Border travel advisory issued

Houston Chronicle:

The State Department warned Americans on Friday to be careful while traveling in Mexico — including the Texas-Mexico borderlands, Monterrey and Acapulco — because of recent drug-related violence and kidnappings.

"U.S. citizens residing and traveling in Mexico should exercise caution when in unfamiliar areas and be aware of their surroundings at all times," the department said in a statement that fell short of an official warning against traveling to the country. "Though there is no evidence that U.S. citizens are specifically targeted. (But) Mexican and foreign bystanders have been injured or killed in some violent attacks, demonstrating the heightened risk in public places."

The advisory said drug violence was present in many parts of the country, urban and rural, in recent months, including the execution-style murders of Mexican officials in Nuevo Laredo.

In recent years, dozens of U.S. citizens have been kidnapped in that border city, across from Laredo, Texas, and more than two dozen cases remain unresolved. New cases of kidnappings continue to be reported, the department said.

"Drug cartel members have been known to follow and harass U.S. citizens traveling in their vehicles, particularly in border areas including Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros," across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, the department said.

The advisory said American citizens should try to travel on main roads during daylight hours and to stay in well-known tourist destinations and areas with better security.

Besides the border areas, the broad advisory says extra precautions should be taken when traveling in the Mexican states of Michoacan, Baja California, Nuevo Leon and Guerrero. Nuevo Leon is the home of Monterrey, an important city for U.S.-Mexico business interests, and Guerrero is home to Acapulco, one of Mexico's top tourist destinations.

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Mexico is still struggling with the narco terror insurgency and it is obviously hurting its border tourist business. Nuevo Laredo is especially troublesome. There have been firefights between rival gangs and the police are basically in hiding. Calderon has sent the Army into some areas, but they have not had a strong presence on the Texas border. At this point the nrco terrorist have turned the battle into a quagmire. You can already see the Democrats in retreat fromt his one as well as any border fence to contain them.