Fighting the Valley's Drug War

By Mary Nichols

The war on drugs is just one of the many battles our nation fights today. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2008, seized over 22 million pounds of narcotics and made 26,000 domestic arrests of drug smugglers and dealers. Drugs seized range from cocaine, heroin and marijuana to methamphetamines. There were over one million pounds of narcotics seized in Texas last year.The McAllen DEA district office has agents who are responsible for seizures and the protection of the Rio Grande Valley from drugs and their smugglers.

The DEA office in McAllen is responsible for Hidalgo and Starr counties. DEA offices in Brownsville are responsible for Cameron and Willacy counties. The McAllen office is part of the Houston field division that is responsible for Beaumont, Waco and West of Del Rio.

Will R. Glaspy, head of the McAllen DEA office, says agents are willing to put their lives on the line for the protection and safety of U.S. citizens.

“The agents are very committed to the agency and to the mission. It is a very worthwhile mission. Men and women who serve understand what happens if we don’t follow through with our mission to stop drug traffickers,” said Glaspy. “We all have families and want to spend time with them, but when the mission calls, we respond.”

The DEA is an agency within the U.S. Deptartment of Justice that is in charge of enforcing drug laws. Initially, when created in 1973, agents were recruited from other federal agencies involved with narcotics investigations.

The DEA agents infiltrate the system by going undercover and doing extensive investigations to take down drug lords.

24/7 Risky Job

The DEA is a job that entails risks, time, loyalty and full-hearted commitment. Elements every agent is aware of when they sign on. Additionally, DEA agents do their job without public adulation.

“Any time you’re dealing with criminals, especially those involved with drug trafficking, there are risks,” said Glaspy. “We do everything we can to plan out our investigations to minimize the risks to our agents, the criminals and the public that might be in the area.”

Jessie Torres served with the DEA for eight years and retired in 1981. He often did undercover buys, trekking from Brownsville to El Paso. Volunteering to go undercover, was expected of many Spanish speakers, he said.

“Back then, we went alone, never with a partner,” said Torres. “Generally there was someone watching from a distance, but it was just something we did as an individual.”

In early August of 1973, Torres was making an undercover buy in Brownsville, when the dealer spotted the agents that were backing Torres up. The dealer got scared and began shooting and wounded three of the standby agents. Torres was lucky enough to not get wounded, but still got spooked.

“I once asked an older agent that worked undercover as well if there ever came a point where we didn’t feel edgy,” said Torres. “He said he didn’t think so. The agent had been doing it for many years and would still feel edgy every time.”

Torres received a letter of accommodation from President Richard Nixon in 1972, in recognition of his exceptional services to others by law enforcement.

Alan Tittle, who worked with the DEA for 20 years, says dangers are inevitable, but it never stopped him from enjoying his work.

“Risk is just part of the job,” said Tittle. “There have been several operations where we were working undercover and weapons were drawn on us and some incidents when shots were fired.”

Agents have been murdered by drug traffickers, like the death of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena in 1985. James Kuykendall, who retired from the agency in 1989, was good friends with Camarena.

“He was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by drug traffickers and aided by Mexican drug officials,” said Kuykendall. “It was a blatant incident that highlighted the problem with corruption in Mexico at the time.”

In Action

There’s no surprise when agents discover ways smugglers try to bring drugs into the U.S. In most cases, drugs are shipped and smuggled through points of entry, on rafts, or backpacking them across the river. Once in the U.S., the drugs will make their way to a warehouse and are often co-mingled with cargo, such as fruit.

“Because of the Valley’s fruit industry, and the importance to the rest of country it’s easy to put drugs on the bottom of perhaps, a watermelon bin and cover them with fruit,” said Glaspy. “Other times drugs are co-mingled with dry goods from maquildoras in Mexico that are shipped into the U.S.”

Glaspy says smugglers also will hide marijuana within the crevices of packaged bricks. Kuykendall remembers during the late 1970s when a group of young college kids from Austin bought a used tank truck to smuggle marijuana across the river in Starr County. Once the drugs were crossed, they packed them in the tank trucks, and drove them to Austin to sell.

“There are many factors why people would get involved with drugs,” said Glaspy. “More than anything, it’s their common greed and desire for money.”

Driven by greed, drug smugglers have transported their fair share of illegal drugs into the country. In 2009, Valley DEA agents have stopped 353,000 pounds of marijuana, 10,000 pounds of cocaine, 591 pounds of methamphetamines, and 20 pounds of heroin from being sent to cities across the country.

New Valley Smugglers

Recently, with the escalated violence in Mexican cities, the RGV has become a more favored route for drug dealers to import drugs into the U.S., freely and safely. It gives DEA agents a bigger challenge trying to stop new drug trafficking routes through South Texas.

Glaspy says they have seen a significant spike in drugs coming through the Valley.

“We’re getting traffickers who haven’t historically operated in our area before,” said Glaspy. “Some intelligence received (indicates that) reason drug traffickers are transporting through the Rio Grande, is because there is no to little violence on both sides of our border, compared to Juarez and Tijuana corridors.”

Glaspy says there isn’t an increase of violence in the Valley because of the change in drug trafficking routes. It’s only causing larger drug smuggling attempts in this sector.

“My guess is that this will be a temporary change in trafficking routes, operative word being temporary,” said Glaspy. “We don’t know how long temporary will be.”

Since March 31, the DEA has confiscated 323,000 pounds of drugs from this region. It’s a number that is expected to grow.

Then and Now

Agents like Torres and Kuykendall were assigned to different areas of Mexico through the 1970s and 1980s. Torres, who was assigned to Reynosa for five years, says drug wars there have changed greatly since he was working.

“Back then, drug dealers very seldom put up any resistance. Once in awhile we would run into one. Things are very different now. Drug dealers have become more violent, because there is a lot more investment involved,” said Torres. “They are also determined to control law enforcement. In the past, they would basically listen to us. They didn’t try to intimidate us. Now it seems like they are bent on intimidation.”

Kuykendall, who was stationed in Guadalajara for two years, felt working in Mexico was hard because of all the corruption and the loss of his friend, Enrique Camarena.

“Speaking strictly in the realm of what we were doing, it was a great experience. I was working in the hub of where all the major narcotic traffickers were,” said Kuykendall. “It was frustrating as well, because of the official corruption that led to tragedies.”

There has been a difference in the drug industry from the early 1970s to today. Drug cartels are growing and running like huge money-hungry companies.

“They treat their illegal activities and organizations the way someone would run a Fortune 500 company. Their sole purpose is making money.”

Drug-Free Zone

DEA offices here in the Valley are doing their best to make sure there is not a continued increase in drugs or violence in the area. Glaspy says there are three things the federal agency and the public to need to enforce to stop violence.

“We have to maintain a strong enforcement presence to go after the criminals selling drugs on our streets and to our kids. Second, we have to do a better job of educating the American public about the dangers of drugs,” said Glaspy. “Thirdly, those already addicted to drugs, we have to provide treatment so they can be free of their addictions.”

Glaspy says many people may be surprised that drug use statistics in the Rio Grande Valley are a lot lower than in other metropolitan areas in the nation. The RGV is simply a shipping point.

“It’s wrong to assume that everyone that lives on the border is corrupt and involved with drug smuggling,” he said. “The RGV has more than their fair share of traffickers, however, there are people not only in the Valley, but in other border cites that take the opportunity to enrich themselves by legal means.”

With more drug consumers and producers being created to fill that need, the war on drugs is a continuous battle. Those agents who have fought that war were happy to do so.

“I believe drug traffickers have had a disastrous affect on every family of the United States of America. It’s something that should concern all of us,” said Kuykendall. “The DEA is the number one agency to do something about it.”

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Memorial Day ceremonies to honor local heroes

by Edwina Garza

A U.S. service member never gives up, said retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Gary Harrell.

“If you’re given an assignment, you just don’t quit,” he said, explaining a lesson he learned from his father, U.S. Marine Sgt. William Harrell who fought at Iwo Jima during World War II.

Harrell’s father, who was born in Rio Grande City, but grew up in Mercedes, lost both his hands fighting Japanese assailants. He was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor in 1945 by President Harry S. Truman for his efforts.

On Memorial Day, May 25, he will be honored at the Veterans War Memorial of Texas at the intersection of 29th and Galveston Streets in McAllen at 10 a.m. Cmdr. Gary Harrell will be the keynote speaker for the wall dedication in tribute to his father.

U.S. Army SPC Pedro Marroquin, Jr. who died fighting in Vietnam will also be honored. Marroquin grew up in Chicago, but his parents and brother have returned to McAllen. The family will be presented with medals from U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar.

CWV Military Tributes

In Mission, the Catholic War Veterans will celebrate a mass honoring the deceased May 25 at 9 a.m. at CWV Hall, 500 W. Business 83. First Vice Cmdr. Robert Garza asks that participants come to mass at 8:45 a.m. At 8 a.m., post members will pay tribute to the fallen at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Following mass, the group will visit the following cemeteries for services:  San Jose Cemetery at 10:15 a.m., Catholic Cemetery at 10:30 a.m. and Texas State Veterans Cemetery at 11 a.m.

City of Mission and ACE Club

The City of Mission, with the Assisting and Caring for Everyone Club, also known as ACE, and the Mission Historical Museum will host their service at the Leo Peña Plazita Park on Conway Avenue at 6 p.m. Mario Lizcano will serve as the master of ceremony. Retired U.S. Air Force Reserve MSgt. Salomon Marroquin will be the keynote speaker. Marroquin joined the Air Force Reserve during the Korean War, and served the Air Force for 20 years. He is a former Mission city secretary and administrator for the Mission Municipal Hospital. A life member of the Mission Historical Museum, Marroquin also worked for U.S. Representative Kika de la Garza for 20 years.

Harrell in Iwo Jima

Sgt. Harrell was in a foxhole with another Marine when a Japanese assault squad attacked his post on March 3,1945. With faulty weapons that would often jam because of the volcanic dust at Iwo Jima, Sgt. William Harrell had ordered a fellow Marine, Andrew Jackson Carter, to get a working weapon when a hand grenade exploded in their post.

“He broke his hip and tore off one of his hands,” Harrell said of his father’s initial injuries. “He said he didn’t realize it until he saw it.”

The attack continued. The Marines fought their assailants, nearly killing all of them. Carter was sent back to the command post when two Japanese assailants entered the foxhole.

Sgt. Harrell was taken for dead, but still, the Japanese activated a hand grenade and threw it at his head. With his good hand, Sgt. Harrell shot one of his assailants before tossing the grenade at another man. The blast from the second explosion destroyed his other hand.

“My dad passed on when I was 10 (in 1964),” Harrell said this week in an interview. “He didn’t really talk a lot about himself, but I always knew the uniqueness of my dad.”

Harrell and his older brother, Bill, who also served in the U.S. Marines fighting in Vietnam, searched for records and newspaper articles to discover who their father was and what he had done for their country. His father eventually became the chief of prosthetics for the Veterans Administration in San Antonio, often working in the Rio Grande Valley.

“We’re very honored,” Harrell said of the dedication. “This was something that we didn’t know about. That one night on Iwo Jima changed a lot of lives, but it did not determine who he was.”

There are heroes in everyday life, Harrell said, but Memorial Day is the time to recognize those efforts. Like his father, thousands of Marines, Navy, Army and Air Force personnel are ready for a similar challenge. The wall being dedicated to his father serves as a good reminder.

“People in the military are fortunate enough to be tested to continue to inspire us to do heroic things,” Harrell said. “(My dad) was just a kid like everybody else that rose to that challenge.”

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Services today for Celestino Ramirez

Services will be held today at 10 a.m. for longtime Mission City Councilman Celestino Ramirez who passed away Monday, May 18, at University Hospital in San Antonio from complications due to pneumonia. He was 64 years old.  The funeral mass is scheduled at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Mission with Rev. Roy Snipes, OMI, officiating.  Burial will follow at Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Mission under the direction of Ric Brown Family Funeral Home of Mission.

Commenting on Councilman Ramirez’s passing, Mission Mayor Norberto Salinas noted, “He was a good city council member and worked closely with us on the growth of the City of Mission.  He’s going to be missed by a lot of people at city hall.”

Mission City Manager Julio Cerda said, “He was a great value to the City of Mission and was very dear to me as both a councilman, my boss, and a good friend. He was always there to help the people – anybody that would come up to him and need the help.”

“He was always emphasizing that his number one priority was family first, and his second priority was the city. He always wanted to make sure we kept the city clean, we kept the alleys clean and we provided for the employees. He was a councilman of the people,” Cerda added.

Councilman Ramirez served on several city advisory boards before running for office.  He was a retired school administrator and took a full-time attitude towards his city council responsibilities. Ramirez was elected to the city council in 1993, was re-elected in 1996 and 1999. After being defeated in 2002 by current Mayor Pro Tem Leo Olivarez, he was elected the following year, filling the seat left vacant by the death of Leo Pena. He was serving his sixth term in office at the time of his death.

While on the city council, he supported numerous projects, such as the construction of Fire Station #3 and #4 and the Central Fire Station, the Mission Public Safety Building, drainage improvements, the expansion of the North Water Plant, the expansion and renovation of the Speer Memorial Library, and the expansion and renovation of the Mission Boys & Girls Club.

Among the many measures he voted on were the reduction of property taxes and the implementation of a tax freeze for the disabled and elderly.  Among his last wishes, he desired to see the construction completion of the Anzalduas Bridge and the new Mission Chamber of Commerce building.

After a successful liver transplant last year, he had been in and out of hospitals and had missed many city council meetings since last September.

A 1965 graduate of Mission High School, he was a Vietnam veteran while serving with the U.S. Army.  He went on to receive his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Pan American University and eventually retired from the education profession after 35 years as a teacher, counselor and principal with the PSJA ISD.

Survivors include his wife, Maria Elena of Mission; children, Celestino Ramirez, Jr. of Mission, Hector Ramirez of Mission, Anita Ramirez Rivera of Mission, and Sylvia Ramirez Flores of Mission; brothers, Inocencio Ramirez of McAllen and Daniel Ramirez of Mission; sisters, Maria Elena Ramirez of Mission, Carmen Ramirez of Mission, and Rosa Davila of Mission; and three grandchildren.