A century or so ago, the twin town on the US side of the border had the same reputation and a famous folk/Western song came from its violent streets (it is sung to an old Irish melody):

Streets of Laredo:

As I walked out on the streets of Laredo,

As I walked out in Laredo one day,
I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen
Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay.

'I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy'
These words he did say as I boldly stepped by,
'Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story,
I was shot in the breast and I know I must die.'

'Get six jolly cowboys to carry my coffin,
Get six pretty maidens to sing me a love song
Take me to the graveyard and lay the sod o'er me
For I'm a poor cowboy and I know I've done wrong.'

'It was once in the saddle I used to go dashing
Once in the saddle I used to go gay,
First down to the dram-house and then to the card house
Got shot in the breast, I am dying today.'

quote:

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Chaos reigns in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo, where government troops and federal agents are patrolling streets in the wake of violence tied to police corruption.

President Vicente Fox sent extra troops into the states of Baja California, Tamaulipas and Sinaloa Monday after the latest shooting incident in Nuevo Laredo, a city of 315,000 people just across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas.

Police officers with alleged ties to drug trafficking opened fire on a convoy of federal agents arriving in the city on Saturday, injuring one.

A total of 41 officers were detained and taken to Mexico City for interrogation.

Last Thursday, a printing shop owner who had agreed to become Nuevo Laredo's new police chief was assassinated just seven hours after taking office.

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