Seeing them with arms and trucks gives people confidence. Well, it didnt to the local people with whom I had a chance to speak. Areas of violent contestation, such as Zacatecas or San Luis Potos, can become almost anarchical with violence. Authorities say it was an accident. No wonder, the effective prosecution rate for homicides in Mexico continues to hover around 2%. National Guard patrol the Zacatecas-Fresnillo highway after a series of recent attacks and clashes between drug cartels in Zacatecas state, Mexico [Marco Ugarte/AP Photo] Published On 27 Jul 2021 . Sound like a paid troll for the government. "They stopped in front of them and started to shoot.". Cartels have fought over territory in Reynosa for years. The bloodshed appears to have been sparked by the killing of a Gulf cartel leader. The investigation was released as the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Biden administrations request to pause the implementation of the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy. Follow the U.S. Consulate Matamoros onFacebookandTwitter. If we would have got to second checkpoint and found no passports, we would not have been able to continue home and our passports would have been long gone! Do you live in Reynosa? CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico . First published on Mon 21 Jun 2021 11.49 EDT Fear has invaded the Mexican border city of Reynosa after a weekend of violence in which 19 people were killed, including taxis drivers, workers and. "Criminal organizations must receive a clear, explicit and forceful signal from the Federal Government that there will be no room for impunity, nor tolerance for their reprehensible criminal behavior," said Garca Cabeza de Vaca of the rival National Action Party. The risk of pickpocketing is not so high here. InSight Crime Analysis The governor sought to show his state's quick response to the Reynosa massacre but he left many unanswered questions in a state infamous for its high levels of impunity. The Mexican interior ministry and Mexicos National Institute of Immigration did not respond to requests for comment on the report. Like the Title 42 expulsion policy, the Remain in Mexico program cannot be carried out legally or humanely and will only increase the danger to those seeking safety in the United States. He has also deployed armed forces, as his predecessors did, and created a national guard to respond to the violence. Recently, more than 70 organizations from Mexico and the U.S. signed an open letter asking Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador to oppose the reinstatement of that program. People would be under tarps guarding their area with guns. He said that despite explaining what he suffered, he was returned to Mexico by U.S. immigration authorities. How much safer do you feel in Mexico City now compared to years ago. Something that moved us a lot was thatshe told us that she never imagined that the violence and discrimination from which she had been fleeing would accompany her to the border, Ortega said. Authorities have not provided a motive or explanation for the attacks. The government says homicides declined 2.9% in the first five months of 2021 compared to 2020, but that may be because January and February of this year were marked by Mexico's worst coronavirus . Olga Ruiz, whose 19-year-old brother Fernando was killed by the gunmen, said her sibling was working as a plumber and bricklayer to pay for his studies. These data are based on perceptions of visitors of this website in the past 3 years. The areas criminal activity has long been dominated by the Gulf cartel which since 2017 has been riven by internal conflicts over territories for drug and human trafficking. He also says he is fighting corruption to stop the infiltration of organized crime among authorities. The bill would still shorten the duration of mining concessions granted and be contingent on consults with local communities. Monitor the local news for updates, follow directions from local officials, and in case of emergency call 911. The reduction is not fundamentally due to improved security policies. However, the Gulf Cartel has not been able to avoid thefragmentationthat has weakened so many of Mexicos principal criminal groups. President Joe Biden suspended the Migrant Protection Protocols (the formal name of the program) during his first day in office, and the Department of Homeland Security assured that it would finalize it in June, according to court documents. InSight Crime (IC): In Tamaulipas, the Gulf Cartel survived the fragmentation of other major cartels, such as the Zetas, but its divisions seem to be accelerating. Associated Press June 21, 2021 3:15 AM PT. Mexico is holding hundreds of unaccompanied children detained before they reach the U.S. border By Kevin Sieff March 13, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EST Migrant children detained at the U.S.-Mexico. It is estimated that more than 70,000 migrants mostly Central Americans, but also Cubans, Venezuelans and other nationalitieswere returned to Mexico by the Trump administration during the implementation of this program in 2019. The citys eastern section where the weekends carnage occurred has been dominated by the Gulf Cartel, which experts believe fractured in 2017. The bill would still shorten the duration of mining concessions granted and be contingent on consults with local communities. And in December, the newU.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communitieswent into effect, replacing the Mrida Initiative that Lpez Obrador intensely disliked while his administrationseverely minimizedU.S.-Mexico security cooperation. I stayed with him in a concrete buildings, no windows, bullet holes sprayed everywhere..pretty much all the building. "It's no longer between the cartels; they are attacking the public," said activist Angelica Orozco. The Mexican government announced that homicidesdeclined by 3.6% from the previous year to 33,308, just below the 33,739 in 2018 when Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador became president. But you must carefully monitor your belongings, do not leave valuables unattended and keep especially important documents and things in the hotel safe. Your use of this service is subject to our, Worries being subject to a physical attack because of your skin color, ethnic origin, gender or religion, Problem property crimes such as vandalism and theft, Problem violent crimes such as assault and armed robbery. However, there are a few historical monuments like A Jurez, Hidalgo, and Morelos. Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russias war in Ukraine. For Emergency Assistance for U.S. citizens in Mexico, call (55) 868 206 1076 from Mexico or 1-844-528-6611 from the United States. The attacks took place in several neighborhoods in eastern Reynosa, according to the Tamaulipas state agency that coordinates security forces, and sparked a deployment of the military, National Guard and state police across the city. Thats not always the case. This major criminal group hasenjoyeda period of stability in northeastern Mexico after theweakeningof the Zetas, its main rival. 2021 7:46 AM ET. They beat me, chased me and threatened to imprison me,thats why I had to leave, Prez Moreno, 23, said. You need to closely monitor your things, especially in crowded places. Everything indicates that it was not a confrontation, but rather a commando that shot people who were not involved in any conflict, Lpez Obrador said. Some of its members were tied to the brutal January 2021 massacre of 19 people near the US-Mexico border. the government's rhetoric on crime softened as Mexico sought to shed its reputation as the headquarters of some the world's most . Zihuas full of great cuisine, so where to start? Tamaulipas State Police removed 62 hidden surveillance cameras from highways around the city of Reynosa over the weekend, and not for the first time. U.S. Supreme Court denied the Biden administrations request. The disappearances, and last week's shooting of 15 apparently innocent bystanders in Reynosa, suggest Mexico is returning to the dark days of the 2006-2012 drug war when cartel gunmen often targeted the general public as well as one another. If you are white and you go out at night, you are asking for trouble and most likely, will be involved in any number of unwelcome activity. In one such program I encountered in Michoacn, for example, teenagers were paid by the government to receive training as hairdressers while the hairdressers were paid for the teaching. Detroit, with a murder rate of 38.78, came in at. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Migrants from El Paso are bussed all the nation but these two cities are where they really want to go. Several of the past governors of the state of Tamaulipas have been accused of corruption and links to organized crime. Unaccompanied minors from Central America wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Roma, Texas, on July 30, 2021. San Diego and Tijuana: a vanishing border? To various degrees, the criminal groups build political power by intimidating and bribing government officials, and obtain political capital with local populations by giving social handouts and organizing narco courts to arbitrate disputes. The State Department recommends U.S. citizens do not travel to the State of Tamaulipas due to crime and kidnapping. Elsewhere, they have to live with sharing, like the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacin (CJNG) do in the fentanyl and meth precursor hub Lzaro Crdenas. On Sunday, Reynosa residents "were quiet as if nothing had happened, but with a feeling of anger because now crime has happened to innocent people," said local businessman Misael Chavarria. Victoria Dittmar is a writer with InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime. The attacks in Reynosa, which sits on the Mexico-U.S. border in the state of Tamaulipas, took place in under two hours on Saturday, with people seemingly targeted at random by gunmen traveling in vans, according to local media outlet Elefante Blanco. Instead of using force and judicial prosecution, Lpez Obrador seeks to reduce crime in Mexico throughsocio-economic anti-crime programs, part of his overall vastly popular redistribution strategy for Mexicos many poor and marginalized. Criminal organizations must receive a clear, explicit and forceful signal from the federal government that there will be no room for impunity, nor tolerance for their reprehensible criminal behavior, said Garca Cabeza de Vaca of the rival National Action party. IE 11 is not supported. Lpez Obrador asked federal prosecutors to take over the case and pledged a thorough investigation. Lpez Obrador has focused on social programs to deal with the roots of crime. There are dealers on streets with one pant leg rolled up. Meanwhile, I have to endure and be patient, Prez Moreno said in a shelter in Nuevo Laredo. Softened mining regulation reform advances to Senate.