The U.S. State Department has issued a new travel warning following the kidnapping of an American passenger by drug cartel gunmen from a bus traveling through the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. The advisory comes after Mexican border state officials dismissed an earlier warning, claiming crime statistics in the area were minimal.
This week, diplomats at the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros Travel Alert The consulate claimed that the gunmen were targeting omnibus route buses departing from the city of Reynosa. In the alert, consulate officials detailed that the gunmen were targeting U.S. citizens, residents and other travelers with U.S. ties.
Travelers reported to U.S. consulate officials that armed men had taken their documents and luggage, emptied their bank accounts, and forced their families to pay thousands of dollars for their release.
The new travel warning comes a month after the US Consulate in Matamoros issued a notice about a similar trend, as reported by Breitbart Texas, but did not specify which buses from Reynosa were being targeted.
Shortly after the alert, Tamaulipas state government spokesman Jorge Cuellar denied the U.S. diplomats’ claims, saying they were irresponsible for relying on hearsay rather than government statistics that showed virtually no crime in the border state.
As Breitbart Texas reported, Cuellar has a long history of spreading false or doctored statistics to hide the fact that much of the state is under the control of drug cartels. Cuellar is the same official who has publicly denied numerous drug cartel shootouts and blockades in the upstate area, claiming they were the result of social media disinformation.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist at Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. twitter and FacebookContact details: email address.
Brandon Darby is Managing Director and Editor in Chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and other senior Breitbart executives. twitter and FacebookContact details: email address.
