from "3 Americans arrested after gun battle with Mexican police," by James C. McKinley Jr., International Herald Tribune
Three Americans were part of a well-armed gang that waged a gun battle with soldiers and police officers in Rio Bravo on Monday, the Mexican authorities said.
The battle demonstrated not only how dangerous the northern state of Tamaulipas has become in recent months, but also how Mexican drug cartels are recruiting gunfighters from the United States, who can cross the border with little trouble.
For more than a half-hour around noon, the streets of Rio Bravo turned into a war zone after federal agents tried to stop a van carrying three men with machine guns in full view. The men fired on the officers and then fled to a nearby house to join other members of their organization.
Machine-gun fire ripped the air and rocket-propelled grenades whizzed and exploded, as soldiers and federal agents surrounded the house and the gunmen tried to repel them, witnesses told local reporters. There were unconfirmed reports of two other skirmishes in other parts of the city around the same time.
Three gunmen were reported killed; 10 on the government side were wounded. Ten men were arrested on charges of taking part in the attack on the police.
One of those arrested, Esteban Valdez de los Santos, 30, is a Texas resident and an American citizen, the Mexican authorities said. The two other Americans arrested, Ricardo Zamora López, 32, and José Raúl González Sánchez, 35, are residents of Detroit.
"They're criminals, hitmen who work on this side of the border," José Patricio Patiño, a federal police commander, said Tuesday.
Speaking at a news conference in Mexico City, Patiño said all the gunmen, including the Americans, had worked for the Gulf Cartel, headed by Heriberto Lazcano, also known as El Lazca (more).
