State Department Publishes Kidnapping Warning for Americans in Mexico
Jose Nino
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Earlier this month, the United States Department of State issued an advisory that warned Americans about a heightened risk of kidnapping when traveling to Mexico. This comes at a time when cartel violence is surging in several states.
“Violent crime—such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery—is widespread and common in Mexico,” the State Department stated on August 17, 2022 in its advisory.
Jack Phillips of The Epoch Times observed that the federal government and State Department don’t have the ability to provide emergency services to citizens in many parts of Mexico. Per the State Department, this constrained ability to help US citizens during emergencies in Mexico is due to US government employees being restricted or barred from traveling to certain regions of the country.
“U.S. citizens are advised to adhere to restrictions on U.S. government employee travel. State-specific restrictions are included in the individual state advisories below,” the notice stated. “U.S. government employees may not travel between cities after dark, may not hail taxis on the street, and must rely on dispatched vehicles, including app-based services like Uber, and regulated taxi stands.”
The State Department recommended that government workers avoid traveling alone and in remote areas. In addition, federal government employees cannot drive from the “U.S.-Mexico border to or from the interior parts of Mexico” unless they are doing daytime travel in Baja California and a few other areas.
The Mexican states of Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas were placed under the “Do Not Travel” section in the State Department bulletin because of the rising crime and higher probability of Americans being kidnapped.
Furthermore, people were recommended to rethink their travel plans or take greater precautions in most other Mexican states because of the risk of crime and kidnappings.
“Keep traveling companions and family back home informed of your travel plans. If separating from your travel group, send a friend your GPS location. If taking a taxi alone, take a photo of the taxi number and/or license plate and text it to a friend,” per the State Department’s notice.
“Use toll roads when possible and avoid driving alone or at night,” it continued. “In many states, police presence and emergency services are extremely limited outside the state capital or major cities.”
Mexico is a mess right now. Cartels control large swathes of territory and the Mexican government has trouble keeping these cartels in check.
Too bad the US has a derelict political class that doesn’t prioritize border security. Instead, it pours billions of dollars into corrupt, streetwalker states like Ukraine. The real national security threats lies across the southern border in the form of drug cartels and human trafficking rings.
An America First foreign policy would be focused on securing our border and working with Mexican authorities in a constructive manner to degrade cartels’ capacity to wreak havoc.
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