Bloody narco violence strikes Rio Grande border town of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas

On the eve of Mexico's Cinco de Mayo, 14 decapitations, 9 hangings in brutal display of drug cartel "adjustment of accounts"

"México ha tenido el gran coraje de enfrentar un problema que no es mexicano, sino latinoamericano y en buena parte mundial - el problema de narcotráfico. México ha sacado a la bestia de la cueva donde se ocultaba, y ahora sabemos qué el narcotráfico es una bestia monstruosamente poderosa, enormemente rica y sin ninguna clase de escrúpulos.
Mexico has had the great courage to confront a problem which is not just Mexican, but Latin American; really, a problem which is facing the entire world - drug trafficking. Mexico has dragged the beast out of the cave where it's been hiding. Now we know that the beast is a monstrosity, powerful, enormously rich and without the slightest scruples."
Mario Vargas Llosa, 2010 Nobel Prize winner (Literature), Nov. 24, 2011.

Today Cinco de Mayo was observed in Mexico, as it was in the United States. This year's anniversary was of particular significance since it was the 150th anniversary of Mexico's defeat of an occupying French army at the Battle of Puebla (May 5, 1862). On the eve of the festivities there was an ugly reminder that drug traffickers never take a day off, even to celebrate a day of national pride.

Early Friday morning (May 4) the remains of 23 drug war victims were discovered in two locations in the border town of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. About 1:30 a.m. nine bodies were found hanging from a bridge. Four of those victims were women, and investigators say all were members of Los Zetas. Eight hours later, at about 9:00 a.m., 14 decapitated bodies were found in an abandoned vehicle, wrapped in black plastic bags. Police say that they belonged to the the Gulf Cartel. Several hours later their severed heads were found at yet another location. Narcomensajes, the executioner's standard calling card, were left with all the bodies, warning of more violence to come.

Mexican authorities say the two cartels are locked in a bitter struggle to control narcotics trafficking in the region, and particularly drug routes leading into the United States. Such mass killings and counterattacks are referred to as an "adjustment of accounts."

On March 31 he U.S. Consulate in Matamoros, Mexico, just across from Brownsville, issued an alert for American citizens in the area, and particularly for persons traveling through the state of Tamaulipas. It looks like the consular warning was accurate (U.S. Consulate in Matamoros, Tamaulipas issues Emergency Warning for Americans).

Tamaulipas is a deadly area of Mexico, right next door to Texas. An American citizen and her two teenage daughters who crossed the border at Brownsville were executed on a bus several days before Christmas 2011. They were in route to a family holiday gathering when gunmen stopped the vehicle and fired on passengers. The killings occurred inside adjacent Veracruz state, but the bus had passed through Tamaulipas. A newspaper facility in Ciudad Victoria, the increasingly dangerous capital city of Tamaulipas, was the subject of a car bombing attack in March. The latest killings may be a harbinger of even worse things to come.

49 bodies left on highway in Nuevo Léon: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/05/49-bodies-left-on-highway-in-nuevo-leon.html#more.
U.S. State Dept. issues new travel alert for Mexico (Feb. 8, 2012): http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/02/us-issues-new-travel-alert-for-mexico.html.

Violence in Tamaulipas state
A Free Press under fire in Mexico: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/03/free-press-under-fire-in-mexico-and.html.
Three Americans named as victims in Veracruz bus attack: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/three-americans-named-as-victims-in.html.
Death toll along Veracruz-Tamaulipas border rises: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/death-toll-along-veracruz-tamaulipas.html.
Update on Texans executed in Veracruz state: "I told her not to go to Mexico": http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/update-on-texas-family-executed-in.html.
U.S. sailor goes out for a Christmas cup of tea, loses his life on Tampico street: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/us-sailor-who-went-out-for-christmas.html.
Internet blogger decapitated by Los Zetas: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/internet-user-executed-by-los-zetas.html.
Update on the "social media executions" in Tamaulipas: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/09/update-on-social-media-executions-in.html.
Cuidado con tus “tweets” – ¡los sicarios te matarán!: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/09/cuidado-con-tus-tweets-los-sicarios-te.html.

Mexican Nobel Prize winner endorses Vázquez Mota: "struggle must continue": http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/03/mexican-nobel-prize-winner-endorses.html.