The recent arrest of a high ranking drug cartel member in Mexico is being blamed for a wave of violence that has hit Nuevo Laredo.
More than 15 people were killed in Nuevo Laredo last weekend. According of Mexican authorities, 13 died in gun battles between rival criminal organizations and two more were killed in a run-in with the Mexican Army.
Nuevo Laredo is across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas and is 150 miles south of San Antonio.
Officials said they found seven dismembered bodies Sunday morning at a parking lot in Nuevo Laredo’s central business district. On the bodies was a message, but its contents were not released.
But officials say recent outbreak in violence may be connected to last week’s arrest of the Zeta cartel leader Ivan Velazquez Caballero, also known as El Taliban.
And there are growing suspicions that Nuevo Laredo could be at the beginnings of another trend of instability and violence.
Adding in these latest fatalities -- Nuevo Laredo saw at least 133 violent deaths in September -- making it the deadliest month thus far for the year.
