Violence in Laredo...am I the only one who finds this disturbing

[Saphire]

and more that a little scary?? I guess what really gets me is that I have such a quiet life here, ya know, and all of this is just a few miles away. I went to Laredo about a year ago and crossed the border. Seeing cops in backs of p/u trucks with their machine guns out, americans being kidnapped, it's surreal there. It's going to be a long time before I ever go there again.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/6/30/140736.shtml

[annabanana]

1. bogus source..

newsmax is crap

[Bunny]

3. Yep. Roger that.

Crap "news" from a crap source.

[Saphire]

4. better source

http://cbs11tv.com/localstories/local_story_210152406.html

[Dora]

5. The issue is very real, and of great concern to Texas

I copied these from Lexis-Nexis

Copyright 2005 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company The Houston Chronicle

June 19, 2005, Sunday 4 STAR EDITION

SECTION: A; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 1616 words

HEADLINE: NUEVO LAREDO;
In the shadow of violence, residents won't give in to fear

SOURCE: Staff

BYLINE: JAMES PINKERTON

DATELINE: NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO

BODY:
NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO - By 10 a.m., guitarist and singer Guillermo Zacarias is making his morning rounds of a half-dozen downtown cafes, where he trades traditional Mexican ballads for tips.

By working cafes in the mornings, restaurants at dinnertime and taco stands late at night, he earns 250 to 300 pesos a day, $ 25 to $ 30 in U.S. currency.

Zacarias, along with hundreds of thousands of fellow Nuevo Laredo residents, is quietly living his life. He and his wife are raising two young children and building a home, mostly oblivious to the backdrop of drug trafficking, murder and kidnappings that has focused international attention on this sprawling commercial center.

Copyright 2005 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle

August 02, 2005, Tuesday 3 STAR EDITION

SECTION: A; Pg. 12

LENGTH: 682 words

HEADLINE: U.S. calls on Fox to end violence;
Officials say Mexico needs to do all it can to stop the killings in Nuevo Laredo

SOURCE: Staff

BYLINE: DUDLEY ALTHAUS, JAMES PINKERTON

DATELINE: MEXICO CITY

BODY:
MEXICO CITY - With the American consulate in Nuevo Laredo closed in protest Monday, U.S. officials called on Mexican President Vicente Fox's government to "do what is necessary" to bring the gangland violence there under control.

"In short, we would like them to do what needs to be done to put an end to the violence," a State Department official said, on condition of anonymity, through the U.S. Embassy's press office. "We believe that the Mexican government has that capability."

U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza last Friday closed the consulate in Nuevo Laredo for a week, following a shootout in an upscale residential neighborhood that involved automatic rifles, grenades and rocket launchers. The State Department officials on Monday said the U.S. government wants to see drug gangs in the city denied such heavy weaponry.

Nuevo Laredo, a city of about 500,000 across the Rio Grande from Laredo, has had more than 100 murders in the first seven months of the year, most of them related to a war between drug gangs for control of smuggling routes into Texas.

Hundreds of Mexican soldiers, as well as state and federal police, have been patrolling the city since mid-June, following the gangland-style murder of the city's new police chief. However, troops and federal police did not arrive at the scene of Thursday's gunbattle until after it ended.

Scores of people have disappeared in recent years, including several dozen Americans, in incidents officials say also are linked to the narcotics trade.

[murray hill farm]

2. The border towns..on both sides...

are a far cry from the "real" mexico or the "real" usa...and they are horrid on both sides of the border..all sort of twin horrid and scary places...and that is true of all the mexican/usa border cities. Sorry u live so close to one of them.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I was there

about 3 years ago at Christmas. I was stunned to hear this on the news the other day. It seemed like a nice town, lots of tourists, but certainly no crime mecca.

[WolverineDG]

7. "just a few miles away"????

hon, you're in san antonio, a two hour and a half hour drive from laredo (plus or minus a few minutes depending upon how backed up the check-point at mile marker 18 is). you've got more to fear from idiot drivers on 410 than you do from what's happening in nuevo laredo. and quiet life in san antonio? are you kidding me?

the concerns are legit, but it seems to be getting under control.
dg

[Saphire]

9. yeah, a quite life! in san antonio! i quietly drive home, have a

quite drink in my quiet house, and watch the deer quietly grazing in my yard...why do you sound doubtful?

[WolverineDG]

13. because i lived in san antonio

before i moved here, that's why. life in sa is not more quiet than here in laredo.

dg

[TX-RAT]

8. It's worse in Juarez, over 500 killed, in drug wars.

[Horse with no Name]

10. Several years ago

I lived in the Rio Grande Valley in Mercedes.
We were a hop, skip and a jump away from the border.
We went all the time--stocking up on liquor mainly ( I was very young,lol).
Anyway, went one time--through Nuevo Progresso and it was on election day. There were armed militia riding through the streets in jeeps. Scary looking critters, I tell ya.
I don't doubt that this story is legit, but in my experience, I just chose not to go again on election day and never had problems.:shrug:

[wli]

11. here comes the "insurgency" in America

Go figure. They'll probably get an Emmanuel Goldstein/Osama bin Laden -like figure themselves before crossing the border.

[Leilani]

12. The State Dept has put out warnings

telling Americans not to go to Nuevo Laredo.

Our embassy there is closed.

Many Americans are missing...saw the parents of a young woman who disappeared with her friend after attending a concert in Nuevo Laredo,in an interview on CNN.