NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (Reuters) - The United States is closing temporarily its consulate in this lawless Mexican border city after rival drug gangs clashed with bazookas, hand grenades and heavy machine-gun fire.
"A violent battle involving unusually advanced weaponry took place between armed criminal factions last night in Nuevo Laredo," U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza said on Friday.
He said he was ordering the consulate in Nuevo Laredo closed for all of next week and would only reopen it if the security situation improved.
Garza called on Mexico to swiftly bring the situation under control.
Mexico reacted angrily to Garza's words, saying both countries shared a responsibility to fight drug crime.
"Repeated public statements by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico about the border situation in no way help bilateral efforts to end border crime," the Mexican Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The latest battle erupted late on Thursday when about 30 masked gunmen opened fire on a suspected drug-cartel safe house in Nuevo Laredo, across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas, blasting off its doors and strafing the facade with bullets.
The problem is that Mexico's solution is probably to hand out these brochures to all the criminals rounded up.
Mexico encourages illegal immigration into the United States and then gets angry when we suggest they do something to help stem the tide of illegal narcotics that flow across the border. That just doesn't make sense.