Day 7 of 1000

Uncle Lauro sent this photo of us talking to Grandpa Jose via Skype on his 90th birthday.  We had a great time talking to everyone there.  The reason we did not go there to celebrate in person is because of the war that is taking place in Nuevo Leon (the state where Monterrey is located).  The family was actually a little bit afraid to even have the party because of the terrorism that occurs daily down there.  The party was at Lorena’s Uncle Abel’s beautiful home in Allende which is about thirty miles from Monterrey.  There has been a lot of violence in Allende as well as the other smaller towns around Monterrey.  The last thing we heard about that happened in Allende was a couple of weeks ago, early in the morning, two young men were hung a highway overpass by their ankles and shot in the head as the terrorists drove away.  That all happened within easy hearing distance of where this party occurred.

After the party we spoke with Uncle Jorge, Aunt Mari, and all the cousins. There were military helicopters flying over their home as we spoke. Jorge described the Casino firebombing that happened last week. He lives and works right in one of the municipalities that make up the city of Monterrey and had driven past that exact location of the bombing about 15 minutes before it occurred.  The short video below is of the terrorists as they arrive and enter the casino. You can see the patrons streaming out of the casino followed by billowing black smoke caused by the firebombing, followed by the terrorists getting back into their cars and leaving.  It all took about 3 minutes; At least 53 people died.  That count is expected to rise.  It was the worst terrorist attack so far in Monterrey.

President Felipe Calderon went to Monterrey the next day to mourn with the city.  He sent additional military support to Monterrey.  Here is a quote from a post about Calderon’s Monterrey address on the Los Pinos blog (the Mexican equivalent of the White House in the United States) with which I am in complete agreement:

President Calderón urged society, congress and the US government to reflect on the tragedy currently affecting Mexico and many Latin American countries, due largely to the insatiable drug consumption of millions of Americans.

He indicated that Mexico can no longer be the gateway or pay the consequences of this market, which not only translates into thousands of millions of illicit dollars from the black market but also thousands of deaths as a result of the violence caused by the gangs engaged in this business.

The president asked the US Congress and government to end the criminal sales of high-caliber weapons and assault rifles to the criminals operating in Mexico.

Read the whole thing here.