The Center for Security Policy (Center) reports that a massive shoot-out between members of the Northeast Cartel (CDN) and the Mexican Army rocked the city of Nuevo Laredo on Tuesday directly across the border from Laredo, Texas.  The incident forced the temporary closure of the international bridges as well as the U.S. Consulate. As reported by the Center, videos of the attack on social media showed numerous burning vehicles and the sounds of automatic weapon fire. Mexican military installations and the U.S. Consulate reportedly came under fire. The attack was reportedly a response to the arrest and deportation to the United States of CDN Cartel leader Juan Gerardo Treviño, following an operation by Mexican authorities.

Treviño, also known as El Huevo (The Egg) was wanted in the United States on money laundering and drug trafficking conspiracy charges. He also faces numerous charges in multiple Mexican states, including murder and terrorism. Treviño comes from a family with a long history of narcotrafficking, with his Uncle Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales having been the last leader of the notorious Los Zetas cartel, of which the CDN is a splinter faction.

This is not the first time CDN fighters, whose armed wing operates under the name Tropa Del Infierno (Troops of Hell) have caused concern for U.S. diplomatic security. In January of 2020, the U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo was forced to increase security following a series of CDN gunbattles targeting Mexican police.  CDN has a history of establishing armed blockades and conducting ambushes of police forces in the Mexican half of a city which sits astride the border, particularly in response to Police operations or even rumors of arrests.

This ability to project violence to threaten the Mexican state has worked for other Cartels to effectively “de-arrest” leaders captured by law enforcement. In October of 2019 Mexico arrested, and then was forced to release, Ovidio Guzmán López, the son of notorious Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán.

While Mexican authorities (and likely their U.S. counterparts) are to be commended on the successful operation to capture El Huevo, the CDN’s ability to project a violent response yet again shows that the situation in Mexico is developed far beyond a law enforcement matter and has effectively reached a full-blown insurgency. The United States needs to reconsider its lack of commitment to addressing the growing instability of its southern neighbor and begin to make the safety and security of its citizens along the border a top priority now.