Views mixed on military presence in Nuevo Progreso

Few business people here said they heard Winter Texans’ account of armed men pushing a man off the international bridge Feb. 13.

A photograph of the incident shows men who “appear to be military,” a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman has said. Witnesses said the men were dressed in military fatigues.

In this tourist town, some businesses want Mexico’s military to leave because they say soldiers scare off tourists.

But others want the army to stay nearly two months after a gunbattle that left three gangsters dead in nearby Rio Bravo.

Violence is not good for tourism, locals say.

“Stories like this always affect business,” said Gilbert Garza, an owner of Arturo’s restaurant. “We don’t want stories to stop tourists from coming to see us.”

A drop in Winter Texan traffic has “been really hurting” the restaurant that’s a landmark along the bustling main street, Garza said.

But just three hours earlier, Garza told the Star daytime business was going strong.

“We’re still busy,” he said in the earlier interview. “A lot of people are crossing the bridge.”

But after sunset, business slows down, Garza said.

“With the military here, that just scares some people away,” he said.

At the mayor’s office, administrator Chuy Cuellar said the Winter Texans’ account was under investigation.

At first, officials there called it “rumors,” Cuellar said.

But inquiries led the office to investigate the report, he said.

At one of Nuevo Progreso’s largest tourist shops, a woman who said she was the owner’s daughter said she did know of an incident in which soldiers had gone out on the bridge and pushed a man into the water below. But she called it a big joke.

“We talked to the soldiers. We’re aware,” said the woman, who refused to give her name. “The man they threw off, nothing happened to him.”

She said she did not know whether that incident was the same one Winter Texans say they witnessed Feb. 13.

The woman, who said she was a student at a San Antonio university, said she couldn’t remember the full name of the man she called a “drug user” nicknamed Nayo.

“I know that guy. I talked to him,” she said. “He told me they were just playing with him.”

Soldiers were engaging in horseplay when they pushed the man off the bridge, she said.

“In Mexico, we play around, with ugly words,” she said. “That’s the way our culture is.”

At the area’s tourism office, Tourism Director Javier Villarreal said he had not heard about the incident.

But Villarreal said the military’s presence had become part of everyday life there.

“It’s part of the routine now,” Villarreal said.

The government stationed the military to protect the city, Villarreal said.

“They are gentlemen,” he said of the soldiers. “They believe in public service. They believe in protecting the nation.”

At the National Commission for Human Rights in Reynosa, officials had not known about the bridge incident or anything similar, attorney Ricardo Segovia said.

But at Garcia’s Canada Store, manager Manuel Amado praised the show of force.

“It didn’t affect anything,” Amado said. “It’s really calm and peaceful. It’s good for security.”

But port inspections scare tourists, Amado said.

“The American (visitor) is very fearfulof the inspections,” he said. “But there’s no trouble with the army. They even take photos with the Americans.”