U.S. "Travel Advisory" vs. Mexico Used as Pretext for a Murder

Reported by Romeo Cantu

FEBRUARY 1, 2005 - A Brownsville school teacher is dead and police say her husband is the killer.

30-year old Norberto Manzanares appeared before a Brownsville judge Tuesday morning where he was formally charged with strangling his wife Gloria Estella Manzanares.

He was very calm in the courtroom, but after he left he was seen crying.

Police say on Tuesday morning Manzanares claimed that he and his wife had been kidnapped while driving along 12 Street in Matamoros. He told Mexican police his wife had been strangled and he took her to a nearby hospital for help.

But Brownsville police later discovered that Manzanares made up the story and was trying to use the recent violence across the border to cover up his crime.

Investigators say they found a rope and telephone cord at the couple's home on Habana Street that they believe are the murder weapons.

Manzanares bond was set at a million dollars. He remains jailed.

The body of Gloria Estella Manzanares has been brought back to Brownsville for an autopsy.

Mrs. Manzanares was a teacher at Sharp Elementary in Brownsville. A spokesman for the school district says Manzanares had just joined the staff in September.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Gloria Manzanares. Everyone is asked to respect the privacy of Sharp Elementary as staff and students deal with their loss," said a statement issued by the district.

A crisis intervention team is on campus to provide grief counseling to students and staff.

Gloria Estella Manzanares thus becomes the first U.S. victim of the Condoleeza Rice era at the U.S. Department of State.

Reported by Ray Pedraza

FEBRUARY 1, 2005 - Action 4 News received an e-mail from Jorge Hernandez, an El Paso contractor who witnessed something out of the ordinary at Kennedy Elementary in Mercedes.

He claims a federal agent was on parental patrol in a government chopper, all at taxpayers' expense.

Hernandez even substantiated his claims by providing pictures of the agent and the chopper, landing on the school campus.

According to Hernandez, the assistant superintendent for Mercedes schools told him the agent flew after learning his daughter was involved in a school scuffle.

"He approached the (assistant) superintendent and told him that he got a call that his daughter had been attacked," said Hernandez, through a recorded phone interview.

Hernandez says he saw the officer go behind closed doors with school administrators to resolve the matter.

As far he could tell, Hernandez says the agent was a U.S. Customs officer.

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Obviously the U.S. customs uniform was on."

We checked with Mercedes school administrators about the helicopter landing, which Hernandez says occurred last Thursday.

A spokesman for the district, Walter Watson, told us he was unaware of the situation. He also said the school's superintendent and assistant superintendent were unavailable for comment.

Hernandez says the school girl scuffle was no big deal but her daddy's actions are. He wants to know how the agent taxied himself at taxpayer expense.

"Obviously, nobody wants to be paying. That's where our tax payer dollars are going. This guy is out on duty and uses his helicopter to do personal stuff?"

Action 4 News forwarded the pictures to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Rick Pauza.

He would not confirm or deny that this is one of the their officers or aircraft but did say the matter is under review.

He says it is too soon in the investigation to find out if the agent will face any disciplinary action.

Film at 11.

Now comes the First Lady of the Mexican border state of Baja California (and its metropolis, Tijuana) to join in the orgy of insanity regarding the boogeymonster of "drugs" heaped on her own country.

According to today's daily La Jornada, María Elena Blackaller de Elorduy, the governor's wife, has called for sterilizing women who are caught using illicit drugs.

Mrs. Blackaller de Elorduy is the wife of Governor Eugenio Elorduy Walther, a member of President Vicente Fox's National Action Party (the PAN, in its Spanish initials) and career politician since 1968.

Fortunately, her nutty (and cruel) proposal - she even said that a law should be passed forcing the sterilizations - doesn't seem to have legs. Her own state's ombudsman (the official title of the head of the state human rights defense office), Ismael Chacón Guereña, blasted the proposal and came out strongly against it:

"It as an unfortunate declaration that provoked reactions at a national scale... It can't be a formal bill of law because it would also have to apply to people who have other kinds of illnesses."

But it's another example of how loco these "travel advisories" make some people, especially the powerful.

Another horrifying shooting in matamoros, this time involving two men from Mississippi.

The details are still coming in... But, the American Consul says two men were driving to Playa Baghdad, when one man allegedly shot the other in the head.

They both died a car accident shortly afterwards.

The Consul says one man was in his 70's, the other in his 50's.

Mexican officers contacted family members in Mississippi. They apparently didn't even know the men were in Mexico.

Maybe the U.S. State Department "travel advisories" about going to Mexico should be less about Mexico, and more about the dangers that gringos bring with them... something more basic, with important tips like...

• When traveling to Mexico leave your gringo guns at home.
• If you must bring guns, don't shoot your travel mates.
• If you must shoot your traveling partner, remember not to shoot him while he's driving.
• If you must shoot him while he's driving, at least make sure the car is not moving.
• If you must shoot him while he's driving and the car is moving, make sure that you are not also in the same car!