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Is it safe to visit Mexico for spring break? State Department Issues Strongest Possible ‘Do Not Travel’ Warning Over ‘Crime & Kidnapping’ Threats As Former US Marshall Claims Cartels Are Infiltrating Once-Worn Resorts insurance
- Six Mexican states are currently under the most severe ‘no travel’ warning from the US State Department.
- In some popular tourist cities, dangerous cartels have established close ties with local businesses, allowing them to launder drug money.
- More than 30 million Americans visited Mexico in 2022
Just as Americans start packing their bags and flying to the beaches and bars for spring break, the US government is warning everyone heading to Mexico to stay away from six dangerous states .
The State Department has issued its highest-level warning for parts of the United States’ southern neighbor that are run by drug cartels and pose potential threats to American tourists.
The government currently has a ‘do not travel’ warning issued in six Mexican states due to ‘crime and kidnapping’.
US visitors are cautioned not to travel to areas within Guerrero, Colima, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas.
A DJ performs during spring break at The Grand Oasis Cancun in 2022
The Pueblo Bonita resort in Sinaloa, Mexico, where the State Department issued its toughest “do not travel” warning.
Robert Almonte, a former US Marshal in the Western District of Texas said NewsNation that “there is a cartel presence in these resorts,” some of which have long been considered safe.
Sergio Armando Orozco Rodríguez, also known as ‘Chocho’, is an alleged member of the Jalisca Nueva Generación Cartel, who extort local businesses for protection funds in his hometown of Puerto Vallarta, a popular spring break destination.
According to the US Treasury Department, Chocho and his henchmen launder drug proceeds through close ties to nightclubs and restaurants throughout the city’s main commercial area.
The cartel is responsible for trafficking a “significant proportion of the fentanyl and other deadly drugs entering the United States,” according to the Treasury Department.
The US Treasury Department is after Sergio Armando Orozco Rodríguez, also known as Chocho, an alleged Puerto Vallarta cartel kingpin who has made corrupt inroads into local businesses in Puerto Vallarta.
A hotel in Zacatecas, Mexico, where threats of crime and kidnapping are high, according to the State Department
A cargo vehicle on fire after clashes between federal forces and armed groups in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa state, Mexico, January 5, 2023
Zacatecas, Mexico, is currently considered dangerous Americans to have been instructed by the state department not to travel there.
A street in Zacatecas decked out with Christmas decorations
Former US ambassador to Mexico Earl Anthony Wayne says the practice of money laundering through hospitality services is well established and a good device to appear legitimate from the outside.
“One of the things we’ve discovered about these groups is that they can be mean and wicked, but they’re often quite smart in finding ways to move their profits around,” he said.
Of Mexico’s 32 states, only two are currently included in the State Department’s lower-level “normal precautions” designation, including Campeche and Yucatan.
Quintana Roo, the popular tourist state that includes vacation hotspots such as Tulum, Playa del Carmen and Cancun, currently has a level two warning to “exercise increased caution.”
Almonte believes it is time for American tourists to stop visiting Mexico until the cartel issue is under control.
We’ve had enough. We are not going to Mexico until you put your house in order,’ he said.
However, the data does not seem to show a big slowdown in the number of Americans who visited Mexico last year: more than 30 million in 2022.