Piracy on Falcon Lake refers to an increase in crime at the border between the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
on
Falcon Lake. The lake is a long
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
of the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
that was constructed in 1954 and is a known
drug smuggling
The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of drug prohibition, prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibitionism, prohibit trade, except under license, ...
route.
[.]
A
turf war
A turf war is a fight over territory or resources, or may refer to:
Music
* ''Turf Wars'', a 2007 album by the Canadian band Daggermouth
* "Turf War", a song on the 2001 album ''Filmtracks 2000'' by American composer Bill
Television
* ''Turf Wa ...
between rival
drug cartel
A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the ...
s for control of the lake began in March 2010 and has led to a series of
armed robberies
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
and shooting incidents. All of the attacks were credited to the
Los Zetas
Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate, regarded as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent "shock and awe" tactics such as beheadings, torture, and indiscri ...
cartel and occurred primarily on the Mexican side of the reservoir but within sight of the
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
coast. The so-called
pirates
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
operate "fleets" of small boats designed to seize fishermen and smuggle drugs.
[.]
While the events have been referred to colloquially as piracy, all the waters of Falcon Lake are considered either US or Mexican territorial waters and therefore crime there is not technically piracy under Article 101 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Piracy incidents
2010
A turf war between the Los Zetas and the
Gulf Cartel began in early 2010 as part of the
Mexican Drug War. The violence in and around
Reynosa
Reynosa () is a border city in the northern part of the state of Tamaulipas, in Mexico. It is also the municipal seat of Reynosa Municipality.
The city is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande in the international Reynosa–McAllen Metr ...
in March caused both civilians and Zeta cartel members to leave their homes and take refuge at Falcon Lake. Beginning in May 2010, the Zetas acquired several small
skiff
A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have devel ...
s,
bass boat
A bass boat is a small boat that is designed and equipped primarily for bass fishing, usually in freshwater bodies such as lakes, rivers and wetlands. The modern bass boats are motorboats that feature an elevated flat front deck with swivel c ...
s and
Argos boat
Argos most often refers to:
* Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece
** Ancient Argos, the ancient city
* Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Argos or ARGOS may also refer to:
Businesses
* ...
s which they used to patrol their side of the lake for Gulf Cartel members, though they often commit other crimes such as the robbing of civilian vessels close to the shore.
Some reports suggest that the Zetas commandeered boats belonging to Mexican fishermen and forced their crews to commit crimes. On April 30, 2010, five Americans in two boats were fishing on Falcon Lake at the
Old Guerrero
Nueva Ciudad Guerrero (''New Guerrero City'') is a city in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It lies on the banks of the Rio Grande / Río Bravo, near the US–Mexico border, opposite to Falcon Heights, Texas. The Lake Falcon Dam International C ...
church. While there, a boat with four "heavily tattooed" men
boarded the boats, demanded money and drugs. Ultimately the pirates received $200 cash before the American boats made an escape. The pirates followed the fishing boats, but the Americans got away when they crossed into United States territory.
May
On May 6, 2010 three fishermen in a boat off the north side of Salado Island were approached by a boat with two men armed with
AR-15
An AR-15-style rifle is any lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. The original ArmaLite AR-15 is a scaled-down derivative of Eugene Stoner's ArmaLite AR-10 design. The then Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation d ...
s. One of the pirates boarded the boat and searched it for drugs, money or guns. During the incident, one of the pirates chambered a round and told the fishermen that he would shoot if they did not give him money. On May 16, five armed men boarded and robbed another boat also on the American side of the lake. There has been at least three other confirmed incidents in which armed men dressed in black have boarded American boats while they were fishing just inside of Mexican waters.
[.]
In late May, a
Border Patrol
A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties.
Name and uniform
In dif ...
boat chased another boat occupied by men in
ski masks but the vessel was faster than the Americans and got away. Fishermen have also reported sighting small boats loaded with Mexicans and
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
s. The pirates speak Spanish and claim to be
Mexican Police
The Federal Police ( es, Policía Federal, PF), formerly known as the (Federal Preventive Police) and sometimes referred to in the U.S. as "Federales", was a Mexican national police force formed in 1999 and folded into the National Guard in 2019. ...
officers though they have been identified by tattoos of the letter "Z" for Zeta on their arms or necks.
Texas Department of Public Safety
The Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas, commonly known as the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), is a department of the state government of Texas. The DPS is responsible for statewide law enforcement and driver license adminis ...
officials issued a warning for American citizens to stay on the United States side of the water and to be on the lookout for vessels used by Mexican fishermen, boats with a large
prow
The bow () is the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is usually most forward when the vessel is underway. The aft end of the boat is the stern.
Prow may be used as a synonym for bow or it may mean the forward-most part ...
, a small outboard
motor
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
without a
cowling
A cowling is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings are a cove ...
and no identification numbers on the
hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
. The warning has prevented many Texas fisherman and tourists from using the lake entirely.
August
On August 31, United States authorities released a statement saying that pirates aboard a small boat tried to intercept an American fishing boat but the operator outran the attackers and returned to the Texas side of the reservoir. On the side of the pirate boat was the misspelled words "
Game Warden
A conservation officer is a law enforcement officer who protects wildlife and the environment. A conservation officer may also be referred to as an environmental technician or technologist, game warden, forest ranger, forest watcher, forest gu ...
", written with
tape. The fisherman noticed this mistake and assumed the approaching vessel to be a pirate.
September
On September 30, 2010, the most serious incident involving the pirates thus far occurred when
McAllen, Texas
McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, and the 22nd-most populous city in Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexico–United States border. The city limits extend ...
resident and
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
native David Hartley went missing while riding through the Mexican side of the lake on a
jet ski
Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft (PWC) manufactured by Kawasaki, a Japanese company. The term is often used generically to refer to any type of personal watercraft used mainly for recreation, and it is also used as a verb to ...
with his wife Tiffany Hartley.
[.] According to Tiffany's report to the Texas police, men in two small boats approached and fired on her and her husband with automatic weapons in an attempt to steal their jet skis. They then chased her back to the American side of the lake. Hartley also said that her husband was shot in the head and the pirates retrieved his body and the jet ski. Mr. Hartley's body remains missing. Both the Mexican and the United States governments launched an investigation in early October.
Search and rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
teams searched the lake but no evidence was found.
During the investigation, Mexican
homicide detective
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no intent ...
Rolando Armando Flores Villegas of
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...
was reportedly killed and his head delivered in a suitcase to the Mexican Army. The detective was one of many officers assigned to investigating the Hartley incident and he was allegedly killed only days after delivering a document to a local television station which named two of the suspected pirates. Gary Freeman, a
political scientist
Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...
at the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
stated that "the beheading has such strong resonance with
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a puritanical, revivalist, and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. Islamic fundamentalists are of the view that Muslim-majority countries should return t ...
that it raises the specter of groups in Mexico being as fanatical and as bloodthirsty as
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
and his gang. They seem to be copying some of their techniques, and that might be deliberate."
However, Mexican police stated they do not believe the killing to bear any relation to the Hartley case.
[.]
2011
On May 8, 2011,
Mexican Naval Infantry
The Naval Infantry Corps ( es, Cuerpo de Infantería de Marina) are the naval infantry and amphibious infantry force of the Mexican Navy. The main task of the ''Infantería de Marina'' is to guarantee the maritime security of the country's por ...
patrolling the lake discovered a camp of Zetas on an island believed to be used for smuggling
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
into the United States by
speedboat. The marines fired first and a battle began that left twelve cartel members and one marine dead. Twenty
small arms
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...
were captured including
assault rifles.
See also
*
Piracy in the Strait of Malacca
Piracy in the Strait of Malacca has long been a threat to ship owners and the mariners who ply the 900 km-long (550 miles) sea lane. In recent years, coordinated patrols by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore along with increased ...
*
Piracy in Somalia
Piracy off the coast of Somalia occurs in the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel and Somali Sea, in Somali territorial waters and other surrounding areas and has a long and troubled history with different perspectives from different communities. I ...
*
Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea
Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea affects a number of countries in West Africa as well as the wider international community. By 2011, it had become an issue of global concern. Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea are often part of heavily armed criminal e ...
*
Piracy in the Caribbean
]The era of piracy in the Caribbean began in the 1500s and phased out in the 1830s after the navies of the nations of Western Europe and North America with colonies in the Caribbean began combating pirates. The period during which pirates were ...
*
River pirate
A river pirate is a pirate who operates along a river. The term has been used to describe many different kinds of pirate groups who carry out riverine attacks in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. They are usually prosecuted ...
*
Mexican Drug War
References
{{coord missing
Falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
Piracy in the United States
Maritime incidents in 2010
Maritime incidents in 2011
Battles of the Mexican drug war
Organized crime conflicts in the United States
Organized crime conflicts in Mexico
Smuggling routes