Two Americans killed and two more kidnapped and rescued in Mexico.

 

The Americans car after the attack. ABC News/AP.

Two Americans were killed while two more were kidnapped and subsequently rescued in an attack in Matamoros Mexico. ABC News. The group was in Mexico for a cosmetic procedure for the woman in the group, Latavia McGee. The group was ambushed after cartel members reportedly mistook them for rival human traffickers. The attackers shot and killed two of the men, Zindell Brown and Shaeed Woodward, and wounded the third, Eric Williams. Williams and McGee were captured before being released in a police operation. A 22 year old was captured as the two were released. 

My Comment:

I'm a little late on this story but it seems like it could have bigger repercussions than a simple double murder and kidnapping. There is a lot of anger about this and it even has the attention of the American government and news media. 

I do have to say that going down to Mexico for a cosmetic procedure does not seem like a good idea under the best of circumstances. Much of Mexico is a war zone between the various cartels and thousands of people get murdered every year. Though the Cartels try to avoid attacking American civilians, it's very easy to get caught up in a situation like this. I am honestly surprised it doesn't happen more often. 

This seems like it was just a huge mistake by the Cartel gunmen that pulled this off. They supposedly mistook these folks for a rival Cartel. It's possible they saw the out of country license plates and just assumed that it was another Cartel, possibly involved with drug or people smuggling. They opened fire and only afterwards found out it was a group of four Americans. 

I wouldn't be surprised if the Cartel was the one that threw the gunman that was arrested under the bus. Keeping Williams and McGee would have been a huge liability for them as it would likely draw attention from not only local police, but national police and military as well, not to mention the full force of the United States government. Plus, the Cartel can't tolerate stupidity like this. I fully expect the man arrested who was holding the two will end up dead, one way or the other. 

There has been rumbling in congress about possibly using military force against the Cartels in Mexico. This attack could be used for justification, though you would think that drugs, immigrants and political corruption that the Cartels bring in from Mexico would be reason enough. Like I said, in the big scheme of things a double murder/kidnapping in Mexico would normally not be a big deal but because this was Americans and the current political environment it might end up becoming a clarion call for war. 

I've got mixed feelings about going to war with the drug cartels. On the pro side is the fact that Mexico is at risk of becoming a narco-state and one where the drug cartels rule without resistance. The Cartels kill Americans, directly and indirectly, and are responsible for much of the illegal immigration into the United States. 

The Cartels are also about the most evil people on earth. Only ISIS outdo them in terms of brutality and even then, ISIS isn't in any kind of position to really attack anyone outside of the Muslim world anymore. The Cartels are just across the border and kill each other in new and horrifying ways, and many civilians get caught in the middle. 

Going after the Cartels would be a better use of our defense dollars. We have wasted billions of dollars on an unwinnable war in Ukraine for little results and extreme risk. Funneling that money to fight the Cartels would be, if nothing else, something that wouldn't result in World War III.

Of course the problem is that war against the Cartels has not worked out well for Mexico. The Cartels are just as powerful as they have ever been and thousands of people have died in the process. I struggle to think what our troops could do that the Mexican government has already tried. 

Speaking of the Mexican government, I don't know if they would go along with this at all. Mexican's President Obrador (AMLO) isn't keen on fighting the Cartels in the first place. I can't imagine he would want to have American troops running around shooting up cartel members and calling airstrikes on buildings. If we didn't handle it well we might end up being at war with both the Cartels and the Mexican government at the same time. 

It could honestly end up being like another Afghanistan conflict where we spend billions of dollars over 20 years and have nothing to show for it other than status quo antebellum and thousands of dead people. The best case scenario is something like Somalia where we just train the local troops and randomly blow up militants. Either way, I can't see fighting the Cartels ending with a quick and meaningful victory. 

As for this case, I think it's a very good example of why you should stay out of most of Mexico. There are a few tourist areas that are safe as even the Cartels don't want to disrupt that income stream. But there few places like that and it would be absurdly dangerous to just travel around in Mexico casually. If there is a lesson here it's don't go to Mexico for a cosmetic procedure. It may be cheaper but it's dramatically more dangerous. And you probably don't need it in the first place.