“Where are my guns?” demanded Pancho Villa, flamboyant bandit-warrior
of the Mexican revolution. Though he had paid for them, the store
across the U.S. border in the town of Columbus, New Mexico hadn’t
delivered. He had other grievances as well. So in the early morning of
March 9, l916, Villa led some 500 troops in an attack on Columbus that
lasted until dawn, without doing too much damage. Next day, General John
J. Pershing, of World War I fame, accompanied by George Patton, hero of
World War II, arrived to drive out the Villistas and pursue their
leader into Mexico. They didn’t catch him. He was eventually
assassinated by other Mexicans in some kind of political intrigue.
Until now this was Columbus’s main claim to fame. Today, it’s been overtaken by another gun sale. In March last year federal agents drove into Columbus and arrested virtually all its top officials, including the mayor and police chief, for selling weapons to the Mexican cartels, who thereafter used them to kill other Mexicans, which is their habit. The arrests were no real surprise to Columbus citizens, who wondered why Mayor Eddie Espinoza had been driving a $50,000 car on a $700-a-month salary. Police Chief Angelo Vega already had a criminal record. In this town, says Addison Bachman, who runs a website reporting on local events in Columbus, “You get a job with a rap sheet, not a resume.”
The dozen offenders have all pleaded guilty. The mayor has received 51 months in prison, and two others have also been sentenced. The rest await their punishment, which seems slow in coming—and in the meantime, one has escaped. Yet another, police officer Ian Garland, claims agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives encouraged him to sell the weapons to the cartels.
Read more: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/battle-of-columbus/
Until now this was Columbus’s main claim to fame. Today, it’s been overtaken by another gun sale. In March last year federal agents drove into Columbus and arrested virtually all its top officials, including the mayor and police chief, for selling weapons to the Mexican cartels, who thereafter used them to kill other Mexicans, which is their habit. The arrests were no real surprise to Columbus citizens, who wondered why Mayor Eddie Espinoza had been driving a $50,000 car on a $700-a-month salary. Police Chief Angelo Vega already had a criminal record. In this town, says Addison Bachman, who runs a website reporting on local events in Columbus, “You get a job with a rap sheet, not a resume.”
The dozen offenders have all pleaded guilty. The mayor has received 51 months in prison, and two others have also been sentenced. The rest await their punishment, which seems slow in coming—and in the meantime, one has escaped. Yet another, police officer Ian Garland, claims agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives encouraged him to sell the weapons to the cartels.
Read more: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/battle-of-columbus/
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