helicopters, dead people, morgues and the cartel.

On November 12th the famed Baja 1000 started in Ensenada (Google Baja 1000 for info). As always there are many helicopters there for this event. During the race one such helicopter failed to see high tension electric lines and hit them. The copter went down. As the news spread it was first heard that the copter was a Evac copter on it’s way to an accident, then it was a SCORE helicopter, finally the truth, it was a rented helicopter from Ensenada with 2 guys from Tijuana watching the race (a side note, we were going to rent this helicopter for some filming of Hearing Everett, too late now). The 2 guys died, the pilot and co-pilot survived but messed up. The dead guys are taken to a morgue in Ensenada. That night about 6-12 vehicles arrive at the morgue, masked men with high caliber rifles bust into the place, snatch one of the dead bodies and kidnap two forensic personnel and go blazing out of Ensenada shooting anything that gets in their way, by the time the authorities figure what happened, these guys are on their way out of town and heading towards Guadalupe (Where I live). By now the Highway patrol, the State police, the municipal cops, Judiciales and army are chasing these guys. They radio ahead to the Guadalupe police force (all 4 of them) and tell them to stop the kidnappers. So at the small police command center next to the road (1 kilometer from our Ranch) these poor cops try to stop a caravan of 12 vehicles each with like 6 guys and all with serious weapons, against 2 cops with handguns and maybe a rifle or two. It did not end well, As the cops were answering the call they were not informed who was coming or what was happening, just told to "stop some vehicles heading your way". So in an attempt to stop the cars two cops were killed and the caravan didn’t even slow down and amazing enough all the vehicles and bad guys disappeared between Guadalupe and Tecate.

Wow, What is up with that? It is alleged that the dead guy snatch was one of the leaders of the Tijuana drug cartel (ya think!). Why was he so important even though he was dead? Two possible answers, one They wanted to get him before the authorities really figured out who he was, the other reason, these guys always get their dead.

This story continues to unfold as yesterday November 21st, the helicopter pilot was removed from the hospital under heavy military and police guard whisked to a waiting jet and flown to Mexico city. I feel sorry for the pilot because obviously he did know know who he was flying around. the guy gave him a fake name and paid cash. That would be like me picking up a hitch hiker (which I never do), then going off one of the many curves around here, the hitch hiker gets killed, I survive messed up, but it turns out the dead guy is a wanted fugitive, next thing you know, I'm on a plane to Mexico city under arrest. remember in Mexico you are GUILTY till proven innocent. It kinda sucks.