I recently received this letter from a concerned traveler:
Not to upset you, but we may want to really re-think our travel plans. We can’t change our flights but we may want to look at staying inside the US this trip. Safety and well-being of everyone has to be a high consideration. This is the latest report from the US State Dept. There are others. There are also great marketing reports about the area but getting to/from and safety of the kids while in the area should be re-considered. Don’t want to lose anyone or injure anyone because of some drug idiot doing something stupid. Where exactly are we staying? Hotel resort? Vans and SUV’s are targets according to another report.
This was the reply I sent:
I appreciate how you feel after reading this “latest report from the US State Department.” (Ref. Fig-1) You are not alone in your concerns regarding travel to Mexico. Many people have felt the same way as you do following the State Department Travel Warning that was issued on February 8, 2012. They wanted clarification as to where in Mexico they specifically needed to avoid, and verification regarding the incidents that were cited. I also felt that this warning from the State Department contained glaring inconsistencies and sensational statements that lacked verification. After speaking with State Department officials and representatives from law enforcement, I have a better understanding of what this advisory had tried to relate, and exactly whom it was written for (State Department personnel). Yet the US media wasted no time in extrapolating the document into a dire warning for the safety of tourists traveling to Mexico. Let me share with you the information I have found regarding this particular advisory.
The specifics of these extensive, generalized warnings have been the subject of extreme scrutiny and analysis every time they are published. Each region mentioned could be addressed, however, in the interest of brevity; I’ll stick to the warnings regarding Puerto Peñasco, located in the Sonora region of Mexico.
The map included with the warning is a matter of curiosity in and of itself. The warning reads “Sonora: Nogales and Puerto Peñasco are the major cities/travel destinations in Sonora –see map (PDF, 286 kb) to identify their exact locations” yet the map provided is nowhere even close to identifying the
