Security Alert for Mexican Border Town 08/26 06:19

   

   MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The U.S. government issued a travel alert for Americans 
planning to visit Mexicali in northern Mexico and temporarily suspended 
consular activities in the border city due to a "potential threat," without 
providing details.

   The notice, released Monday night, said that because of information about "a 
threat," consular activities and travel to the capital of Baja California 
state, across the border from the U.S. city of Calexico, California, were 
suspended.

   The U.S. did not provide details about the threat or whom it was directed at 
and only urged its citizens to avoid government buildings, seek shelter in the 
event of an incident and remain aware of their surroundings.

   Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that "there was an alert 
about the possibility of a criminal group" and added that the report was based 
on information from U.S. agencies.

   "There is no further information about what this alert could involve, but 
simply to remain alert and maintain surveillance in Mexicali," Sheinbaum said 
at her regular morning news conference.

   The city remained calm throughout the day Tuesday. Later that afternoon, 
Sheinbaum's security cabinet said in a statement that authorities "have not 
identified any elements confirming a specific or imminent risk to the 
population" but that authorities had stepped up surveillance and patrols in 
Mexicali as a "preventative measure."

   Later in the day, Mexican and U.S. authorities said that Mexican security 
forces, working with information provided by the DEA, carried out an operation 
to seize drugs and arms from a criminal group known as "Los Rusos."

   U.S. Northern Command wrote in a post on X that Mexican authorities worked 
to "identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel operations posing a threat to the 
United States along the U.S.-Mexico border."

   Around midnight, Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Avila said in a 
message on her X account that Mexican authorities remained active and that 
security operations would be reinforced in the state capital.

   Mexicali, with more than 1 million residents, is one of the most populous 
cities along the Mexican border and is strategically important because of its 
close commercial and social ties with Calexico.