Last Thursday, it was reported that several grenades exploded just outside the U.S. consulate office in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
The Dallas Morning News reported:
Three grenades exploded Thursday evening in Nuevo Laredo, just feet from the U.S. Consulate office, sources in the Mexican border city said.
No injuries were reported, but the explosions rattled the neighborhood, as locals scurried for cover amid a firefight between what’s believed to be members of the Zetas criminal group and their former allies, the Gulf cartel, which is making a push to reclaim the territory.
The two groups appear to be battling, leaving a trail of killings and burned houses. In recent days, sources said, seven people have been killed — three of them Americans — and five homes torched.
The U.S. Consulate issued an alert, and Mexican soldiers were deployed to guard the building.
However, La Tarde has since reported that the explosions actually took place amid a running gun battle on the streets surrounding the Consulate near the intersection of Calles Allende and Nayarit.
Elements of the Mexican Army and well as the Mexican federal police were dispatched to the scene, and though the fighting between the rival gangs ended, no arrests were made.
On February 8, the U.S. Consulate issued a warning on the increased violence in Nuevo Laredo, an excerpt follows:
In the past week, there have been at least 8 murders and 5 arson attacks on local residences. On the evening of February 7, 2013, a series of gun battles between TCO (Transnational Criminal Organizations) elements included three grenade explosions in the vicinity of the U.S. Consulate General in Nuevo Laredo. Mexican law enforcement sources tell us the increased violence is likely the result of rival TCO elements fighting for control of the city and that similar attacks are likely to continue in the near-term.
Last week's incident was the second time in three years, an explosion has rocked the U.S. facility.
In April 2010, someone tossed an explosive device onto the grounds of the U.S. consulate in Nuevo Laredo. The bomb broke windows and caused some minor damage, but no injuries were reported.
Nuevo Laredo is just across the river from Laredo, TX.
In March 2010, U.S. consulate employees in Juarez were murdered in targeted attacks, after leaving a child’s birthday party.
In two separate attacks, cartel gunmen murdered two Americans attached to the consulate. Authorities believe that members of the Mexican drug gang known as the Aztecas actually carried out the attacks.
Lesley Enriquez Redelfs, a consulate employee, along with her husband, Arthur Redelfs, a detention officer with the El Paso County Sheriff's Department were gunned down as they were leaving a child's birthday party. The couple was murdered after being chased-down by the hit men. Their baby daughter who was in the backseat survived the assault.
Also shot to death in the coordinated attacks was the husband of consulate worker, Jorge Salcido Ceniceros, after gunmen boxed-in his car. His wife, Hilda Antillon, was traveling in the car behind him and was uninjured, though the couple's two children were wounded in the attack.
The hit squads used AK-47s as well as 9mm handguns.
Since Obama has failed to offer a response to any of these attacks on U.S. facilities and personnel in Mexico, we can only expect the cartels to not only continue their campaign of violence, but increase it's intensity.
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