
Big Bend sheds a different light on the US frontier
CNN
Take a river journey on the Rio Grande through Big Bend National Park in West Texas. You'll see the US-Mexico border in a new, wild light.
(CNN) — It's late afternoon in Santa Elena Canyon -- a 19-mile gorge that separates Big Bend National Park in West Texas and three national parks in Mexico -- and we're setting up camp along a remote stretch of the Rio Grande. We came across two other canoe groups this morning, but they were day trippers. The only ones staying over on this night in early 2021 are myself, my daughter Shannon, and river guide Mike Gamboni. Call it extreme social distancing. As we sit around the campfire that night, another thought occurs. Despite all the talk over the past few years about blocking off the Mexican border, here's a stretch that will likely never see a wall, fence, barbed wire or any other kind of man-made barrier.
The alleged drug traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were heading to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname — a small South American country east of Venezuela – the admiral who oversaw the operation told lawmakers on Thursday according to two sources with direct knowledge of his remarks.

The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.











