The U.S. government has issued another travel warning about multiple areas in Mexico.
Americans are urged by the Department of State to avoid travel to Baja California and the nearby Mexican towns of Tijuana, Ensenada, and Rosarito. They also share that the U.S. government will not be able to assist American citizens if they experience crime while traveling in Mexico.
The advisory states: “Violent crime — such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery — is widespread and common in Mexico. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in many areas of Mexico.”
Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador says in a statement about the recent increase in crime, that cartel and gang members “attacked the civilian, innocent population like a sort of revenge. It wasn’t just a clash between two groups, but it got to the point where they began to shoot civilians, innocent people. That is the most unfortunate thing in this affair.”
U.S. government employees in Mexico
There have been reports of over two dozen vehicles being carjacked and burned within the past week in Baja California.
U.S. government employees are not allowed to travel to certain areas in Mexico because of the limited emergency services available. If there are employees already in those parts of Mexico, they are restricted from hailing taxis and traveling in the dark to other cities. Employees can only use authorized vehicles such as ride-hailing apps like Uber and taxis stands. They are urged to not travel solo.
The advisory also restricts employees from driving from the U.S.-Mexico border to interior areas of the country. Daytime travel in Baja California is allowed as well as on Mexican Federal Highway 15D, between Nogales and Hermosillo, and on Highway 85D, between Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey.
Advisory for American citizens
The U.S. government wants all Americans to follow the same travel guidelines as its employees.
Places in Mexico Americans are urged not to travel to:
- Colima state – crime and kidnapping
- Guerrero state – crime
- Michoacan state – crime and kidnapping
- Sinaloa state – crime and kidnapping
- Tamaulipas state – crime and kidnapping
- Zacatecas state – crime and kidnapping
Places in Mexico Americans should reconsider traveling to:
- Baja California state – crime and kidnapping
- Chihuahua state – crime and kidnapping
- Durango state – crime
- Guanajuato state – crime and kidnapping
- Jalisco state – crime and kidnapping
- Morelos state – crime
- Sonora state – crime and kidnapping
Americans should be extremely cautious when traveling to these Mexican states:
- Aguascalientes state – crime
- Baja California Sur state – crime
- Chiapas state – crime
- Coahuila state – crime
- Hidalgo state – crime
- Mexico City – crime
- Mexico State – crime
- Nayarit state – crime
- Nuevo Leon state – crime and kidnapping
- Oaxaca state – crime
- Puebla state – crime and kidnapping
- Queretaro state – crime
- Quintana Roo state – crime and kidnapping
- San Luis Potosi state – crime and kidnapping
- Tabasco state – crime
- Tlaxcala state – crime
- Veracruz state – crime
