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.
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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 Ávila 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.
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