Archive for March, 2015

Mexico was never like Disney portrayed it. 

If you were poor it was a struggle. And the failure to provide for your family sometimes led to banditry. But being an outlaw was also a struggle and often the inherent violence would put your life on the line.  But while you were alive and running free, life was good.

Before becoming an outlaw Pancho Villa, worked and lived on a large ranch with his mother and sister.  He had to leave because he killed the son of the owner for raping his sister.  Pancho was seeking revenge for her humiliation.  He went on to be an idol of the poor.  Riding his spirited horse, wearing his famous hat, the cavalry uniform and crossed bandoliers, he was loaded with charisma, and was literally worshipped.  

Bandits had many shapes, sizes and styles. The Mexican bandit portrayed in the movies was either charismatic or a steely-eyed killer.  My stories take place in and around the Mexican Border and inside Mexico.  I’m not a romantic writer, but I may have to throw in some “Golden Hat” (see photo).

The romance has ended. The current drug lords and their men now appear in jeans, T-shirts and slacks and look anything but daring–do.  We go from the hard looking sombrero-wearing charismatic bad-asses to the kind of people you see at Walmart and the local mall.  We are living in the true downfall of bandit-romantica.  I will try to lift Mexico out of the velour sweat suit wearing guys being led away by the police.

My name is Wally Runnels and I write Border Pulp.

The protagonist in many of my stories is Rocky.  He’s a disabled Marine Sergeant who works as a hired assassin.  Only the doctors at the Navy Hospital in San Diego know his last name.

His favorite breakfast is chilaquiles.  Mine too.  Hemingway describes food in The Moveable Feast.  He does so while complaining that his short stories are selling in Germany, but not in America.  All that bitching while savoring the potato salad he just purchased in a Paris Restaurant.  Somehow that paragraph has always stayed with me.

The first time I experienced chilaquiles was in Guadalajara.  My brother and I were looking for antiques.  We stayed at a hotel in the outskirts of the city.  It was small and really nice.  The first morning we had a breakfast of pancakes and eggs.

The hotel manager had his food served at a table next to ours.  His plate was filled with a tortilla chip thing.

It smelled great. “Wow, what’s that,” I asked?

“Unmomento.” With a chuckle he left his table and returned with a small plate of what he was having.  Placing it on our table he said, “Chilaquiles.”

What an eye opener.  It was an education without expressing a word.  Dry without any sauce, hot and spicy.  I remember that moment like first-time sex.  That’s how chilaquiles were to me.  I know it’s weird, but what can I say?

If you’ve never had chilaquiles I “borrowed” a recipe from Molly Bloom, a very talented writer.  It’s her grandmother’s Guadalajara recipe. Enjoy.

 My name is Wally Runnels and I write Border Pulp.

Experts say the Mexican cartels can make twenty-four drones for the price of one narco-submarine.  So if a sub costs about two million dollars, that means a drone, now called a narcodrone will cost about $84,000.

State of the art drones are being built in Mexico by moonlighting aeronautical engineers.  These vehicles are lightweight. One can weigh about one hundred pounds and  carry enough drugs to make two million dollars per flight.  In Columbia a kilo of cocaine (2.2 lbs.) will cost about $1,700.  It sells for $30.000 in the United States.  Times this by ten or fifteen aircraft in a narcodrone swarm the profit runs in the millions.

There is no need for a mule, a human drug carrier, that can be caught, interrogated, and will give out names of cartel members.  A pilotless narcodrone is launched and flies a predetermined GPS course where a waiting handler picks up the aircraft and its load.  Once the flight is complete the wings are folded aircraft carrier style and stored in a semi trailer for servicing.

Payment for the received drugs can be sent in the same way.  A high degree of trust will be the keystone for this kind of operation.

So if you’re out and hear something like a flying lawn mower passing overhead, that’s Air Cartel making a delivery.  Sorry FedEx.

My name’s Wally Runnels and I write Border Pulp.