Weapon battles violate flights in the Mexican border city, trigger the US Consulate Warning – CBS News

On Monday, weapons shook Mexican border city, struck by drug -related violence, forcing flights at local airport, authorities said.

Violence in Nuevo Larendo, south of Texas, followed by the arrest of a suspected local cartel leader Ricardo Gonzalez, the nickname “El Ricky”.

The US Consulate in Nuevo Laredo has released a security signal, saying he has “received reports of multiple shootings throughout the city.” The US government staff was advised to shelter in place, he added.

Hours later, the consulate said it would close on Tuesday “due to an emergency situation in the city”.

Nuevo Laredo Airport canceled flights and was expected to defer them Tuesday, said Mayor Carmen Lilia Canturosas on social media.

Earlier, local authorities asked residents not to leave their homes.

The incident comes about a week after the US Consulate in Mexico issued warnings about weapons, abductions and IED in Mexican border regions.

“IED are being produced more and more frequently and are used by criminal organizations in this region,” the consulate said, noting that IED destroyed a Mexican government vehicle in Rio Bravo and wounds its inhabitant on January 23.

Separately, last week, the US State Department has issued a trip warning to Tamalipas, which borders Nuevo Laredo.

“Organized crime – including battles with weapons, killings, armed robbery, theft, abduction, forced disappearance, extortion and sexual assault – is common along the northern border,” the travel warning said.

Mushrooms are common in Nuevo Larendo, one of the Mexican cities most affected by drug-related violence. In October activists and relatives for human rights accused the army troops and the National Guard in a nurse’s deaths and an 8-year-old girl In Nuevo Laredo.

On Monday, said President Claudia Shainbaum It would deploy 10,000 soldiers to the border between Mexico-the-head in the face of increasing pressure from Washington to stop drug trafficking.