The State Department has issued their highest travel warning for areas of Northern Mexico across from Brownsville and McAllen Texas
Apparently the cartels have stepped things up and are planting IEDs on roads in the area
Back in the day I used to drive from El Paso across the border a ways into Juarez/Chihuahua Mexico to do equipment repairs at our twin plant over there, 1975 to 1983
Graft, corruption, kickbacks, etc were always part of the daily life in Mexico but damn, we used to go into Juarez to the fancy restaurants and nightclubs with our prom/homecoming dates and stuff like that and it was perfectly safe
Hell, we would have time to drive down to the main crossing, park for 50 cents on the American side, walk across the bridge and have lunch for a dollar at Freds cantina, and get back to high school before lunch period was over
That was 72-73 era and we left there in 85
The last time I went to El Paso after my mother in law passed away was 2012 I think and by then it was just like the scenes in Sicario, you could stand on a high vantage point in El Paso and see and hear firefights going on in Juarez
It was like looking at news footage of Fallujah or something, and now IEDs in the roads
Crazy as hell