Mexico being what it is, the war at its border with the United States is not a simple one. Last week, on December 10, saw an early-morning shootout near Reynosa and Rio Bravo, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, just south of the Texas border. The three-way shootout was among members of the Gulf Cartel, the Mexican Army, and Tamaulipas state police.
The affair began as Tamaulipas state police officers — for some reason, not in uniform — were driving in several vehicles — again, for some reason, with no police identification and no sirens or strobe lights — toward the rural community of Santa Apolonia. They unexpectedly encountered a 15-vehicle, cartel convoy, and the shooting began. Getting word of the shootout and apparently believing it between rival gangs, Mexican Army troops responded, blocking off roads and moving into position to surround the gunmen. The three-way skirmish ensued, where one soldier and two police officers were wounded. During the confusion, the actual cartel members got away.
The country of Mexico has a past as violent as any in the world, having endured more than a half dozen major conflicts, most of them revolutions and civil wars, since its 1810-1821 war of independence from Spain. Although the skirmish described above may have been, as reported, a case of mistaken identify, it would come as no surprise to a student of Mexican history to find out otherwise.
For more, see Breitbart News.