhardy to turn back that way. A little common sense goes a long way in this situation. Running a roadblock is almost ALWAYS worse than stopping.

The camoflauge trousers and black playeras is typical attire for military and local militia, quite possibly for bandits as well. If they were not Federal Police or military manning a roadblock it would most likely be other local authority, which could include organized cartel-type militia. Best thing to do is stop. Often they are looking for particular persons known to be "opponents". Worst case is that the roadblock might be robbing people or after vehicles to steal, which despite their cost is better to surrender than one's life. It is rare that someone gets hurt if they are cooperating. If the value of the vehicle is too high then a good insurance policy is recommended, either side of the border.

Almost too obvious to mention, US drug prohibition policies are at the heart of the wave of violence experienced in Mexico right now. The US gives a lot of money to Mexico to make sure there is crime in our streets because of it also. I'm sure Calderon appreciates every centavo he receives from the US government to fight their war and reform our judicial system, but I think most all of us would be much happier without that.

Bottom line: Don't try to run through organized roadblocks.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


Thank you for your reply. There is a major difference however in roadblocks in the U.S. and roadblocks in Mexico, and that is that chances are about 99% in the U.S. that the roadblocks are going to be legitimate law enforcement officers; can you say the same of roadblocks in Mexico? I think not. Even our own state department has released warnings in the past and currently that that roadblocks in Mexico may be fraudulent, and warning travelers to use extreme caution, as their primary motivation is either robbery of the vehicle, a financial shakedown and/or both.

As far as him making a u-turn, that was clearly explained in the article here:
"Because his truck had a safety device that prevented from accelerating past 95 miles per hour, he wasn’t able to outrun his attackers. He then decided to slam on the brakes and make a U-turn thus traveling north back toward the U.S. The chase continued and the situation worsened when a gray Jetta and a gray Ford pickup joined the pursuit. Once again Muñoz slammed on the brakes and made another U-turn in an effort to shake the attackers, but this time the gamble failed as the vehicles boxed him in forcing him to stop."

In another words, he was trying to escape from the gunmen......maybe they would have just kept the truck and let him go; it is also highly probable that they would have kept the truck, shot him in the head, or decapitated him, and he would have just been another statistic in a long line of unsolved crimes of that type in Mexico.

As far as how he would know if the gunmen were Zetas or not, unless you were there, you would not know if a) they identified themselves as such, b) he may have recognized either one of the members of the Zetas, or recognized tatoos, etc. being familiar with the area, or c) he may have been advised at the military checkpoint before exiting Mexico that the description and area matched the Zetas SOP. Here he says: "They drove me to the highway and let me go,” he said. “ drove and drove until I was stopped by a military checkpoint, they took down my information, took photos of my truck and let me go. I drove straight for the bridge.”

Better advice to persons considering travelling to Mexico than your advice to "don't run roadblocks", is to just avoid travel there. There are lots of alternatives and countries that are safer and far more concerned about visitors to their country, than Mexico is currently demonstrating.

Not hard to figure out why however......

reply to post by manta78


Whether a roadblock is "fraudulent", unofficial, illegal, or otherwise it is still a roadblock and they mean business. I myself don't care to drive up around the border regions because of narco/govt activity but I know plenty who do drive that area out of necessity. Avoid them if you can, but don't run them.

It may be good advice to not travel Mexico by road right now if you can avoid it. Not all of us have that luxury of choice. Despite what the State Department has to say, and they are correct about there being problems here, they ought to know, many of us consider life in Mexico safer than the cities we lived in up north. It is more "wild west" here and it is not always so easy to tell the good guys from the bad - you really don't want to tangle with either because it is not that clearly delineated which is which.

If you encounter an "unofficial" roadblock it doesn't mean you will be robbed, they are usually just looking for others that they have reason to consider "bad guys". Don't absolutely count on being treated nicely by the military or federal militia if you get stopped by them either. It hasn't happened to me but there are plenty of stories about being shaken-down for money by Mexican police also.

There is a lot of bad advice and bloated stories going around right now. If the US State Department is telling people the likely outcome at an unofficial roadblock is robbery then they are wrong and causing an unnecessary panic. Robbery can and does happen but it is not the norm. If their advice is to blast through a roadblock, which I doubt, they should be held accountable for the outcome of taking such action.

Clearly, in Muñoz case, they weren't out to rob him or take his truck because if they were they had every opportunity to do so. My opinion, and others I shared this with, is that Muñoz was probably somewhat frightened from all he heard then panicked and did the wrong things. He got chased down and roughed-up because he ran their roadblock. Always a bad idea no matter whose it is.