Do Texas cavers still pass thru the bordertown of Nuevo Laredo on
their way to Bustamante ?
If so, here is a travel-safety-related story:
Last Sunday, there were allegedly 2 shoot-outs between an alleged group
of men with assault rifles, and some group authorized by the gov't to fight
crime. There is only a tiny vague report in the major newspaper El
Man~ana, and a
2 fuzzy dark videos with bullet sounds on YouTube that barely vaguely
confirm it,
( could be firecracker videos ).
Below are the coordinates:
27.473534, -99.546544
That is about 2,000 feet south of the route that we used to drive on the
way to Bustamante back in the mid-1980's. And about 1-1/2 mile from
what used to be called, "Boystown." ( Sidenote: I heard rumors that
place has been
shut down for years. The official name of the place was the "Zona
de Tolerancia." )
What makes this news story stand out, is the 2 local gangs have allegedly
declared war on one another publicly. One group claiming to be an
honest vigilante group
is shown on the internet with about 20 masked men with assault rifles. They
allegedly have made a public curfew after dark, and told all people to avoid
bars and travel at night. I have heard rumors that there is no
local police force, but
there is some kind of SWAT-like squad operated at the Federal or State level.
I have in-laws from the bordertown of Reynosa ( near McAllen ), and
they claim Reynosa
is safer than Nuevo Laredo.
I guess the point to this post is not to travel off the beaten path
there at night. The majority
of the local newspaper reports things like people having picnics and
quinceneras,
and local business is normal.
http://www.elmanana.com/reconoceorganismointernacionalliderazgoeconomicodenlaredo-3357649.html
I was in that town 2 years ago at night and tried to celebrate my 50th
birthday, but my recollection
of that is that Nuevo Laredo was not the kind of place any tourist
would want to go.
I can't remember the last time I crossed at the Columbia Bridge. It
was probably 20 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laredo%E2%80%93Colombia_Solidarity_International_Bridge
David Locklear
Ref:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKc6gObhQZw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bustamante,_Nuevo_Leon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grutas_de_Bustamante
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