Planning on Traveling to Mexico?

When four Americans who crossed the border into Matamoros were apparently kidnapped in broad daylight, travel advisories for Mexico are in the limelight.

The State Department has issued a “Level 4-Do Not Travel” warning for Tamaulipas state, where Matamoros is situated. This is the highest level of caution. Employees of the U.S. government have been ordered to stay away from the region until further notice.

According to the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Mexico, violence and abduction are the causes of the travel advisory for the state of Tamaulipas. According to authorities, organized criminal activity is widespread along the northern border and can take the form of gunfights, murder, armed robberies, carjacking, kidnapping, forced disappearances, extortion, and sexual assault.

The warning stated that criminal organizations frequently kidnap people from public and private passenger buses, as well as private cars passing through Tamaulipas, and demand ransom payments.

On March 3, 2022, the day when four Americans were abducted in Matamoros, officials again issued this warning.

According to a statement on the travel alert, “local law enforcement has little ability to respond to reports of crime” in certain places. The tri-city region of Tampico, Ciudad Madero, and Altamira has a higher capacity for law enforcement and a lower rate of violent crime than the rest of the state.

Moreover, Quintana Roo, the state that is home to the well-known holiday destination Cancun, has travel advisories. This “Level 2- Use Greater Care” travel advice was released in January as a result of local taxi and Uber driver altercations.

The U.S. Consulate Office in Mazatlán has suspended in-person consular services due to the widespread violence in Sinaloa. Since “violent crime is prevalent and can strike without warning, impacting access to transportation, airports, utilities, and/or hospitals,” Sinaloa is rated as “Level 4 – Do Not Go.”

While travel advisories have been issued for various additional states as of prior years, warnings have been issued for just three nations as of 2023.

Here is a complete list of Mexico‘s travel advisories:

Do Not Travel To:

• Colima state due to crime and kidnapping.
• Guerrero state due to crime.
• Michoacan state due to crime and kidnapping.
• Sinaloa state due to crime and kidnapping
• Tamaulipas state due to crime and kidnapping.
• Zacatecas state due to crime and kidnapping.

Reconsider Travel To:

• Baja California state due to crime and kidnapping.
• Chihuahua state due to crime and kidnapping.
• Durango state due to crime.
• Guanajuato state due to crime and kidnapping.
• Jalisco state due to crime and kidnapping.
• Morelos state due to crime.
• Sonora state due to crime and kidnapping.

Exercise Increased Caution When Traveling To:

• Aguascalientes state due to crime.
• Baja California Sur state due to crime.
• Chiapas state due to crime.
• Coahuila state due to crime.
• Hidalgo state due to crime.
• Mexico City due to crime.
• Mexico State due to crime.
• Nayarit state due to crime.
• Nuevo Leon state due to crime and kidnapping.
• Oaxaca state due to crime.
• Puebla state due to crime and kidnapping.
• Queretaro state due to crime.
• Quintana Roo state due to crime and kidnapping.
• San Luis Potosi state due to crime and kidnapping.
• Tabasco state due to crime.
• Tlaxcala state due to crime.
• Veracruz state due to crime.

Exercise Normal Precautions When Traveling To:

• Campeche state
• Yucatan state

Although the State Department strongly advises against visiting these places, it did provide some advice for those who do plan to go:

Be Aware

• You must abide by the country’s legal system and laws while you are there.
• In many high-risk regions, we can’t assist you. This might be as a result of a nonexistent government, weak local policy, violent conflict, or bad governance.
• We are unable to offer consular services in numerous nations with which the United States does not have diplomatic or consular ties. Limited aid may be accessible in nations where the United States has an official protective power agreement.
• It’s possible that we’ll need to rely on neighborhood resources to handle a crisis in a high-risk region. For information on what we can and cannot accomplish, please visit our website.

Before You Go to a High-Risk Area

If you want to visit high-risk places after giving it some thought, we firmly advise you to:

• Register your travel with the Smart Traveler Registration Program of the State Department (STEP).
• Make a will, choose the right insurance beneficiaries, and name a power of attorney.
• With family members, discuss a plan for the upbringing of children, pet care, property, possessions, non-liquid assets (collections, artwork, etc.), funeral preferences, etc.
• Share crucial files, login credentials, and contact details with family members so they can take care of your affairs if you are unable to go back to the United States as scheduled.
• Discover how to share your whereabouts with friends and family while traveling by using your phone or other smart devices.
• Along with your company or host group, create a personal security plan, or think about consulting a specialized security agency.
• Have a strategy for contact with your family, work, and host organization so that they can keep track of your whereabouts and safety. It should be stated in this strategy who you would speak with first and how they should distribute the information.
• Find out who to contact in case of emergency, including the FBI, the State Department’s Office of American Citizen Services, your employer (if you’re traveling for work), and local friends and relatives in the high-risk region.
• Create a proof of life routine with your loved ones so that, in the event that you are taken hostage, they will be prepared with questions (and responses) to use to verify your existence (and to rule out a hoax).
• Provide your doctor a copy of your DNA samples in case your family needs to access them.
• Remove sensitive images, remarks, or other content from your social media profiles, cameras, computers, and other electronic equipment that local organizations could find offensive or inflammatory.
• Leave behind any pricey or emotional items.
• If you are held hostage or imprisoned, designate one member of your family to function as the point of contact with hostage-takers, the media, U.S. government agencies, and those of the host nation.