Laredo Morning Times reports

By now most of you know that there is a gun battle in Nuevo Laredo as we speak.

I was in a northside store when a woman got a call to tell her she should stay on this side and that her friend’s vehicle was just taken during the gun battle. I didn’t think I was going to start hearing more and more.

I drove home, in downtown Laredo, and stopped at a gas station. The Nuevo Laredo taxi driver was telling a man who was asking about the gunfire he had just heard loud and clear, the taxi driver told him they had all received calls to stay where they were and seek shelter away from their vehicles. In other words, if you keep driving, you risk your car being taken and you are better off inside a building.

Finally I got home. A friend asked if I had heard any commotion and because of the rain, I really hadn’t paid attention. I went outside for a second and I could faintly hear shots – meaning they were closer to bridge 2 than to bridge 1. Sure enough, I started to see comment after comment on Facebook about the lockdowns in the Walmart and movie theater area. I haven’t even wanted to check out twitter – I know they comments will all be similar.

Laredo Morning Times reported that the battle in Nuevo Laredo was confirmed. Of course, Pro8News also confirmed that the problems are in the Parque Viveros area and other areas.

A friend of mine from Nuevo Laredo has been staying with me. She works in Laredo but lives in Nuevo Laredo but… she says she feels like a prisoner because of the blockades, threat of carjacking and violence.

She made the mistake of going back to get some things from her house today. She is telling me, “pues estan bloqueando calles por todos lados.. no dejan salir a nadie de donde esta. por lo pronto estan otravez bajando gente de los carros y bloqueando”. Hopefully she will return to stay at my house tomorrow and get some reprieve of the constant threat. My biggest fear is the possible spillover. Even if the recent murders are NOT related to cartel violence, the people of Laredo and other border cities are feeling the fear. We do not live in peace. To top it off, we have a number of people along the river still trying to rebuild their lives.

At 10:31pm, my friend says, “ya dejaron salir a la gente del cine” but the question is, when will we be emotionally released from the constant threat across in our sister city, Nuevo Laredo?

May the cartel members develop a conscience and responsibility and love of humanity.