The United States is urging its citizens to avoid cartel hotspots due to the surge in violence as the spring break season comes underway, the Daily Mail reported.
Despite U.S. government warnings, travel agents are reporting a significant post-pandemic boom, with reports of bookings tripling to pre-2020 figures.
While U.S. citizens visiting Cabo, Cancun, Tulum, and Puerto Vallarta are advised to exercise caution due to crime and kidnapping, according to Robert Almonte, a former U.S. Marshal and retired deputy chief of the El Paso Police Department, the entire country is considered dangerous.
Almonte tells the Mail, "It does not surprise me," travel to Mexico has increased. "I am disappointed that they're doing that in spite of all the recent incidents. I do a lot of training. I train police officers throughout the United States and a lot of them continue to go to the resorts in Mexico despite my warnings not to do so."
"The bottom line is when someone makes the decision to go to Mexico for any reason, you're basically risking your life. It's just a dangerous place to be. I tell people don't go to Mexico. I am advocating a boycott of Mexico. I am telling people do not go to Mexico. Do not go to the resorts. Let's send a message to the Mexican government that they need to get a handle on this situation.
"Right now they don't care because it's business as usual. It seems like we don't care, we're ignoring the situation."
Almonte added the State Department's warnings do not go far enough.
"The cartels are everywhere and anywhere in Mexico," he continued. "They have checkpoints set up where you'll get stopped and you need to pay a tax to get through and even with that you may still be abducted and held for ransom. So, people should not go to Mexico."
But for Angel Taylor, the owner of Winner Circle Travel Agency, "travel is back and better than ever."
"I feel like people are traveling more now post-pandemic than pre-pandemic," Taylor told CBS.
The travel agency owner said she remains optimistic the tourist areas of Cancun, Riviera Maya, and other similar places are safe for tourists, so long as tourists stay far from the border.
The State Department's severe "do not travel" warning covers six states, including Guerrero, Colima, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas.
The latest reminder of the ongoing drug war's impact on Mexico was the kidnapping of four Americans and the butchering of two of them in Matamoros. The incident occurred in a border town.
The surviving Americans were later found and taken to the border near Brownsville, Texas, in a convoy of Mexican ambulances and SUVs. The White House denounced the kidnappings and offered condolences to the victims' families. The Biden administration has pledged to work closely with the Mexican government to ensure justice is done.
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