Refugees: no return to town hit by Mexico drug war
CIUDAD MIER, Mexico (AP) - Shell casings carpet the road outside a bullet-riddled subdivision on the outskirts of this colonial town on the Rio Grande Valley, abandoned by most of the 6,000 inhabitants following a nine-month battle by warring drug cartels.
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Farther outside of town lies a homemade tank that locals refer to in hushed tones as “The Monster.”
“The Monster” was a 10-wheel gravel truck with a 5-yard (meter) freight box, entirely covered in 1-inch steel plate welded into the box to cover firing positions for about 10 gunmen. In the cab, the thick steel plate covered the engine, the windshield and the doors, punctuated by hinged covers for gun ports, and massive steel rams welded onto the prow of the craft.
What is terrifying about “The Monster” was not that the Zetas drug gang built it and used it in the almost medieval war for Ciudad Mier, but that the Cartel del Golfo - which roared back into Mier with a vengeance on Feb. 23, 2010, to retake the turf - brought it down.
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In this Friday Nov. 19, 2010 photo, a destroyed armored truck sits on the side of the road on the outskirts of Ciudad Mier, Mexico. Locals refer to it as “The Monster,” a 10-wheel gravel truck used by the Zetas drug gang with a freight box entirely covered in steel plate welded into the box to cover firing positions for about 10 gunmen. In the cab the thick steel plate covered the engine, the windshield and the doors, punctuated by hinged covers for gun ports and steel rams welded onto the prow of the craft. ((AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills))