Death toll along Veracruz-Tamaulipas border rises to 39; 13 new victims found

The Mexican states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas are only a stone's throw south of the United States. Tamaulipas shares a common border of almost 150 miles with Texas. The increasing drug war violence in the area suggests that it could become the new Juárez of northeastern Mexico.

On Christmas Day 13 bodies were found abandoned in a truck in Tamaulipas, near the once popular resort city of Tampico. The condition of the remains, together with the customary narcomensajes, or executioner's warnings left at the scene, leaves no doubt that this was the work of drug cartels. The messages made taunting references to rival criminal organizations, investigators said.

On Dec. 23 10 other victims were found (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/another-mass-body-dumping-in-veracruz.html), and the day before coordinated attacks against three passenger buses left 16 dead (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/us-warns-citizens-after-narco.html), including a mother and her two teenage daughters, all of whom were U.S. citizens (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/three-americans-named-as-victims-in.html). The Tamaulipas-Veracruz border area death toll in the last 96 hours now stands at 39.

The mayor of Tampico, Magdalena Peraza Guerra (photo), told El Universal, a Mexico City newspaper, that neither federal nor state authorities are doing enough to confront the drug cartels in the area. "Streets in the towns are deserted; there's no law enforcement presence there," she said. A State Dept. travel warning, issued Dec. 22 by the U.S. consulate in Matamoros, just across the border from Brownsville, remains in effect. U.S. nationals are urged to stay off regional highways, and especially to avoid night travel.

Los Zetas and Cartel Golfo are the primary combatants in the area, according to Mexican government sources.