It is without fear of equivocation that I say, despite being raised from a travel advisory to travel warning in 2010, things bermuda vacation packages have become safer in Baja. I have updated this page with every new release from the Department of Homeland Security, yet our message remains the same... Come visit us in Baja.
1) I have lived in Mexico for more than a decade. I feel safer here from serious crime than I did in MOST of the US cities in which I lived. If there has been a change, it has been for the better. Local crime is most usually limited to petty theft. Even police 'harassment' for 'mordida' is down significantly
4) Mexico bermuda vacation packages is a large country, and much like the US has locations that are NOT for tourists, Even Mexicans avoid travel to Culidad Juarez, Monterrey and Veracruz.. CD Juarez, a border town, has been a 'rough and tumble' town since the early 1800's. Painting bermuda vacation packages Mexico travel with such a broad brush is like saying I'm not going to Disney World in Orlando because of the violence in New Orleans.
Mexico travel is on the rebound, from the low point in 2008 when the drug war reached bermuda vacation packages a fever pitch and there was spin-off violence that affected tourists, particularly in the border region of Baja California between Tijuana and Mexicali. Some of this was even thought to be the work of vengeful X-cops, fired wholesale in Tijuana for corruption.
There will undoubtedly going to be incidents involving tourists with that many visitors, but it seems the American press just loves to bring every incident in Mexico to light. Today the headline in the British press is about 2 vacationing college students from Briton killed in Florida by a black man in his teens. I could not find one reference bermuda vacation packages to that in state-side press.
There have in fact, been car jacking's in Baja California bermuda vacation packages of foreign tourists. Most of which occurred in Tijuana, remember, a city of 1.4 million people. There were more than 38,000 successful car jacking's bermuda vacation packages in the US last year, more than 35% of them were in the so called 'safe-suburbs'. (less than 24% of the vehicles were ever recovered)
There have in fact, been homicides of North Americans in Tijuana. Some were suspected drug involvement. One in 2010 and another in 2011 that I followed were most likely innocents, both were of Mexican decent in Tijuana. One of these young men was in a 'bad' part of TJ with cousins bermuda vacation packages and wandered into something they shouldn't have. The other was a killed in the line up for the US border crossing. He had just come from a family party in TJ, one theory was he flirted with the wrong cousin.
There have in fact, even been incidents of violence in Baja California Sur this year including a shoot out with police and four beheaded bodies found in Cabo San Lucas. No foreigners were involved, although some got a front row seat at the shopping bermuda vacation packages center shootout.
If you enjoy Baja or Mexico travel we hope that you will share this fact laden story with your social network friends. Use the buttons above to post a link to this story on your Facebook or other network site.
In 2010 the Murder Rate in Mexico was 13.2 per 100K people – BUT if you deduct bermuda vacation packages the direct combatants in the drug war (cartel members or police) it slashes Mexico's Murder Rate to 5.8 per 100K, just fractions above that of the US.
In comparison the most dangerous country in this hemisphere bermuda vacation packages and most dangerous non-warring country in the world is Honduras, with 72.3 murders per 100K, followed closely by El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, all over 60 murders per 100K,
Tijuana, the most dangerous place in Baja if you will, had a murder rate of 7.2 per 100K. New Orleans, Baltimore, bermuda vacation packages Detroit and Washington DC was all in excess of 15 murders per 100K. Where is their Travel Warning?
The problems in Mexico are part of the war against drugs initiated in 2006. In 2010 the drug was spread bermuda vacation packages from border areas to Acapulco and Cancun. These unfortunate headlines further dampened Mexico tourism although they did not involve tourists.
bermuda vacation packages Today the headlines decry out for 22 tourists robbed in Puerto Vallarta from a Carnaval Cruises excursion. bermuda vacation packages All 22 were on one excursion, and apparently robbed away from the boat while on a private tour. Carnaval has suspended that operator from their services. The point is, more than 2978 OTHER Carnaval Cruise guests that day had a wonderful time in P.V.
In areas close to the border travel has been devastated bermuda vacation packages by the violence in the headlines and passport requirements. Folks without bermuda vacation packages passports can no longer make a day of shopping in TJ or other border towns. With the lack of business, these areas have become more crime ridden. It may be some time before these border areas regain bermuda vacation packages the trust and traffic of North Americans.
However, investment minded civic officials have worked hard to repair the problems and combat the anti-Mexico propaganda in their regions. Leaders like former Rosarito Beach mayor Hugo Torres improved safety and beat the drum loudly in the media to repair the region's bermuda vacation packages image. Tourism and real estate investment in the region have begun to improve.
Baja California Sur was specifically omitted from the latest Mexico Travel Warning. One of the safest states in Mexico there were 10 murders in the state last year, making Baja Sur safer per capita than almost all US states.
First off, it is pure Machiavellian and every leader has used it since Julius Caesar - point the finger bermuda vacation packages of woe outside your country. Immigration and drug issues are really US internal problems, but it is far easier and politically reassuring to point at Mexico.
Secondly, as a long time international bermuda vacation packages traveler with somewhere around 50 different stamps bermuda vacation packages in my passport it is very clear to me the US is trying to stymie international travel. It is a political security risk. The fewer people that cross the border the more thoroughly they will be able to 'inspect' each traveler.
Now we all know that ICE knows well in advance bermuda vacation packages what planes are arriving and when and how many passengers. As the line at immigration grew to the longest I have ever seen in MANY trips through Houston a supervisor arrived, bermuda vacation packages eyed the crowd and closed 2 more of the only 6 interrogation booths open. Four lanes to service thousands of arrivals. One for a few hundred foreigners and one for the airline crews. bermuda vacation packages That guy sat idle while thousands bermuda vacation packages of US citizens waited to be readmitted to the US.
I was carry-on only baggage and it still required more than 45 minutes just to clear customs, another 15 minutes for TSA inspections. A significant number of passengers missed connecting flights were for decades have been scheduled a minimum of 50 minutes apart.
Remember, bermuda vacation packages as the travel warning itself states, hundreds of thousands of US Citizens travel to Mexico every year, and only a handful bermuda vacation packages ever experience a violent or negative incident on their visit. Come Enjoy the Baja peninsula, it is STILL the same great place of your dreams!
February 08, 2012 - The Department of State has issued this Travel Warning to inform U.S. citizens about the security situation in Mexico. General information on the overall security situation is provided immediately below. For information on security conditions in specific regions of Mexico, which can vary, travelers should reference the state-by-state assessments further below.
This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning for Mexico dated April 22, 2011 to consolidate and update information about the security situation and to advise the public of additional bermuda vacation packages restrictions on the travel of U.S. government (USG) personnel.
Millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year for study, tourism, and business, including more than 150,000 who cross the border every day. The Mexican government bermuda vacation packages makes a considerable effort to protect U.S. citizens and other visitors to major tourist destinations, and there is no evidence that Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) have targeted U.S. visitors and residents based on their nationality. Resort areas and tourist destinations in Mexico generally do not see the levels bermuda vacation packages of drug-related violence and crime reported in the border region and in areas along major trafficking routes.
Nevertheless, U.S. travelers should be aware that the Mexican government has been engaged in an extensive effort to counter TCOs which engage in narcotics trafficking and other unlawful activities throughout Mexico. The TCOs themselves are engaged in a violent struggle to control drug trafficking routes and other criminal bermuda vacation packages activity. As a result, crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country and can occur anywhere. U.S. citizens have fallen victim to TCO activity, including homicide, gun battles, kidnapping, carjacking and highway robbery.
According to the most recent homicide figures published by the Mexican government, 47,515 people were killed in narcotics-related violence in Mexico between December 1, 2006 and September bermuda vacation packages 30, 2011, with 12,903 narcotics-related homicides in the first nine months of 2011 alone. While most of those killed in narcotics-related violence have been members of TCOs, innocent persons have also been killed. The number of U.S. citizens reported to the Department of State as murdered in Mexico increased from 35 in 2007 to 120 in 2011.
Gun battles between rival TCOs or with Mexican authorities bermuda vacation packages have taken place in towns and cities in many parts of Mexico, especially in the border region. Gun battles have occurred in broad daylight on streets and in other public venues, such as restaurants and clubs. bermuda vacation packages During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area. TCOs use stolen cars and trucks to create roadblocks on major thoroughfares, preventing the military and police from responding to criminal activity. The location and timing of future armed engagements is unpredictable. We recommend that you defer travel to the areas indicated in this Travel Warning and to exercise extreme caution when traveling throughout the northern border region.
The rising number of kidnapping
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