Sometimes, he says, young men come to sniff glue on the riverbank and stare at the promised land, the United States of America. He never knows when some of them might wade across the water and hop on to his property. What he does know, though, is that when they come he will be ready. "Nobody wants to shoot anybody," he says, "but I don't want to be robbed. I'm gonna protect myself, have to."All along this stretch of riverbank, just outside Del Rio,homeowners ensure they are never far from a rifle. Mr Vick had burglars burst into his home four months ago but by the time he came storming out with his twin gun barrels ahead of him the thieves had made off with his stereo system and had vanished back into the darkness.The teenagers who ventured into the garden of his neighbour, Patrick Bordelon, a few months ago did not make such a clean getaway. One of them, Luis Armando Chavez, was shot in the head and killed.Such incidents are becoming more common.
Mr Chavez was the second teenager to be shot by Mr Bordelon in six months. A rancher in Rock Springs, 70 miles north of Del Rio and about 30 miles from the border, put a bullet into a would-be illegal immigrant a couple of months ago. And on 14 May, another young Mexican bled to death after being shot in the groin on a remote ranch.In every case, the perpetrators have claimed they were merely protecting their property against trespass and theft - reason enough, in these parts, to blast away with a firearm. But it is far from clear that the Mexicans were doing any more than passing through or looking for water after a long trek through the brush in 40C heat.According to the Mexican authorities, the first teenager shot by Mr Bordelon was swimming with his dogs and never came out of the river. According to the Kinney County sheriff, the 74-year-old rancher who came after the most recent victim, Eusebio de Haro, shot him off his property while the young man was trying to run away.The shootings have prompted diplomatic protest from the Mexican government and, along with reports of vigilante gangs hunting down immigrants in Arizona, raised serious concerns about human rights abuses. But it is also clear that the ever-swelling numbers of Mexicans making the illegal crossing are stirring up both fear and resentment on the American side to dangerous levels."If people don't think this is gonna keep happening, they're wrong," warned Jewel Robinson, a newspaper proprietor in Brackettville, 30 miles east of Del Rio, and the owner of the ranch where Mr de Haro was killed. "It used to be they would come in ones and twos and we gave them water and crackers and let them sleep in the barn.
But now they are coming across in droves and I mean droves."Everyone has their favourite horror story about the Mexicans, referred to variously as "wetbacks" or "wets" or "aliens" but rarely as humans. Ms Robinson recounts how a neighbour was shot with her own firearm by a "wet" and left paralysed. Mr Vick knows a man with cancer whose water pumps have been stolen every time he leaves for San Antonio for chemotherapy "They slash people's sofas, defecate on the floor Someone who does that isn't hungry It's a hate crime," Mr Vick said. "I don't care what race they are."The veracity of these accounts, and of those told by the Mexicans, are almost impossible to prove. Everyone has a partisan point view, and everyone has good reason to lie.Some statistics, however, speak for themselves. The border patrol in the Del Rio area picks up as many as 25,000 illegal immigrants per month - three times the figure five years ago and, one presumes, just a fraction of the full number making the crossing.
Nearly 4,000 Mexicans were prosecuted in Texas border towns on drugs-related charges last year.The other eloquent statistic, of course, is the high concentration of firearms in Texas. "We have enough guns out here to start a war if we want," said Sheriff Burgess. And with that, he and his deputies let out a sinister roar of laughter.. Rick Lazio, the Long Island congressman who one week ago stepped in to replace Rudy Giuliani as the Republican runner in the New York senate race, has virtually caught up with his Democratic opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, a new poll suggests. Rick Lazio, the Long Island congressman who one week ago stepped in to replace Rudy Giuliani as the Republican runner in the New York senate race, has virtually caught up with his Democratic opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, a new poll suggests. Meanwhile, Mr Giuliani, who was forced from the race by health and marital problems, said he will begin returning donations worth $2.8m (£1.75m) received from supporters across the US. He will ask each contributor to redirect the funds to Mr Lazio's campaign.The poll, conducted by Zogby International, showed Mr Lazio drawing the support of 43.8 per cent of voters in New York state compared to 45.8 per cent for the First Lady.
He has apparently been rewarded for several days of frenzied campaigning all around the state.Mrs Clinton, now vulnerable to the Lazio surge, tried to douse speculation that she wants a Senate seat as a stepping stone to the US presidency in 2004. "That is not going to happen," she said at a voter forum in Rochester "I don't blame people for being sceptical. I feel that I owe it to the people of New York to serve a six-year term.". Peru's presidential palace was attacked by angry crowds with firebombs yesterday after President Alberto Fujimori refused to postpone this weekend's run-off elections, despite the opposition leader's withdrawal from the contest amid allegations of vote-rigging. Peru's presidential palace was attacked by angry crowds with firebombs yesterday after President Alberto Fujimori refused to postpone this weekend's run-off elections, despite the opposition leader's withdrawal from the contest amid allegations of vote-rigging. After 10 years in power, Mr Fujimori, 61, is determined to assume a third term of office unopposed, regardless of pressure by international observers who have already condemned the poll arrangements as fundamentally flawed.Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets and clashed with police minutes after the Peru election board's announcement that the vote would go ahead on Sunday.
