REYNOSA -- Once mobbed with a mix of American teenagers, roaming mariachis and cowboy hat-clad locals headed to the dance halls, Zona Rosa, the city's nightlife district, is eerily quiet these days.

In the early evening, many of the restaurants and bars are shuttered, and those that remain open make do on a smattering of customers, nursing beers quietly in the corner.

"After 10 p.m. there's nobody out in the city," Patricia Duran, the manager of Mr. Bomb Bar and Pool, said in Spanish.

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