Mexico Governor Claims, Then Backtracks, That 150 Cartel Gunmen Entered U.S. Territory
Coahuila Governor Miguel Angel Riquelme initially claimed that cartel gunmen entered sovereign United States territory in Texas before backtracking and claiming that, because the region largely consists of desert, there is no way of determining whether they entered Texas.
Initially reported by Mexican newspaper El Norte, Riquelme first claimed that the 150 gunmen his forces detained crossed into the United States before murdering 22 in Mexico. He claimed, in Spanish, that the cartel gunmen “crossed into the United States” before committing the acts of violence.
After the story began to raise eyebrows internationally, Riquelme retracted his original statement, claiming to clarify that “What I said was that our territory is vast in our borders with Texas, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, a part where there is nothing but desert, where it is unknown whose limits they are,” and that “It doesn’t mean that they crossed the river or that they entered the U.S.”
It was originally reported that at least six SUVs entered Texas, carrying approximately six gunmen in each vehicle:
Coahuila Governor Miguel Angel Riquelme revealed that state authorities arrested two gunmen from the Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) faction of Los Zetas who disclosed their convoy consisted of approximately 25 SUVs carrying at least six shooters apiece, Zocaloreported. The gunmen took various dirt roads as they made their way to Villa Union, where they fired repeatedly at the city hall building, torched police cars, and then engaged authorities in a fierce gun battle.
In a series of statements made by Riquelme, the politician claimed that as the gunmen traveled through dirt roads from the border city of Nuevo Laredo, they planned to burn buildings and terrorize the community. According to El Norte, the publication spoke with a government spokesman who confirmed the information from the captured gunmen who said the convoy briefly crossed into Texas before engaging in targets back in Mexico.
The lack of clear border boundaries and distinction between Texas and Mexico would seem to underscore the importance of completing President Donald Trump’s border wall between the United States and Mexico.
National File reported in September that President Trump claimed that the wall was under construction and being built rapidly, with “over 500 miles” set to be complete by 2021:
“Government sources have the completion date for the 3 projects as January 31st 2020; it is unclear whether this stretch was included in President Trump’s estimation that 400 miles of border wall would be built by the end of 2020.”
As previously reported by National File, Trump’s construction project in Tuscan, Arizona, otherwise known as the Tucsan Project 2, will replace miles of fence with the new border wall while building plans are completed in anticipation for the Tuscan Project 3.
“The final barrier designs are not yet complete,” says Paul Enriquez, the director of the Border Wall Program. In the meantime, the construction project will be using 30 foot tall steel poles 6 inches in diameter. These poles will be spaced 4 inches apart and the remainder of the space will be filled with concrete.
This progress comes alongside the privately funded effort of We Build The Wall, an organization that is building parts of the United States-Mexico border wall on private land using funds generated by donation.
We Build The Wall is currently working on a stretch of wall in Texas, and has lambasted open borders advocates in the region, calling them pro-human trafficking.
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