Thread: U.S. Issues NEW Travel Alert in Mexico

U.S. sends new alert on travel in Mexico
By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Posted: 07/21/2009 11:37:07 PM MDT


EL PASO -- The U.S. State Department is warning travelers about the resurgence in drug violence in the state of Chihuahua that has claimed the lives of U.S. citizens, activists and bystanders.

Americans should "exercise a high degree of caution" when in Juárez and other parts of Chihuahua, said an advisory, called a Warden Message, from the U.S. Consulate in Juárez.

"Drug cartels and associated criminal elements have retaliated violently against individuals who speak out against them or who they otherwise view to be a threat to their organization, regardless of the individuals' citizenship," said the advisory, posted Friday.

The alert apparently re fers to the death of anti-kidnapping activist Benjamin LeBaron, a dual U.S.-Mexico citizen, killed two weeks ago by gunmen who took him from his home near Galeana in the northwestern part of Chihuahua.

Because of murders and kidnappings, Americans should avoid nonessential trips to that corner of Chihuahua, including the towns of Nuevo Casas Grandes, Madera and Namiquipa, whose mayor was slain last week, the consulate advised.

The consulate also re-stated a call made in February for U.S. citizens to stay out of the violent Valley of Juárez, situated across the Rio Grande from Fabens and Fort Hancock.

More than 2,600 people, including nine U.S. citizens this year, have been killed in the Juárez area since a drug-cartel war erupted in January 2008.

The State Department also has a travel alert for all of Mexico because of violent crime.
Tuesday morning, the body count in Juárez continued to grow when unidentified men were found floating in irrigation canals.

Three bodies, one of them headless, were found in a canal near the Antonio J. Bermudez industrial park in east Juárez, state police said.

A fourth body, wrapped in a blanket bound with wire, was pulled from a canal in the village of Praxedis G. Guerrero.

In Chihuahua City, federal police caught a man with four fragmentation grenades, two rifles, three bulletproof vests and Kevlar helmets and a banner with a drug-cartel message.

The man, Antonio Venavides Vaz quez, also had a handgun tucked into his waistband when police stopped his pickup, authorities said.

"So you know the one who gives the orders here is La Linea," the banner read, referring to the name of what is known as the Juárez drug cartel.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

Online link http://ciudadjuarez.usconsulate.gov/wardenjuly17.html


http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_12888056

U.S. sends new alert on travel in Mexico
By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Posted: 07/21/2009 11:37:07 PM MDT


EL PASO -- The U.S. State Department is warning travelers about the resurgence in drug violence in the state of Chihuahua that has claimed the lives of U.S. citizens, activists and bystanders.

Americans should "exercise a high degree of caution" when in Juárez and other parts of Chihuahua, said an advisory, called a Warden Message, from the U.S. Consulate in Juárez.

"Drug cartels and associated criminal elements have retaliated violently against individuals who speak out against them or who they otherwise view to be a threat to their organization, regardless of the individuals' citizenship," said the advisory, posted Friday.

The alert apparently re fers to the death of anti-kidnapping activist Benjamin LeBaron, a dual U.S.-Mexico citizen, killed two weeks ago by gunmen who took him from his home near Galeana in the northwestern part of Chihuahua.

Because of murders and kidnappings, Americans should avoid nonessential trips to that corner of Chihuahua, including the towns of Nuevo Casas Grandes, Madera and Namiquipa, whose mayor was slain last week, the consulate advised.

The consulate also re-stated a call made in February for U.S. citizens to stay out of the violent Valley of Juárez, situated across the Rio Grande from Fabens and Fort Hancock.

More than 2,600 people, including nine U.S. citizens this year, have been killed in the Juárez area since a drug-cartel war erupted in January 2008.

The State Department also has a travel alert for all of Mexico because of violent crime.
Tuesday morning, the body count in Juárez continued to grow when unidentified men were found floating in irrigation canals.

Three bodies, one of them headless, were found in a canal near the Antonio J. Bermudez industrial park in east Juárez, state police said.

A fourth body, wrapped in a blanket bound with wire, was pulled from a canal in the village of Praxedis G. Guerrero.

In Chihuahua City, federal police caught a man with four fragmentation grenades, two rifles, three bulletproof vests and Kevlar helmets and a banner with a drug-cartel message.

The man, Antonio Venavides Vaz quez, also had a handgun tucked into his waistband when police stopped his pickup, authorities said.

"So you know the one who gives the orders here is La Linea," the banner read, referring to the name of what is known as the Juárez drug cartel.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

Online link http://ciudadjuarez.usconsulate.gov/wardenjuly17.html


http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_12888056