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NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO
Zetas violence suddenly intensifies Ex-Mexican drug cartel members at war with each other By Jason Buch SAN ANTONIO EXPRE SS-NEWS
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — The drug war is back in this border city, dashing hopes that several years of relative peace had become the new normal. While the violence has not reached the levels of the cartel wars in the early 2000s and 2010 — when shootings in broad daylight, brazen assassinations of government officials and gruesome public displays of
bodies were common — gunfights between security forces and armed gangsters have become weekly occurrences. The latest round of violence, observers say, is the result of infighting between former members of the once-mighty Zetas drug cartel who have created their own criminal organizations. In June, one of the factions released a video that showed the former head of the Nuevo Zetas continues on A11
Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News
The Tamaulipas State Police patrols the downtown streets of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Aug. 25. A spate of violence has erupted throughout sections of Nuevo Laredo as drug cartels fight for control. The Tamaulipas State Police and the Mexican Army are collaborating and patrolling the city's streets in an attempt to bring calm to the area.
TEXAS
Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News
Former tourist guide Angel Abram Chavez, 28, talks about life in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Aug. 25. He was a guide between 2001 and 2008 but the violence drove tourists away, and his job.
JAN. 7, 1950 — AUG. 28, 2016
Mexicans say ‘adios’ to beloved singer Juan Gabriel By Berenice Bautista ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Timothy Hurst / AP
In this Aug. 26 photo, Navasota Livestock Auction employee Reyes Silvan keeps the line of cattle moving through the pen.
Cattle ranchers still recovering after 2011 Texas drought State became ‘depleted’ of cattle due to lack of grass and water By Aimee Breaux TH E EAGLE
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The year 2011 — the driest year on record in Texas — was the stuff of nightmares for area ranchers. The Eagle newspaper reports that five years later, those who raise beef cattle are just beginning to recover. Kelley Sullivan, who co-owns Santa Rosa Ranch in Grimes and Houston counties with her father, said the 2011 drought made her a better producer. But at the time, the experience brought back daunting stories her father told her about living through the seven-year drought in the 1950s. “He said as a boy he remem-
bers it just never rained,” Sullivan said. “He said when it first rained, he remembered asking, ‘What is that?”’ For many Texas ranchers, the 2011 drought was similar to what the state experienced in the 1950s — but much worse. “What we had at that time was not only the weeks upon weeks without any moisture, but the unbelievable heat,” Sullivan said. “It just completely parched the earth.” Sullivan was able to stave off losing cattle, but ranchers across Texas tightened belts and cut about 20 percent of beef cow herds. Statewide, herds shrunk by more than one million beef cattle, and by 2014, the number in Texas dropped to 3.9 Cattle continues on A11
MEXICO CITY — Juan Gabriel was more than just a singer and songwriter for the hundreds of fans who thronged Mexico City’s Plaza Garibaldi to wish him farewell Monday. He was a legend, an artist who marked an era in people’s lives. Every major Mexican newspaper had news of his Sunday death on their front pages, along with large photos of his flamboyant costumes. “We work nights. When I got up, I heard people singing Juan Gabriel songs in the streets,” said mariachi musician Alvaro Hurtado, who was busy playing favorites like “Amor Eterno” (“Eternal Love”) for clients who were drawn to Garibaldi to mark the singer’s death at age 66. The plaza is the national shrine to mariachi music. “I am grateful to him, more than anything else, for his songs,” Hurtado said. “He was a great person, and more than anything else he gave
Lori Shepler/Los Angeles Times / TNS
Juan Gabriel sings at the Veranazo Concert at Dodger Stadium on Aug 3, 2002.
work to me and my fellow mariachis.” The statue of Juan Gabriel in Garibaldi was adorned with flowers and candles. Those standing around it were not only Mexicans; it seemed the world was united by his death. One of them Marshall Gourley, a tourist from Denver, Colo-
rado, who said that “it would be a mortal sin to be in Mexico and not come to Plaza Garibaldi to remember him.” “His music is universal, and eternal, his music has been a part of all of us since the early ‘70s,” said Gourley, who noted “Amor Eterno” was played at his mother’s
funeral. In Ciudad Juarez, the border city where Juan Gabriel grew up, dozens of people gathered outside a house he owned to place flowers and candles and sing his songs. Juan Gabriel was Mexico’s leading singer-songwriter and top-selling artist. His ballads about love and heartbreak and bouncy mariachi tunes became hymns throughout Latin America and Spain as well as with Spanish speakers in the United States. He brought fans to tears with songs, including top hits such as “Hasta Que Te Conoci” (“Until I Met You”). “Querida” (“Dear”) topped Mexico’s charts for an entire year. In California, John Kades of the Los Angeles coroner’s office said the cause of death had not yet been officially determined, but that due to Juan Gabriel’s medical history, no autopsy would be required. Neither the singer’s family nor representatives announced funeral plans. Juan continues on A11