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MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The decapitated body of a man was left Wednesday at the same monument in the border city of Nuevo Laredo where the corpse of a woman purportedly killed in retaliation for her postings on an anti-crime website had been left previously, authorities said. A photo of the scene indicates the man was killed for reporting criminals on social media sites, raising fears drug cartels are increasingly targeting bloggers.

Authorities have confirmed the murder of a Nuevo Laredo newspaper editor whose body decapitated and left with a message not to use social media to report about drug cartels. It all happened in the Colonia Madero of Nuevo Laredo around 7:45 a.m. Saturday. According to reports, a woman's body was next to a statue of Christopher Columbus with a message not to use social media to report about drug cartel violence. The Tamaulipas Attorney General's Office (PGJE) identified the woman's body as 39-year-old Maria Elizabeth Macias-Castro, the editor of Nuevo Laredo's Primera Hora newspaper. Macias-Castro is the third person in...

(CNN) -- Two bodies dangling from a pedestrian bridge in the border town of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, created an image as gruesome as any in the four years of the country's offensive against the drug cartels. A man and a woman, both in their early 20s, were left hanging like cuts of meat. The woman was hogtied and disemboweled, her intestines protruding from three deep cuts on her abdomen. She was then hung from the bridge by her feet and hands, topless. The bloodied man was suspended next to her by his hands, his right shoulder severed so deeply you...

MEXICO CITY – Fifty-nine inmates escaped Friday from a prison in northern Mexico after a disturbance that left seven prisoners dead and at least five others injured, sources in the Tamaulipas state government told Efe. The incident took place at the Cedes 2 penitentiary in Nuevo Laredo, just across the border from Laredo, Texas, the same institution from which 151 inmates fled last December. Besides the 59 escapees, seven guards remain unaccounted for, the sources said. Friday’s mass escape came less than two months after 17 inmates tunneled their way out of a prison in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, a city next...

LAREDO, July 2 - U.S. residents are being advised not to visit Nuevo Laredo this Fourth of July Weekend. The advisory comes from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Webb County Sheriff’s Office. Both agencies say they have received credible intelligence from multiple sources indicating that the Zetas Cartel is planning to target U.S. citizens who travel to Nuevo Laredo this weekend. “According to the information we have received, the Zetas are planning a possible surge in criminal activity, such as robberies, extortions, car-jackings and vehicle theft, specifically against U.S. citizens,” said DPS Director Steven C. McCraw. “We...

A convoy of three Mexican military trucks loaded down with soldiers and weapons may have violated territorial sovereignty near Laredo, TX on Thursday, driving through a border checkpoint and crossing into the United States. KGNS-TV reports the crossing happened at a section known as Bridge Number Two: Mexican leaders say the soldiers, who had just been deployed to Nuevo Laredo, didn’t know the area, got lost and then made their way through Bridge Two.

No major media outlets are reporting it, but several hundreds soldiers and marines are en route to Nuevo Laredo, Tamps. (MX) to try and get a grip on a violent few months in our Sister City. Several websites report that Nuevo Laredo, Tamps. (MX) is essentially under martial law as the military moves in and relieves city police officers. Soldiers were seen at police headquarters seizing guns. It comes as the federal and state government move into a new phase of security efforts in an attempt to turn up the heat on local drug cartels. More troops are expected to...

Signs informing travelers on I-35 of the distance they are from Laredo can be seen along the freeway, but motorists traveling south have begun to notice a change over the past few weeks. Signs that proudly displayed the distance's carried both Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, but recently our sister city to the south has been blacked out. Ryan Bailey has more on this controversial decision. It may look like this sign was vandalized with spray paint, but TX-DOT says they are the ones blacking out Nuevo Laredo in an effort to distance the two neighboring cities, and it started as...

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A program to expand the busiest commercial crossing over the U.S.-Mexico border was inaugurated on Friday, nearly doubling the capacity for trucks entering Laredo, Texas, from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, authorities said. The program increased the number of truck lanes at the World Trade Bridge into Laredo, to 15 from eight, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said. The expansion also added an additional exit lane for vehicles leaving the facility, which currently handles around 5,000 trucks a day and has been so busy that trucks were delayed several hours. "It is going to be a...

At least eleven bodies are found in Nuevo Laredo yesterday. However, since Mexican media doesn't report murders when instructed by drug traffickers, yesterday's death toll is unofficial. The eleven deaths are confirmed through the Mexican military that found the bodies thrown in several different areas of Nuevo Laredo. The torture and shooting victims were found along the highway to Monterrey. The bodies all had small posters on their body, with writing presumably from rival cartels. Three other drug cartel members were killed when Mexican soldiers stopped an 18-wheeler and gunmen fired shots from inside the trailer. An explosion, believed to...

Four people were killed during a shootout between Mexican Military and alleged members of organized crime Sunday morning in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The shooting happened shortly after 2 a.m. after soldiers tried to stop two vehicles carrying several men for a routine inspection, according to a news release from SEDENA, Mexico’s ministry of defense. The victims, whose identities were not disclosed, apparently shot at soldiers, who “were then forced to retaliate.” After the shooting, Mexican authorities seized two vehicles, six long guns, 74 magazines and 1,110 cartridges of various calibers, officials said.

The warden of the Nuevo Laredo prison was stabbed to death Monday during a riot inside the facility, authorities confirmed. The stabbing took place at the same facility where 153 inmates escaped in December. Rebeca Nicasio Vasquez, was killed about 4:45 p.m. Monday during a riot while she conducted a tour of the facilities, according to a release from the Tamaulipas Governor’s Office. Shortly after the stabbing, authorities detained 24-year-old Pedro Bernabe Hernandez Marcial, an inmate who was serving a sentence for burglary. The woman was allegedly stabbed four times and died shortly after. Nicasio Vasquez had recently assumed the...

In news across the border, the bodies of two men tortured and killed, then put on display at one of Nuevo Laredos busy intersections. We have to warn you, you may find these images disturbing. According to Mexican reports the bodys of these two men were found around midnight in an area on Paseo Colon Boulavard near a hotdog stand. That's where we're told passerbys who spotted the men stopped to try and help them only to discover they were already dead. The men were found in sports clothing with no shoes. A message was placed above there heads blaming...

NUEVO LAREDO -- Some 200 Mexican Army soldiers surrounded the Nuevo Laredo Police Department headquarters this morning, two days after Police Chief Manuel Farfán Carriola was slain in a hail of gunfire on a downtown street. Farfán Carriola, his deputy chief and a bodyguard died about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday when the vehicle they were in was ambushed as they were heading home from police headquarters. Initially, officials said the bodies would be returned to Michoacan but Thursday, Mayor Benajmin Galvan Gomez said Carriola will be accorded full military honors in Mexico City. He will then be buried in Queretaro, as...

NUEVO LAREDO— The city's newest police chief was killed late Wednesday night when unknown assailants blocked off a downtown street shortly after he had left police headquarters and machine-gunned his vehicle. Manuel Farfan Carriola, a retired Mexican Army general, had been outspoken about fighting crime in his city, especially drug traffickers who are fighting for control of lucrative illegal trading routes. He was named to the position when the new mayor, Benjamin Galvan Gomez, took office on Jan. 1. Farfan Carriola was usually accompanied by several bodyguards and a personal assistant. Early reports indicated that some of those men may...

NUEVO LAREDO — Police took at least 25 children found wandering city streets to the government children's shelter after their parents were kidnapped from homes on Nuevo Laredo's East, West and South Sides. The children, most of them preschoolers, were found in three places at different times late Monday and early Tuesday, according to an internal police bulletin. They had been taken to areas away from their homes and had no idea where they were, the bulletin states. All the parents and other adults were kidnapped late Monday, authorities said. Late Tuesday, at least three of the children had been...

Authorities have released a poster showing the names and photos of 151 men who escaped from a prison south of the border in Nuevo Laredo. The daring escape took place at the CEDES prison outside Nuevo Laredo in mid-December. Authorities believe the escaped was masterminded by a Zetas drug cartel leader's nephew at the prison. Mexican officials filed formal charges against dozens of prison workers for their role in the escape. Authorities on both sides of the border worked to compile names and photos of the escapees, who are now believed to be working with the Zetas. The Webb County...

More than 140 prisoners escaped from a prison near the U.S. border on Friday, media said, the latest breach of Mexico's notoriously insecure jails that are helping to feed a violent drug war... on the outskirts of Nuevo Laredo across from Laredo, Texas. In September, 85 prisoners escaped from jail in the nearby border city of Reynosa. Authorities discovered in July that prison officials had allowed convicts out of jail in northwestern Durango state to carry out revenge attacks before returning to cells for the night.

One of the teenagers shot in Nuevo Laredo Monday morning reportedly remains in critical condition. The 14-year-old is currently in a hospital in Nuevo Laredo, suffering from a gunshot wound to the back and the side of his body. The victim's family said soldiers shot at a group of teenagers and attacked them early Monday morning believing it to have been a case of mistaken identity. Once they realized their mistake they took the victim to the hospital. Sources told Pro 8 News officials in Mexico refuse to offer any information in the case.

Laredo police are asking for help finding a man who allegedly carjacked a person at gunpoint. It all happened early this morning in downtown Laredo. Authorities say an employee of a downtown Laredo business was carjacked around 5:25 this morning in the 800 block of Santa Ursula. Police say this man, who was caught on surveillance camera, held the victim at gunpoint. Authorities say the suspect took the white 2-door Ford SUV immediately across the bridge into Mexico. If anyone knows who this man is, you are asked to please call police at 795-2800. Calls will remain anonymous.

Mexican newspapers have reported that an American man visiting his daughter in Nuevo Laredo was shot by members of the Mexican army early Tuesday. According to Action 4 News at valleycentral.com, a South Texas news website, 20-year-old Armando Francisco Gonzales was fighting for his life in a hospital Wednesday afternoon: It all happened off Avenida López de Lara and Calle 15 de Septiembre around 1 a.m. Tuesday. Witnesses said soldiers opened fire on a black Chevrolet Tahoe. Inside, the SUV was 20-year-old Armando Francisco Gonzales who was injured by bullets. Mexican media outlets reported that Gonzales crashed his SUV into...

Across the border tonight, Nuevo Laredo police and Mexican soldiers are on high alert after a grenade was launched into a municipal police substation. It happened less than a block from city hall around eight o'clock tonight. No one was killed or hurt in the incident. A police cruiser was blown up but other than that there was only minor damage. It comes as Nuevo Laredo has seen several weeks of rest from the bloodshed and violence. Authorities say it's unclear if drug traffickers carried out the attack. Officers and soldiers are stepping up patrol on the streets until further...

A Laredo man sits in a Mexican jail cell, accused of raping and terrorizing a twelve-year-old girl. Authorities say 58-year-old James Hodge held the girl captive in Nuevo Laredo, sexually abusing her for several days. Police spotted the two, with Hodge heavily intoxicated and the girl at the wheel of his car. She told officers that Hodge threatened her, saying if she said anything to anyone, he would do the same to her sister.

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...