U.S. issues travel warning to 14 Mexican states

MEXICO CITY – The U.S. State Department is recommending that Americans avoid travel to all or parts of 14 of 31 Mexican states in the widest travel advisory issued since Mexico stepped up its drug war in 2006.

The department advises against any nonessential travel in all of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas, which border the U.S, and in the central state of Durango, as well as sections of 10 other states.

It advises caution for traveling in three other border states and many areas of central and western Mexico where drug cartels have been warring.

The advisory issued last week says U.S. citizens have been victims of drug violence, including killings, kidnappings and carjackings.

The previous warning in April 2011 recommended avoiding travel in all of just two states, Tamaulipas and Michoacan, and parts of eight others.

It is the first time the State Department listed advisories for each of Mexico’s 31 states, including the federal district of Mexico City, where there is no warning. There were also no warnings for the states that are home to Cancun and Cabo San Lucas, two popular tourist destinations for Americans.

The advisory seems to take pains not to make even violence-plagued tourist destinations off limits.

It recommends against nonessential travel in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, home to Mexico’s most powerful cartel of the same name, and one of Mexico’s most violent states. But the state warning excludes the tourist destination of Mazatlan. It advises visitors there to exercise caution at night and in the morning, even though the statement also says “incidents of violence are occurring more frequently in tourist areas” in Mazatlan.

Some large cruise lines have stopped their ports of call in Mazatlan.

While the advisory warns against travel in most parts of southern Guerrero state, it doesn’t include the resort city of Acapulco, even though Acapulco has seen a significant spike in violence from warring cartels.

“In Acapulco, defer nonessential travel to areas further than two blocks inland of the Costera Miguel Aleman Boulevard, which parallels the popular beach areas,” the statement says.

There have been several incidents of violence on the costera, the main tourist road, in the last year.

Many Mexican elected officials decried the warning for its potential impact on tourism and the economy.

Mexican Consul, Hector Raul Acosta Flores, whose office is in Presidio, was one of those officials who decried the State Department warning.

“I do not agree with those advisories from the State Department. They are impartial, the reaction is impartial,” Flores said this week, suggesting the U.S. government is ignoring the underlying problem.

“The background is that the highest consumption of drugs is in the United States, that is what is really happening,” Flores said, adding that if the high consumption of illegal drugs in the United States weren’t so high, drug trafficking would not be at such a high level.

Flores said he believes that the United States should focus its energies not on warning U.S. citizens from traveling to Mexico but rather on addressing treatment of addiction in the United States.  Flores is also concerned about the warning’s affect on tourism to Mexico.

“It’s disappointing to any Mexican,” Flores said of the travel warning, “Tourism is one of the most important parts of the Mexican economy. Flores encouraged tourists to continue and visit his country, “Of course it’s completely safe if (tourists) are not looking for contacts with the international mafia in the two countries. They will travel as a tourist and be safe.” Flores said that visitors should be aware of their surroundings as they would visiting any other country or tourist destination.

“Like any country they must be careful. If you go to New York or Washington, DC, you might get troubles if you don’t follow some personal safety.”

Flores said that his office has begun to put together some group trips to Mexico, with mostly U.S. citizens having signed up for the excursions to the Yucatan and the Copper Canyon.

“We have treasures and history and national resources,” Flores said of what Mexico has to offer visitors, “We are a happy people. Most tourists return very happy to their countries, particularly to the USA.”

Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said Mexico does everything it can to ensure the safety of any person in the country, and said the number of visitors to Mexico is steadily increasing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.