U.S. consular officials are warning travelers about the high risk of carjackings by cartel gunmen on the highways leading north to the Texas border. Just hours after issuing that warning, a group of cartel gunmen shot two men from Mexico who were heading to Texas to take advantage of the Black Friday specials.
This week, the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, issued a security alert highlighting the high number of robberies taking place along the highway connecting Monterrey with the Colombia port of entry, just west of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. According to the security alert, victims of robberies are pulled over by vehicles with flashing lights that at first glance appear to be law enforcement, but in fact are cartel gunmen.
“Local authorities have indicated that these armed groups appear to be targeting vehicles with out-of-state and foreign license plates,” the alert revealed.
While the consular warning does not identify a specific criminal organization, Nuevo Laredo is the historic base of operations of the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas, a criminal organization previously designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization. Despite the designation, Mexico’s federal government and the Tamaulipas government have done little to fight against the CDN-Los Zetas, who contnue to operate in their territories with almost complete impunity.
On Friday morning, a group of gunmen trying to carjack vehicles shot two tourists from Monterrey who were traveling to the Texas border city of McAllen. The attack took place along the toll highway that connects Monterrey with Reynosa, Tamaulipas, near the town of General Bravo.
Preliminary information revealed that a group of gunmen set up a roadblock and were carjacking vehicles when one vehicle with the two tourists tried to drive away. The gunmen fired several times at the vehicle, striking the two men who were able to drive away and call for help.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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