Free Republic

A former associate of Edgar Valdez-Villarreal, "La Barbie," is killed in a Nuevo Laredo prison. An inmate in a Nuevo Laredo prison stabbed Jose Luis Carrizales-Coronado to death. Authorities say a federal judge released Coronado from a prison in Monterrey on Monday claiming a lack of evidence in a case. He came back to Nuevo Laredo and was arrested for previous murder charges. Officials say he started a fight with other inmates in the bathroom, where they beat and stabbed him. According to Mexican authorities, Coronado was an associate of Edgar Valdez-Villarreal back in 2003.

MEXICO CITY – Mexican Federal Police freed two kidnapped journalists held captive since last Monday in the northern part of the country by an organized crime group, officials said Saturday. The two were in a group of four journalists who were intercepted last Monday in the La Laguna region, which includes areas in the states of Coahuila and Durango in northern Mexico. One of them, Hector Gordoa of Televisa, was released Thursday in good health. In an operation based on intelligence work, the agents rescued the two journalists in the city of Gomez Palacio, Durango state, according to a communique...

Four men are found dead early this morning in front of the Plaza de Torros Lauro Luis Longoria in Nuevo Laredo. We want to warn you, the image we are about to show you is graphic. Media outlets in Mexico are now saying authorities have confirmed that the bodies were discovered right before 6 a.m. this morning. The men appeared to have been tortured. Dead cats and dogs were also found, along with two messages. One note allegedly saying, "I am the one who threw the grenade at the sporting event." It also said he and his friend were paid...

It appears tonight that several neighborhoods in Nuevo Laredo are once again sounding like war zones. We've received lots of phone calls tonight from viewers saying they hear gunshots and explosions across the border. Laredo Police say the battle appears to be near Parque Viveros. That's the area near the sports complex where a grenede went off on Monday. We sent our Annette Garcia high atop the Rio Grande Plaza Hotel to see what she could see and hear from that vantage point.

A fragmentation grenade was detonated Monday night at the Benito Juárez sports complex, leaving one dead and 16 wounded, according to officials who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to give details. According to a source, the incident occurred around 11 p.m. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the victims were treated at three separate medical facilities: Hospital General, Clinica de Especialidades and the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Socíal. Authorities have remained silent on the details, but said they are investigating. Military officials did not immediately return calls. The Benito Juárez sports complex is located east of...

At least 12 dead following gun fight between Mexican military and Mexican drug cartel hit men Several intersections in the City of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico were shut down as gun battles erupted between the Mexican military and heavily armed “hit men” from a Mexican drug cartel. The gunfire could be heard across the U.S. border in Laredo, Texas leading citizens there to call 911. ...

Yesterday's violence in Nuevo Laredo caused people to rush across our bridges in fear. Now today, Mexican officials are confirming what happened, saying at least a dozen people are dead and many other are wounded--including some children. Video off of youtube.com reveals the sound of gunfire in Nuevo Laredo. In a recent statement, the Federal Interior Department said nine suspects were killed as well as two civilians and one soldier. The Associated Press says 21 people were caught in the crossfire and are wounded, including three children. There have also been reports of shooters opening fire on a school bus,...

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — The Mexican army says seven gunmen and one soldier have died this week in gunbattles in two cities bordering Texas. According to army statements, the first shootout killed a soldier in Reynosa on Sunday. Four gunmen died Tuesday in the same city, and another three were killed in Nuevo Laredo.

There is new footage out of Nuevo Laredo this evening of officers guarding the American Consulate Office a day after their building was bombed. Laredo city officials say the attack is alarming; and people on our side of the border are now worried about what may come next. Annette Garcia visits one Laredo neighborhood where people say the sounds of gunshots are all too familiar. She has our top story tonight. "Soldiers surrounding the U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo two days afer an explosive was thrown over the fence breaking the windows of the building. Authorities say the A.T.F. and...

Investigators reviewing surveillance footage, interviewing witnesses Authorities have launched a massive investigation after an explosive device was thrown over the fence of the American Consulate in Nuevo Laredo. Official confirmed that the attack happened around 11 p.m. Friday. Nobody was injured but the consulate and its office in Piedras Negras will be closed until further notice. "The Consulate General and Consular Agency will reopen when we are confident that we have adequate security to keep our visitors safe," consulate officials reported on their website. Both Mexican and American authorities are cooperating in a ongoing investigation. According to the Tamaulipas Ministry...

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The U.S. Embassy in Mexico says a bomb damaged the outside of the U.S. consulate in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, but there are no injuries.

The AP is reporting that a bomb has been thrown over the wall of the US consulate in Nuevo Laredo on Saturday. Nuevo Laredo is a border city in Mexico. At the time of this writing, there are no injuries. Reporting on Fox News, Gregg Jarrett confirmed this report at about 2:50 PM PST. This is breaking news, and updates may follow.

SNIPPET: "Somalis with ties to a terrorist organization are believed to be plotting to illegally enter the United States after being mistakenly released from custody in Mexico, a confidential federal law enforcement report said." SNIPPET: "Included in the group is Mohamed Osman Noor, 35, of Somalia, who U.S. officials suspect has strong ties to Al-Shabaab Mujahideen, an Islamist insurgency group in the ongoing war in Somalia with ties to al Qaeda. The report was written by an intelligence official with the Laredo Sector Border Intelligence Center, a joint federal task force under the Department of Homeland Security that operates on...

LAREDO, Texas — Investigators say the 36-year-old man shot to death by a Border Patrol agent on the banks of the Rio Grande had a long history of illegal entry and was found as recently as January with drugs. Laredo police spokesman Joe Baeza said Victor Hugo de la Cruz was deported at least five times previously before he was confronted by a Border Patrol agent Wednesday night.

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — A shootout in northern Mexico between soldiers and suspected drug cartel gunmen killed two children and wounded five of their relatives who were caught in the crossfire, the latest in a string of deaths of bystanders in the nation's drug war. The 5- and 8-year-old brothers were traveling in their family's car when the gunbattle broke out on a highway near the border city of Nuevo Laredo, the Tamaulipas state government said in statement Sunday night. The statement corrected an initial government report that only bystander was killed in the confrontation Saturday night. Two suspected gunmen...

Cities like San Antonio are reporting spring break tourism was a big success, but officials here this is the worst spring break they have ever seen for Laredo. The Laredo Hotel Association president says the border violence is to blame. Noraida Negron has more in this Pro 8 Investigation. (INTERESTING NEWS VIDEO )

The U.S. Consulate in Monterrey is urging travelers to not use the highway between Nuevo Laredo and Monterey. The warning is for all forms of ground transportation including private cars and commercial busses. In the warning the consulate cited "a deterioration of the security situation of the border region," citing the gun battles and grenade attacks at the police station in Nuevo Laredo. The consulate has also halted non-essential travel for government employees. The warning also applies to the highway between Reynosa and Monterrey. For those that must travel the consulate says morning and early afternoon travel is the safest...

Three hundred soldiers have arrived in Nuevo Laredo for extra security. Their job is to patrol the entire city of Nuevo Laredo and restore the peace. According to reports, citizens are welcoming the soldiers as they are feeling more secure with their presence.

WESLACO - CHANNEL 5 NEWS learned the Zetas are out of Reynosa tonight. They've moved about 150 miles west to Nuevo Laredo. Our intelligence sources tell us the group wants to take over the city and make it their base of operations. The U.S. Consulate General's office has already confirmed a gunbattle in Nuevo Laredo. It's happening near Boulevard Colosio and the city's zoo. The consulate general's office is telling all U.S. citizens to take shelter until the fighting stops. CHANNEL 5 NEWS learned the Zetas are already calling in reinforcements. We're told 700 Zetas from around Mexico are joining...

Paisanos run for cover as bullets fly between Mexican soldiers and another group of men. It happened about a mile from Bridge Number Two Sunday night. In the shooting one unidentified man was killed, another two were seriously injured. Mexican media is reporting that those shot were paisanos but the vehicle they were riding in clearly had Mexican plates with tinted windows and bulletproof siding. Many locals in Nuevo Laredo have been upset by the military's presence. They say the soldiers’ pursuit of drug traffickers has hurt business and tourism.

Federal law enforcement in Nuevo Laredo is finally releasing information about the shoot out Wednesday afternoon . According to the release only two people are dead but there is no confirmed number of injured people. The release also says that some Nuevo Laredo police officers were involved in the shootout. According to federal authorities in Nuevo Laredo six officers allegedly assaulted soldiers from the Mexican military with their handguns. The assault happened when the officers were patrolling Avenida Monterrey. That’s when the shots started two people are dead and have not been identified. Federal authorities also confiscated four handguns, 13...

Local, state and federal police respond to bridge number one and two in force following a shootout in Nuevo Laredo. The officers were armed with high-powered weapons in an attempt to keep any of the gunmen from coming across the border. They checked people and vehicles coming into the US for several hours. It was a quick response following the shootout between Mexican soldiers and drug traffickers near the US Consulate. An American Consulate in Nuevo Laredo was put on lock down after the shots were fired. Mexican police will not release very much information. We do know that the...

Four suspected kidnappers who allegedly posed as drug cartel members when demanding ransoms have been killed in a prison fight in northern Mexico. The four had been ordered to stand trial last week, and one of them said he feared for his life. Authorities say the four had posed as members of a notorious cartel hit squad, the Zetas.

Nuevo Laredo authorities arrest a group of alleged kidnappers that posed as members of the Zetas. The group had already kidnapped three people and was arrested by state police and Mexican soldiers. All seven including three women were involved in the kidnappings. According to police they would research their victims and their families and ask them for ransom money. When authorities made the arrests they were able to rescue their latest victim. Authorities also confiscated two weapons and six vehicles used in the kidnappings.

There is new information today surrounding a shoot-out between Mexican soldiers and cartels in Nuevo Laredo. According to preliminary reports, one soldier is dead but Nuevo Laredo officials have not confirmed that. Meanwhile, local law enforcement is receiving some intelligence about the shoot out. "What my information is saying is that there were four cartel members confirmed killed in that shoot out." The incident occurred in Nuevo Laredo on Avenida Colosio. Mexican soldiers put up a roadblock after trying to pullover a white SUV who looked suspicious. That’s when both sides opened fire on each other. According to Webb County...

NUEVO LAREDO - In a rare move, the national military prosecutor's office has arrested 12 soldiers in the Mexican Army, including four officers, and will court-martial them on charges of murder in the deaths of three Nuevo Laredoans missing since March 14.The bodies of Miguel Ángel Gama Habif, Israel Ayala Ramírez and Aarón Rojas de la Fuente were found buried in a clandestine grave about 60 miles south of Nuevo Laredo, near the town of Vallecillos in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon. Raymundo Ramos Vásquez of the non-profit Human Rights Commission in Nuevo Laredo said the remains were exhumed...

FBI takes case of Laredo father The case of a missing Laredoan who was torn from his wife's arms as they and his brother and sister-in-law left a night club in Nuevo Laredo is now in the hands of the FBI, officials confirmed Tuesday. Mario Espinoza, 27, was reported missing by his family after he was forced into a vehicle by a group of men in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday near Africa, a popular night club in downtown Nuevo Laredo. The FBI is investigating the case of Espinoza, a U.S. citizen who is a resident of Laredo, said Special...

MEXICO CITY — About 200 worshippers marched Sunday to protest the government's destruction of "Death Saint" shrines, saying Mexico's fight against drug cartels has veered into religious persecution. "We are believers, not criminals!" the protesters chanted as they marched from a gritty Mexico City neighborhood to the Metropolitan Cathedral downtown. At shrines, chapels and small churches across the country, tens of thousands of people worship the Death Saint, which is often depicted as a robe-covered skeleton resembling the Grim Reaper. It is popular with drug traffickers, and soldiers often find shrines to the saint during raids on cartel safe houses....

NUEVO LAREDO - A man has been arrested in the death of an Austin priest whose body was found Sunday along a Mexican highway. Manuel Martin Torres Saldaña is charged with murder in the death of Father Jesse Evans Euresti, 69, pastor of Cristo Reye Catholic Church in Austin. Euresti's body was discovered south of Nuevo Laredo, along the highway to Anahuac, Sunday afternoon but the identity was not confirmed until Monday. Police say Torres called Euresti's sister, Raquel Rios, over the weekend telling her that if she deposited 1,000 pesos (about $72) in a designated bank account in the...

Families ask for help finding them The families of two young women who went missing during the weekend in Nuevo Laredo are asking for help locating them. Yazmin Silva, 19, and Nidia Benavides, 18, went to Nuevo Laredo on Saturday night and have not been heard from since, family members said. Silva's family gathered in their south Laredo home Tuesday to give a statement to the media seeking help finding her. The former Alexander High School student is studying at Laredo Community College to be a teacher, family members said. "Yazmin is a loving daughter, sister and outstanding student at...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress09/mueller032509.htm Congressional Testimony Robert S. Mueller, III Director Federal Bureau of Investigation Statement Before the Senate Judiciary Committee March 25, 2009 Good morning Chairman Leahy, Senator Specter, and Members of the Committee. I am pleased to be here today. As you know, we in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have undergone unprecedented transformation in recent years, from developing the intelligence capabilities necessary to address emerging terrorist and criminal threats, to creating the administrative and technological structure necessary to meet our new mission as a national security service. Today, the FBI is a...

Agents demolish altars on public property NUEVO LAREDO - Tuesday dawned to the sight of more than 30 altars and chapels to "Santa Muerte," the unofficial patron of the drug underworld, lying in ruins on the public right-of-way along a stretch of Federal Highway 85 about 13 miles south of the city. The razing was done as a joint operation of local, state and federal governments, but no agency official would admit on the record to taking part in the effort. One city employee, who asked not to be identified, said the operation came as the result of requests from...

NUEVO LAREDO - There were at least 15 "express kidnappings" of Central Americans in January and February in this border city, civil rights officials said Wednesday. All were released after family members in the United States met ransom demands. The figures were released at a news conference by José Luis Manso Ramírez, coordinator of the Centro de Derechos Humanos del Migrante (center for immigrant human rights), and Father Francisco Pellizari, director of Nuevo Laredo's Casa del Migrante. "I have documents with testimony from victims of express kidnappings in this city," Manso said. "They were deprived of their freedom up to...

NUEVO LAREDO - Two men and a woman have been charged with alleged involvement in a gunbattle that occurred earlier this week between Mexican Army troops and drug traffickers, officials announced Friday. The three suspects, who officials said were detained Feb. 17, the day of the gunbattle, were presented by military authorities to the federal prosecutor's office Friday and formally accused of participating in the assault. On Tuesday, officials would not comment on the exchange of gunfire. Fernando Rodríguez López, 18, Julio César Ureste Hernández, 22, and Martha Gómez Tovar, 20, have been turned over to the federal attorney general's...

On Jan. 2, 2003, Laredo resident Sergio Ortiz told his wife he was off to meet a prospective client across the river in Nuevo Laredo and would be back in an hour. The 49-year-old former deputy sheriff was working as a private investigator on traffic accidents and divorce cases. “I’m still waiting,” said his wife, Daniella, this week,. So are dozens of other families in South Texas. There’s a chance some of them may not have to wait much longer. The FBI is trying something new with the neighboring Mexican state of Tamaulipas that may end the uncertainty. Tamaulipas prosecutors...

2 accused kidnappers knifed in N.L. jailhouse fight NUEVO LAREDO - A U.S. citizen accused of being a Zeta hit man was killed Monday in prison just three days after he was arrested here, officials said. Jesus Gonzalez III, 23, was one of two accused kidnappers stabbed to death in the Nuevo Laredo prison known as Centro de Ejecución de Sanciones (CEDES), according to officials on both sides of the Rio Grande. Gonzalez, who was wanted in the U.S. on murder charges, and five other people were arrested Friday, accused of taking part in a kidnapping ring in Nuevo Laredo....

Nuevo Laredo police have arrested six men in connection to two kidnappings. According to authorities the kidnappings have happened on both sides of the border. Our Noraida Negron has the latest. It’s a story you'll see only on eight. They are called express kidnappers. They take their victims to the nearest ATMs and take all of their money. Then they ask the victims family for ransom money. The Nuevo Laredo police department arrested six men in connection to these kidnappings. And they were able to save one of their victims. " Iniciamos con las investigaciones se logro recuperar a la...

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — Laredo businessman Alan Gamboa thought his rental property was being used to house rank-and-file workers from the U.S. Consulate. But when drug cartel hit men raided the house in October, then last month torched his nearby communications and home-security shop and kidnapped his brother, Ricardo, Gamboa figured out that the tenants weren't who they seemed to be. Ricardo still is missing and feared dead, and the Gamboa family members worry they also may be targeted by narcotraffickers who bombarded the rental house, taking computers, documents and other materials. Alan now blames all that has transpired —...

Mexican federal agents shut down a Nuevo Laredo radio station Wednesday. Authorities said it was taken off the air for operating without a permit but one media report characterized the raid as linked to organized crime. Newspaper La Jornada identified the station as La Tremenda de los Dos Laredos, which you could find on your FM dial at 106.5 in the Laredo area up until about 2 p.m. yesterday. The Mexico City newspaper reported authorities detained employees for "various hours" while they gave statements to the police. La Jornada called the raid "violent" and reported that banging on doors and...

NUEVO LAREDO - A highly respected former city councilman was gunned down near his downtown office Thursday night, renewing concerns that violence may be returning to the Sister City. Rolando Montante, an engineer and owner of a construction company that often does business with local government, was a well-known political activist with the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI. He had been mentioned as a possible candidate to head the city's waterworks system. Montante was shot twice with a .40-caliber weapon sometime Thursday night, according to results of the autopsy. The gun believed to have been used in the killing was...

NUEVO LAREDO - A gunfight between military forces and alleged drug traffickers that lasted more than an hour in the predawn hours Wednesday left one soldier dead and at least three others injured, authorities confirmed Thursday. An unknown number of traffickers also were killed and injured, authorities said. The assault occurred in Ciudad Mier, about 60 miles east of Nuevo Laredo, at about 1 a.m. Wednesday, said Gen. Rigoberto García Cortés, head of the border military forces headquartered in Nuevo Laredo, at a news conference Thursday. The national Defense Department reported that after the gunfight, soldiers searched two sport utility...

Security was heavy Thursday as the nine defendants named so far in an indictment targeting the Gulf Cartel's enforcers, the Zetas, appeared in federal court for pre-trial proceedings.At least half a dozen stone-faced U.S. Marshals kept watch over the defendants in U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez's court, along with members of the Correction Corp. of America's special operations response team, who wore body armor. Prosecutors allege that the nine defendants named in the 47-count indictment are members or associates of the Zetas, a violent wing of the Gulf Cartel believed to control most of the narcotics trafficking in Nuevo Laredo....

A 17-year-old from Laredo went missing in the Sister City on March 16, law enforcement authorities said Thursday.Ian Carlos Romo was apparently cruising with three or four friends around Paseo Colón when they were taken from the vehicle. Authorities could not confirm who the other individuals in the car were, but said they were not U.S. citizens. The family has not heard from Romo since the incident and is concerned for his safety. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 727-8477 or the local FBI field office at 723-4021. Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards of up to...

MEXICO CITY — Hit men tied to the Gulf cartel appear to be boldly seeking recruits by posting help-wanted signs in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, including a giant banner hung across a thoroughfare, a federal anti-drug enforcement official said today. The banner appeared over the weekend in Nuevo Laredo near the border with Texas: "Operative group 'The Zetas' wants you, soldier or ex-soldier. We offer a good salary, food and benefits for your family. Don't suffer anymore mistreatment and don't go hungry." Photos of the banner were displayed prominently in Mexico's national media today. The Zetas is the...

The FBI is investigating the kidnapping of a 17-year-old former Alexander High School student that may have turned fatal, officials confirmed Thursday. German Antonio Villarreal Muñoz was forced into a sport utility vehicle at Juega Juega, a popular casino in Nuevo Laredo, the night of March 8. His father reported the kidnapping to Mexican authorities the following morning, but nothing was said in public until March 12, when the teen's mother issued a statement to Laredo media, pleading for information about her son. Nearly a month later, hopes for a happy ending are dimming. "Foul play is suspected," said Norm...

MEXICO CITY — Mexican federal police in the border city of Nuevo Laredo seized $6 million in cash Thursday after arresting five alleged paramilitary members at a Pan-American Highway checkpoint. The seizure, officials said, marked the latest blow against the Gulf Cartel, the drug smuggling organization based in the Mexican cities bordering South Texas. Authorities said the arrested men are members of the Zetas, a paramilitary group of gunmen led by deserters from elite Mexican army units. The five men were arrested at a checkpoint about 15 miles south of Nuevo Laredo. After their arrest, they led police to a...

Federal authorities have their sights set on high-ranking members of the Zetas working in Nuevo Laredo, as indicated by a 50-page indictment partially unsealed earlier this week.The indictment alleges a wide-ranging, drug-smuggling conspiracy that involved several murders, including one in which a defendant is accused of collecting the blood of his victim and making a toast to Santa Muerte before killing the man and burning his body. Two of the 32 people listed in the 47-count indictment were in federal court Thursday. Only four names have been made public; the others are blacked out on the court records because they...

Members of rival El Salvadorian gangs were arrested by Border Patrol agents over the weekend just north of Laredo on Interstate 35, an indicator of the increasing through traffic by violent gang members the Laredo Police Department has noticed in recent months."Mostly they're transient," said Sgt. Armando Elizondo, supervisor of LPD's Juvenile Enforcement Team, which deals with local gang activity. "They use this area as a crossing point." Sunday, a 22-year-old gang member was arrested by agents at the Texas Travel Information Center at the 18-mile marker on the interstate at about 2 p.m. He had tattoos showing he's a...

They are believed to have smuggled hundreds of illegal immigrants into the United States but now, 41 truck drivers, guides, brokers, recruiters and smuggling leaders are facing criminal charges. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents started the investigation in Laredo but made the arrests across several American cities over the last seven weeks. Investigators said the group used truck drivers to smuggle at least 376 illegal immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras into the United States. Most of the immigrants were discovered tractor trailers and attempting to pass through different checkpoints in and around Laredo. Most...

BROWNSVILLE - A 23-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on charges of being part of an auto-theft ring that was allegedly stealing tractors. Tirso Alamillo was charged with six counts of theft of a motor vehicle and one count of engaging in organized criminal activity, police Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique said. The auto-theft ring was stealing large machinery from construction sites, according to a police report. "The ring is accused of stealing six back-hoe tractors ... and a motor grader tractor," Manrrique said. "These vehicle are worth (a lot) of money on the black market and are believed to have been routed...