Drug cartel members in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, across from Laredo, Texas, recently hijacked trucks to form blockades on major avenues and temporarily block international bridges, according to Mexican authorities.
A shootout between alleged cartel members and soldiers in Mexico’s National Guard left a suspected gunman dead on Nov. 19.
That followed a wave of violence between cartel members and law enforcement that has reportedly left eight people dead, according to the Laredo Morning Times.
A state security agency in Mexico, the Coordinating Group for the Construction of Peace in Tamaulipas, reported that armed men carjacked civilians and seized large trucks, using them to blockade main streets, including some leading to international border bridges, according to CBS Austin. Initial reports did not indicate bridge or freight operations at crossings had been affected yet.
The violence has prompted the U.S. consulate in Nuevo Laredo to release a travel warning advisory.
“The Consulate continues to monitor the security situation in the city of Nuevo Laredo following violence between Mexican authorities and criminal organizations that started on November 15,” the U.S. consulate said Nov. 17 on its Facebook page.
The recent violence in Nuevo Laredo comes after several violent alleged cartel encounters in Mexico, including the killing of nine Mormon women and children Nov. 4 in Sonora.
Nuevo Laredo is directly across the U.S.-Mexico border from Laredo. An estimated 14,000 trucks per day cross in both directions between the two cities carrying freight of all kinds.