Free Republic

Mexican military patrols were on the lookout Tuesday for a group of Zeta gunmen that had entered Matamoros with plans to carry out several attacks. Locals reported seeing the military convoys, which were larger and more heavily armed than usual, patrol the city keeping an eye on high-profile vehicles. A source with firsthand knowledge of criminal activity in Tamaulipas stated that a group of approximately 50 Zetas were able to enter the city and hide amid the confusion of the weekend fighting between the Zetas, the Gulf Cartel and the Mexican military. On Monday afternoon, the source confirmed a clash...

There was a time a time when the municipality of San Fernando in northeastern Mexico was known for farming, fishing and a quiet way of life. Today, it is associated with death. This week, a young Ecuadorean with bullet holes through his shoulder and cheek told the story of how he and his travelling companions on their way to the US in search of work had been kidnapped in San Fernando by the Zetas, one of Mexico’s drug cartels. Even Monterrey, the country’s industrial center known until recently for its peaceful lifestyle, has been turned upside down with terror. The...

Officials were forced to close northbound traffic on the Gateway International Bridge for a short time Sunday because of a grenade attack in Matamoros, officials said. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Eduardo Perez, an incident in Matamoros at about 7:20 pm. caused Mexican authorities to divert traffic to from Gateway International Bridge to B&M International Bridge and Veterans International Bridge for approximately 45 minutes. “CBP officers continue to process traffic and people while being ever vigilant, we will continue to ensure the security of our facilities and our top priority as always is the safety of the...

MONTERREY, Mexico - Suspected drug hitmen killed the mayor of a small town in northern Mexico on Sunday in a region where two car bombs exploded last week and the bodies of 72 murdered migrant workers were found. Mayor Marco Antonio Leal was shot dead by gunmen in SUVs as he drove through his rural municipality of Hidalgo near the Gulf of Mexico in Tamaulipas state, the local attorney general's office said. Leal's 4-year-old daughter was slightly wounded in the attack, a spokesman said. It was not immediately clear why Leal was targeted, but Tamaulipas has become one of Mexico's...

The prosecutor leading the investigation into this week's massacre of 72 South and Central American migrants in Mexico has gone missing and is feared dead, officials said Friday. Mexico's two main newspapers, Reforma and El Universal, said Mexican marines found the body of Roberto Suarez, an agent from the state attorney general's office in northern Tamaulipas state, dumped alongside a highway. The reports said the body, which bore signs of an execution, was found not far from the ranch where 58 men and 14 women—migrants from Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Brazil—were gunned down by a drug gang called the...

By Ben Swann - Main Anchor Tuesday, August 24, 2010 - 10:45pm The body of a federal police agent was found dismembered in Juarez, Tuesday. The agent was found just a few feet from the border between Juarez and El Paso. The man's body had been found dismembered with body parts spread out across street. His head was left on top of a Nissan Xterra.

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A survivor has told police that 72 people found dead at a ranch near the Mexican border with Texas were migrants kidnapped by an armed group, a federal official said Wednesday. The bodies of 58 men and 14 women were discovered Tuesday when Marines manning a checkpoint on a highway in the northern state of Tamaulipas were approached by a wounded man who said he had been attacked by gang gunmen at a nearby ranch.