Mexico is going through an insecurity crisis that could have a significant impact on foreign tourism, as the arrival of spring break approaches. Are the favorite destinations of foreigners safe?
The beginning of spring is approaching and with it the arrival of hundreds of North American tourists to Mexico, mainly to the country’s beaches, for the 2023 spring break season that coincides with the vacation period for foreign students. However, this will happen during an insecurity crisis that the country is going through and that is reflected in the kidnapping of four people from the United States on March 3, two of whom were murdered.
The young Americans, identified as Latavia McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams, traveled from South Carolina to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, because she was going to undergo cosmetic surgery. However, last Friday they were intercepted by members of organized crime and deprived of their liberty.
The four people were located this Tuesday in a safe house in the La Lagunona community, but only Latavia and Eric James, who has a gunshot wound to the leg, are still alive and have already been transferred to the US, according to the governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villarreal.
This is the last case so far this year in which foreigners are victims of the insecurity and violence that plagues Mexico, although it is not the only one.
Last February Elliot Blair, a public defender from Orange County, California, died in strange conditions while on vacation with Kimberly Williams, his wife, at a resort on the beaches of Rosarito, Baja California.
The Mexican authorities reported that the lawyer died after falling from the fourth floor, but his family maintains that the events occurred in the corridor that was in front of her room and Williams declared that someone caused the death of her husband.
In addition, family lawyer Case Barnett explained that a pathologist who was hired to perform an autopsy on Blair in Los Angeles found that the man had about 40 fractures in his skull.
How safe are the destination cities for the spring break season?
After the death of Elliot Blair, the United States Department of State warned its population to avoid traveling to Mexico, because they may be victims of kidnapping or other types of crimes. This is because US citizens, mainly students, usually plan trips for the holiday season or spring break.
The State Department reported that there are six states that should be avoided: Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.
Other destinations that are usually visited during spring break are Los Cabos, which is in Baja California. The entity accumulated 198 homicides during the month of January and ranked third among the states that concentrated this crime.
San Miguel de Allende, the magical town of Guanajuato, is another of the favorite destinations for foreigners. Although the entity registered 249 homicides during the first month of the year and ranked second among the states with the most cases.
While Oaxaca, the state in which Puerto Escondido is located, accumulated 85 homicides during January and Quintana Roo, where Cancun is located, which is another of the cities preferred for its beaches, registered 55 homicides.
The US authorities also recommended that citizens reconsider their trips to Chihuahua, Durango, Jalisco (where Puerto Vallarta is located), Morelos and Sonora, especially now that the spring break season is approaching.
Source: Radio Formula
