As Many as 200 Inmates Escape From Border Prison

Texas law enforcement agencies have confirmed earlier reports that a massive prison break took place in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, which sits just across from Laredo, Texas at the southern end of the I-35 corridor. “The law enforcement community is well aware of the situation and they are taking all the necessary precautions to keep a close eye on things. Everything has been passed along to the patrol division,” said Investigator Jose E. Baeza, a Laredo Police Department spokesman. At least 140 prisoners escaped from the prison, Baeza said, though that number is believed to be a conservative estimate. Mexican media outlet El Universal reported this morning that the number of escapees could exceed 190. The outbreak comes just one day after the Texas Department of Public Safety issued a warning to U.S. citizens urging them to avoid traveling into Mexico during the holidays, citing among other things, an increase in kidnappings of non-Mexican citizens and criminal assaults on Mexican highways...more