Texas Officers Involved in Standoff at Border: Involved Men in Mexican Army Uniforms

Texas — Men dressed as Mexican Army soldiers, apparent drug suspects and Texas law enforcement officers faced off on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande...

...Texas Department of Public Safety troopers chased three SUVs, believing they were carrying drugs, to the banks of the Rio Grande during Monday's incident.

Men dressed in Mexican military uniforms or camouflage were on the U.S. side of the border in Texas...

...included an armed standoff involving the Mexican military, suspected drug smugglers and nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officers. ...Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States.

...in the Bulletin on Jan. 15 that said the Mexican military had crossed into the United States more than 200 times since 1996.

...Border Patrol agents called for backup and were joined by Hudspeth County deputies and DPS troopers. Mexican army personnel had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border...

...deputies captured a Cadillac Escalade that had been reported stolen from El Paso, and found 1,477 pounds of marijuana inside. He said Mexican soldiers set fire to one of the Humvees stuck in the river.

"It's been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident with Mexico that it's been going on for years,"..."When you're up against mounted machine guns, what can you do? Who wants to pull the trigger first? Certainly not us."

After the...reported on Mexican military crossings, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the report was overblown and most of the incursions were just mistakes.

In November,...Border Patrol agents...called for help after confronting more than six men dressed in Mexican military uniforms. The men allegedly were trying to bring more than three tons of marijuana across the Rio Grande...

I've been to Mexico many times and I agree that that film depicted what the place is generally and actually like. You can find really nice hotels on many coastal areas, but, just drive into any nearby town from the resort areas and you immediately are in what Mexico is actually about (it's not the hotel environment), and that's pretty well shown realistically in that film, you're right.

Most people in the U.S., unless they've been there and gone outside the expected niceties of the finer hotels there, never see Mexico, nor realize just how primitive and rough the place is.

I'd never, however, suggest that most Americans DO go outside the secured nicer hotels because it's not a safe country to be just walking around, obviously tourists, obviously Americans. Very dangerous, actually.

I'm sure there are safer places, but not in general and it's not a good idea to even consider going to Mexico without a lot of planning and precautions (including getting all your shots from your doctor before you leave -- ask your doctor about two months ahead what you'll be needing).

And, don't drink the water! No ice cubes, no "freshly washed" salad or fruit, no local water! You'll get really sick, otherwise.

Now that I think back over this, I really never want to ever go back there again.

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