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For the investigators, the human foot — burned, but with some fabric still attached — was the tipoff: Until recently, this squat, ruined house was a place where bodies were ripped apart and incinerated, where the remains of some of Mexico’s missing multitudes were obliterated. How many disappeared in this cartel “extermination site” on the outskirts of Nuevo Laredo, miles from the U.S. border? After six months of work, forensic technicians still don’t dare offer an estimate. In a single room, the compacted, burnt human remains and debris were nearly 2 feet deep. Uncounted bone fragments were spread across 75,000...

A verified and convicted terrorist who attacked a U.S. Consulate with a grenade and automatic rifle fire has taken over the ruthless Los Zetas cartel, a group headquartered at the Texas border in the Nuevo Laredo-Laredo metropolitan border area. Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, sits immediately across the border from Laredo, Texas, and is the only urban location along the entire U.S.-Mexico Border that does not have any fencing or constructed security barrier of any kind. The convicted terrorist, Hector Raul Luna Luna, is known as “El Tory” and was convicted in the 2008 terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey,...

Mexico City -- Mexican authorities said Thursday that 21 bodies, some burned, have been found in the northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas in what appears to have been a clash between drug gangs. The bodies were found near the remains of seven burned-out vehicles near the border town of Miguel Aleman.

Despite the capture of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the criminal group continues to export "wholesale" quantities of methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl through crossing points located along the Mexican-California border: AZ, NM, and W. Texas.... the Sinaloa cartel "maintains an international expansionary footprint" in comparison with other groups, says the Drug Control Administration (DEA) in its annual report on drug trafficking which was published this Friday. SINALOA- continues to export "wholesale" amounts of methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl through crossing points located along the Mexican border .... These drugs are distributed in cities such as Chicago, Phoenix, Los...

REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — Convoys of cartel gunmen clashed in a Mexican neighborhood immediately south of a U.S. wildlife refuge. The fierce gun battle went on for more than an hour and reached an international bridge zone that connects this city with Pharr, Texas. A leaked cartel video obtained by Breitbart Texas reveals the moment when gunmen from one of the factions ride in an armored SUV in what appears to be a patrol operation. Moments later, the gunmen can be heard calling for reinforcements as they begin to fire their weapons at rivals.

All five states -- Tamaulipas on the U.S. border and Sinaloa, Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero on the Pacific coast -- are hotspots of drug cartel activity, either hosting trafficking routes or extensive drug-crop cultivation. The new warning system designates the states as a "level 4" risk, the highest level of potential danger. Mexico as a whole has a level 2 rating, meaning Americans should "exercise increased caution" because of concerns about crime. But an additional 11 Mexican states got a level 3 warning Wednesday, which urges people to "reconsider travel" there. Mexico has 31 states in all. Those states where...

Travel Advisory January 10, 2018 Mexico – Level 2: Exercise increased caution C Exercise increased caution in Mexico due to crime. Some areas have increased risk. Read the entire Travel Advisory. Violent crime, such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery, is widespread. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in many areas of Mexico as U.S. government employees are prohibited from travel to these areas. U.S. government employees are prohibited from intercity travel after dark in many areas of Mexico. U.S. government employees are also not permitted to drive from the U.S.-Mexico border to...

MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas — The failed strategy by the Mexican government has created a new issue in this border city where organized crime has tried to diminish common crime in an effort to lower public attention. Drug cartels appear to be succeeding in lowering common crime, something that the State of Tamaulipas has failed in. “They cut my fingers off for being a thief,” the tattoo on the forehead of a suspected criminal explained. Information obtained by this outlet points to the victim being connected to a series of burglaries in the city. His kidnapping and torture appear to be a...

ar Mexican soccer player Alan Pulido has been rescued after being kidnapped in the crime-ridden northern border state of Tamaulipas, Mexican authorities said Monday. The rescue took place after midnight on Monday, according to press accounts quoting officials in Ciudad Victoria, the state capital, where the player had been abducted about 24 hours earlier. Pulido was not believed to have suffered any major injury but was undergoing a medical evaluation. In a brief appearance before the press, he wore a multicolored tank top and had a bandage on his right hand. “I’m well, thank God,” Pulido said in comments to...

A man in Tamaulipas, Mexico claimed that his wife disrespected him after he asked her to do the laundry—and had her put in jail for “causing a disturbance.” Truck driver Edgar Ivan Perez Alvarado, 26, claimed that his wife, Dulce Requena Garcia, 21, would not iron his clothes because she believed he was going to meet a mistress. […] Garcia was unable to pay the disturbance fine of 400 pesos, an equivalent of $25. The husband also refused to pay the fine, according to the publication (Puebla en Linea), and instead she was ordered a 12-hour sentence. …

Mexico’s human rights commission said Thursday it launched an investigation into what had been reported as five teenage students who were fatally run down Wednesday by suspected criminals fleeing army soldiers giving chase. The declaration came the same day that the Tamaulipas attorney general’s office backed off its initial report that the five children — between 13 and 15 years old — were killed as they waited for a school bus along the Reynosa-San Fernando highway early Wednesday afternoon. Instead, state prosecutors now say that there’s nothing that shows the truck that killed the students was being pursued by army...

The city of Matamoros is under a virtual state of siege following two days of shootouts blockades and panic related to yet another ongoing struggle within the Gulf Cartel. The shootouts began early Sunday morning and spread throughout the day leaving at least 13 gunmen dead, which state officials confirmed, however that figure appears to be relatively low because of the intensity of the shootouts. On Monday afternoon, Mayor Leticia Salazar issued a statement warning the public to stay indoors because of the expected outburst of violence. “At this point based on the information provided by federal authorities we are...

MEXICO CITY - Thirteen people were killed in shootouts on Sunday around the northeastern Mexican city of Matamoros in one of the worst recent outbreaks of violence in an area ravaged by drug gangs. Three gunfights took place around the city opposite Brownsville, Texas, two of which were exchanges between gunmen and Mexico's armed forces, according to a statement from the state government of Tamaulipas. Eight men died in the fighting with Mexican Marines after four men and one woman were killed in an earlier clash between unidentified armed groups, the state government said.

The FBI is asking for help finding leads on a Rio Grande Valley Marine kidnapped at gunpoint in Mexico, the agency said Monday. Armando Torres III, 25, crossed over the Progreso International Bridge on May 14 to visit his father on a ranch near Los Indios, according to an agency news release. There, investigators believe armed intruders took Torres, his father Armando Torres II and uncle Salvador Torres shortly after they arrived. The younger Torres’ sister Cristina Torres, 24, who lives in Virginia, said she got a call from her cousin minutes after the gunmen raced away. “She saw a...

Anthropologists from Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (INAH) have announced the discovery of nearly 5,000 cave paintings in Sierra de San Carlos in the town of Burgos in the state of Tamaulipas. The cave paintings are thought to have been made by Pre-Hispanic hunter-gatherer groups that roamed the region. The paintings were located in 11 different sites in Burgos, which sits 100 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border. The paintings tell the story of nomadic life dominated by hunting , fishing and gathering. The drawings contain symbols representing religious activity tied to astronomical occurrences. Researchers noted that the...

Authorities are investigating a gruesome discovery made south of the border just outside Ciudad Victoria on Easter Sunday. The Tamaulipas Attorney General's Office (PGJE) confirmed the bodies of nine men were found inside an SUV abandoned along the highway. Investigators reported the 2012 GMC Yukon was found at the Kilometer 7.5 marker of the Ciudad Victoria-Soto La Marina around 10 p.m. Easter Sunday. The SUV was found in a rural community named Ejido Santa Clara just outside Ciudad Victoria. The names of the nine slain men were not immediately available but PGJE officials said the majority of them had been...

More workers in Mexico have died from their wounds following a blast that set off a blaze at a gas plant, bringing the death toll to 30. Twenty-five people are still in hospital. State-run oil company Pemex says that all those who had been missing are now accounted for. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has ordered an investigation into Tuesday's blast in northern Tamaulipas state. Pemex has ruled out foul play, saying it was an "unfortunate accident". The plant sustained serious damage and could take a month to restart operations, Pemex said. In an interview with Mexican radio, Pemex executive Carlos...

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico — A powerful car bomb exploded outside the home of the top police official of the northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas early Tuesday, killing two policemen and injuring four officers and three civilians. Tamaulipas state Interior Secretary Morelos Canseco said Public Safety Secretary Rafael Lomeli wasn't injured in the blast, but that three neighbors were injured by glass fragments from shattered windows. Canseco said the attack appears to be a reprisal by criminal gangs. Almost a half-dozen car-bomb attacks have occurred in recent years Tamaulipas, where the Gulf cartel is battling the rival Zetas gang, but...

The day started as quietly as it could on a Saturday at the U.S.-Mexico border. For Maria Ortega, a quiet weekend meant a quick trip to the Walmart along Cavazos Lerma Boulevard for ingredients for her barbacoa de lenguadish that she cooks on the eve of the Sunday morning meal. On the morning of June 2, Ortega couldn’t make the trip to Walmart. The area had been cordoned off by the Mexican military, which was removing a grenade that had been thrown — but not detonated — at the nearby Televisa studios. According to a Tamaulipas law enforcement official who...

American officials are issuing an alert following the arrest in the United States of the brother of a high-ranking member of the Zetas drug cartel. According to the New York Times, federal officials arrested Jose Treviño-Morales on Tuesday morning as part of a money laundering investigation. The newspaper reported that Treviño-Morales is accused of using champion race horse ranches in New Mexico and Oklahoma to launder millions of dollars in drug money for the Zetas. The New York Times reported that Treviño-Morales is the brother of Miguel Angel Treviño-Morales, a high-ranking Zetas leader known as Z-40. The U.S. Embassy in...