“Six gunmen were killed in a clash with army troops in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico’s defense department said Friday.

Helicopter-borne troops under the command of the 7th Military Zone were conducting “aerial reconnaissance” Thursday when they detected a vehicle hidden in the vegetation and stopped to investigate, the defense department said in a statement.

On landing to inspect the vehicle, the soldiers “were attacked with gunfire by suspected organized crime elements who sheltered in a structure,” the statement continued.”

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/10/six-gunmen-die-in-clash-with-mexican.html

By: Salvador Camarena

“I’ve had enough of interviewing victims. I’m tired of hearing them fall apart at the end of the conversation, watching them as they tremble with impotence and fear in the knowledge that no one will help them, not one authority will step before them and respond to their cries.

At first I though that opening up the microphones and putting the victims and/or their families on the air would shake things up, make everyone see these are victims, not just murdered numbers. By making the victim’s testimonies public, I sought to to prevent them from becoming simple statistics, just another scene in this tragic landscape.

I don’t want to interview victims, I’m done. I’d rather put on the air people who are fed up and are tired of the excuses given by inept authorities, such as the Governor of Nuevo Leon who after Wednesday’s downtown Monterrey tragedy, made light of the situation by stating these violent public attacks were not unique to his state, they happen everywhere.

Why go to the authorities if they have no power?”

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/