It’s quieter today in the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, but the confrontations between criminal groups that began Tuesday night carried over into today.

Local authorities issued at least two orange alerts this afternoon. The first, at about noon, warned of dangerous conditions on Morelos Boulevard near the Soriana store after two men were shot dead outside the store while they appeared to be fleeing federal forces.

The second was issued at 1:56 and advised caution in the Almaguer neighborhood, Fraccionamiento Reynosa and Lampacitos.

The Reynosa Civil Protection office advised citizens to avoid circulating in those areas.

The warning follows two red alerts — the first Tuesday night and the second last night — after violent clashes among cells of the Gulf Cartel, whose plaza boss was killed by security forces April 22.

Tamaulipas government spokesman Luis Alberto Rodríguez said this morning that five people have died during the violence, which brought gunfire, blockades and car chases across the city.

Federal and state forces have been deployed to patrol Reynosa, which does not have its own police force. The city has adopted the Mando Único system under which security is a state and federal responsibility.

State Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca announced during a tour of the city that his government is committed to going after the criminal organizations’ sources of financing in coordination with federal authorities.

Many schools remained closed today, as were many businesses. The spokesman for a business organization said business has been paralyzed by the violence registered during the last few weeks, and estimated that economic losses are up to 380 million pesos (about US $20 million).

Source: Milenio (sp), Excélsior (sp)