1. Mexican federal police patrol a beach where a shooting occurred a nightclub the day before in Cancun, Mexico on January 18, 2017. Dangerous Areas in Cancun. All these places are generally safe during the day, less during the night. Relatives of 43 missing students hold torches in a march to protest against the governments handling of the investigation of the case, to mark the nineteenth-month anniversary of their disappearance, in Mexico City, Mexico on April 26, 2016. The Lpez Obrador administration has failed to take many of the basic steps recommended by global health authorities to limit the spread of Covid-19. Cuadrante coordinates scraped from Ubica tu cuadrante. Go to Mexico! However, in a leaked audio recording from 2019, a senior migration official told her team they were now under the instruction and supervision of the National Guard. In January 2020, National Guard troops clashed violently with a caravan of migrants in Chiapas state. In 2018, the number of drug-related homicides in Mexico rose to 33,341, a 15 percent increase from the . Aguilar, whose activism forces her to travel with armed guards, did not specify which groups killers were responsible for the bloodbath in La Piedrera. For example, global peace declined by 0.3% overall between the 2021 and 2022 GPI reports. Showing 1 to 416 of 416 entries. Criminal cartels often do so with the tolerance or even involvement of certain public officials, the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights reported in 2013. WE WILL EVEN HAVE LUNCH WITH OUR DRIVER TO MAKE US AND HIM FEEL AT EASE. From major cities to out-of-the-way hamlets, Mexico is the neighbor you should want to get to know. The U.S. State Department recently issued an updated Mexico travel warning about U.S. Victims of cartel turf wars, random crime and domestic violence included 172 women and 43 minors; citizens' groups demand police accountability EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) Juarez closed 2021 with 1,420 homicides - a 14 percent decrease over an even more violent 2020. And some parts of Mexico . A few weeks earlier his 46-year-old predecessor, Aristteles Sandoval, had been shot dead in a restaurant toilet in a meticulously planned hit many suspected was the work of Jalisco assassins. El Traicionero, it read. The 2021 election cycle has been the most dangerous in recent years, with 782 acts of violence against incumbents and challengers alike, edging out the 774 violent acts recorded in 2018, according to a regularly updated report on political violence in Mexico by risk analysis group, Etellekt. Make safety your top priority, no matter what else you are doing. It might seem that 2022 is starting off with important positive news about the crime and security situation in Mexico. In October, one of El Chapo's sons, Ovidio Guzmn Lpez, was freed on the orders of the Mexican government after Sinaloa cartel gunmen flooded the city of Culiacn and surrounded security forces to press for their boss's release. I spent three months in Mexico in 1982 and was married on Isla Mujeres. Through a broad, encompassing survey of key data and statistics, Justice in Mexico's 2021 Organized Crime and Violence in Mexico report seeks to shed further light on the complex trends and patterns influencing the overall trajectory of Mexico's security situation. The government has failed to provide adequate support or protection for the estimated 66,000 people seeking asylum in the US who have been placed in the Remain in Mexico program, including people at high risk of marginalization, like those with disabilities and chronic health conditions, older persons, and children. Murders per thousand are higher in Mexico, but gun violence is less prevalent in Mexico. Lyft, meanwhile, released its first ever safety report in October 2021, disclosing that it received 4,158 reports of sexual assault on its platform from 2017 to 2019. Nine people shot dead in Mexico amusement arcade, Second Mexico butterfly activist found dead, Missing Mexican butterfly activist found dead, Ex-baseball star Narciso Elvira killed in Mexico, Mexico indigenous group enlists children as police, Indigenous musicians killed in Mexico ambush, More than 60,000 Mexicans 'disappeared' in drug war, Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. They have huge amounts of money, the latest generation weapons, military-style paramilitary groups and vehicles and they represent a very severe challenge to the [Mexican] government above all in small and mid-sized cities where a detachment of 50 cartel operatives can obviously defeat any local police force.. Healthcare workers have faced attacks and discrimination, and some healthcare workers say they were fired for protesting a lack of protective equipment at public hospitals. In 2018 the number of people killed was more than four times that in 2007. Field Report from Tamaulipas: English language version of "Informe de campo: Seguridad en Tamaulipas Hoy: Una Paz Simulada." Since 2010, the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas has been in a state of high-intensity armed conflict. Clothes on the floor where 26 bodies were found inside a clandestine burial place. Less internationally famous than the Sinaloa cartel of the now jailed Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn, the Jalisco organization is notorious at home for displays of ultraviolence and military might that experts say pose a growing threat to Mexicos nationalist president, Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador. From January 2019 to March 2020, the administration of US President Donald Trumpwith the cooperation of the Lpez Obrador administrationsent an estimated 66,000 non-Mexicans who were seeking asylum in the US to await the outcome of their claims in Mexico under the Remain in Mexico program. Families of victims will be able to submit cases to the committee once they have exhausted their legal options domestically. Join our Travel Advice & Support FB Group. 3. Two suspected drug gang members were shot dead near a Cancun resort in Mexico on Nov. 3. Its the sisterhood of pain, said the groups 50-year-old leader, Martha Leticia Garca, as they waited to examine images of body parts unearthed from an ever-growing network of mass graves. The Mexican government officially declared war on criminal organizations in 2006, when former President Felipe Calderon launched an initiative to combat cartels using military force. Since 2008, the US has allocated more than US$3.1 billion in aid via the Mrida Initiative to help Mexico combat organized crime and drug trafficking. So much to explore. In 2019, he created the National Guard, a military force, to replace the Federal Police as the governments principal law enforcement body. The apparently mundane incident reputedly prompted a bloody and bewildering sequence of betrayals, gun battles and massacres which eventually saw one group prevail. Dont miss it. His critics argue that the president's lack of a defined strategy to combat criminal groups has led to a further increase in violence. The government says soldiers only support migration officials. Share this via LinkedIn The ITF Road Safety Annual Report 2021 examines the development of road safety in the year 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. 12 Jul 2022. pdf. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Cities that border the United States are considered unsafe because of drug cartels. Since youre warning people away from San Jose del Cabo, the score should logically be lower, not higher. Mexico Mexico is home to some of the hemisphere's largest, most sophisticated and violent organized criminal groups. Mexican soldiers stand guard while workers of the Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex and local firefighters work to control a fire believed to have been started in a pipeline due to fuel-theft activity in Tlajmulco, Mexico on April 3, 2018. This whole Narco stuff is a problem but where Ive been that being a small town in Jalisco called San Juan De Los Lagos, Its pretty safe, people in Mexico are nice too and will help you if needed. Share this via Printer, As More Climate Chaos Looms, Slashing Fossil Fuels Is Key. Abortion is available on request for anyone, up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, in Mexico City and, since October 2019, in Oaxaca state. Quintana Roo in Mexico remains one of the safest states for tourists, despite rising crime rates and reports of bloodshed sparked by cartel warfare in several parts of the country. I HAVE NOTICED THAT WHEN WE FLAG A CAB DOWN THE PRICE FOR THE TRIP IS EXCEGERRATED SIGNIFICANTLY USALLY TWO OR THREE TIMES WHAT IT SHOULD BE. Crime in general per thousand people is three times higher in the United States. Yucatn has a culture all its own, including dishes that you will find nowhere else (Poc Chuc, Relleno Negro, Cochinita Pibil, Papadzules, Huevos Motuleos, etcetera). You need to use some common sense.Don't accept rides from independent drivers.Ride only in approved or licensed taxis, which are labeled.Get your hotel to call a taxi for you, instead of hailing one on the street.Public transportation is safe but can be crowded and uncomfortable.Generally, it is much safer than renting a car and driving yourself. Do not travel there alone and exercise extreme caution. While Cancun is the major tourist attraction, there are beaches just as nice that are not as developed or crowded. According to U.S. Govt reports, there is no evidence of foreign terror groups having a base in Mexico or working with drug cartels.There have been very few incidents of terrorism in recent years and those were isolated cases.While terrorism could happen anywhere, there seems to be little risk of it happening in Mexico. Aguilar, 63, said there were dozens of such clandestine burial sites across Jalisco state, a sun-scorched slice of west Mexico that is paying an increasingly nightmarish price for its pivotal role in North Americas multibillion-dollar drug trade. In 2019, the government reported more than 1,000 femicideskillings of women because of their genderabout a quarter of all women murdered. Guadalajara has long been one of the most important addresses in the Mexican drug business. Womens rights groups say femicide is likely under-reported. Read about our approach to external linking. A resident of one small town in the Sierra described how cartel gunmen in black combat gear with the groups initials stamped on to their bullet-proof vests often swept through its streets in high-end 4x4s, some with mounted machine guns. Infamous cocaine and marijuana barons lived here during the 1980s. Guadalupe Ayala, local human rights activist Guadalupe Aguilar and a bodyguard during the search of a clandestine cemetery. Its generally safe to travel alone, as a man or woman, but traveling during night time is not ok I think. It is severely restricted elsewhere. Just use caution, and you should be ok. In April, a Salvadoran man died of Covid-19 in a Mexico City hospital after spending more than a month in migration detention. In its 2019 review of Mexico, the UN Committee Against Torture expressed concern that few of these cases result in an arrest and trial. According to data from Statista, 21.73 million Americans traveled to Mexico in 2020 amid the pandemic, compared to 39.94 million in 2019. Mexican laws do not adequately protect women and girls against gender-based and sexual violence. Some of it is just the minerals in the water that we are not used to, but there are also contaminated systems in Mexico. Robberies, or muggings, are more prevalent in Mexico and this happens when people are caught out alone in most cases. Youre afraid to go out at night. Since 2006, crime-related violence has resulted in an estimated 150,000 deaths. Many estimate the figure may have been much higher. As with journalists, violence against human rights defenders is rarely investigated or prosecuted. 2023 Copyright by Travel Safe - Abroad. Country Summary: Violent crime - such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery - is widespread and common in Mexico. Share this via Facebook I guess San Jose del Cabo is MUCH safer than Cabo San Lucas as it would need a score of 92 to average the two into the 80 score of the two cities, assuming equal weighting on each city 200k vs 150k people. At the time . In 2019 a well-respected human rights defender was appointed to head the National Search Commission (CNB). Many human rights defenders called her appointment unconstitutional, saying that Piedra Ibarra, a former senior member of the presidents party, is too close to the administration to be autonomous and apolitical. Winter nights are cool, but the days are warm to hot. In January, 10 indigenous musicians were ambushed in western Mexico, The deployment of soldiers has failed to quell the violence, In some rural communities, residents have created their own police force because they do not trust the official one, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. Recognizing widespread assertions that the use of military force has only increased the level of crime-related violence in Mexicoand accusations that the military has committed human rights abuses and carried out extrajudicial killingsthenpresidential candidate AMLO promised on his campaign trail to revolutionize the fight against cartels and revert to a civilian-led police force. January 9 - Quintana Roo is one of the safest states for tourists to visit in 2023, authorities say. Criminals wander around at night looking for an easy target, and a tourist alone is an easy target. I highly recommend Mrida. While the U.S. State Department does not have a Tulum-specific advisory, the . Why? Anyway, I never did like Cancn. The organization's ranking system is based on an analysis of . National Crime Agency Annual Report 2021-2022 ( pdf, 9.59 MB ) (3980 downloads) Popular. However, prosecutors and police neglect to take even basic investigative steps to identify those responsible for enforced disappearances, often telling families of the missing to investigate on their own. Like most big cities, organised crime occurs. The official leading Mexicos response has called massive testing useless and a waste of time, despite the World Health Organizations insistence on the importance of testing. The official telling traces the Jalisco cartels birth to July 2010 when troops killed Ignacio Nacho Coronel the gangster credited with founding Mexicos methamphetamine trade in the state capital, Guadalajara. Since its creation in 2010, the federal Special Prosecutors Office to investigate crimes against journalists has opened more than 1,000 investigations, brought 217 charges for crimes, and obtained 14 convictions. Share this via Telegram 38.8. . New self-defense militia appears in Chiapas, Mexico to fight organized crime. However, after the Sinaloa Cartels Joaquin El Chapo Guzman was arrested in 2014, re-arrested in 2016, and finally extradited to the United States in 2017, a power vacuum was created within the Sinaloa Cartel, resulting in an accompanying increase in violence between rival factions seeking new territory and influence. Reforms enacted in 2017 and 2018 have been slow and until now ineffective in addressing torture and impunity. These groups do not just deal in drugs but also engage in extortion, money laundering, human trafficking, people smuggling and contract killings. I know there are worse places to visit in the world but this gets 4 stars because it is not that interesting. Water is contaminated in many areas, however. From 2014 through 2019, the CNDH received nearly 3,000 complaints regarding alleged military abuses. Moreover, security is one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy. Its not that bad last time i went was when i was real little. Under several layers of dusky earth they made an even more grotesque discovery. Mexico: Failings in investigations of feminicides in the State of Mexico violate women's rights to life, physical safety and access to justice - Amnesty International Barcroft Media via Getty Images News September 20, 2021 In the popular tourist destination of Yucatn, the homicide rate is only 3 per 100,000 people, lower than that of Thailand. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in many areas of Mexico, as travel by U.S. government employees to certain areas is prohibited or restricted. Data were drawn from two waves of a Mexican national survey of public high school students in Mexico. When it is available, its safer than public transportation. U.S. Department of State - United States Department of State Five months later parts of his body were found at El Mirador too. No surprise, the U.S. State Department recently issued a chilling warning about travel to Mexico with a level 3 on a scale of 1 to 4, meaning "reconsider travel.". Instead, phone for a radio cab or, failing that, take the next best option and get a cab from an official sitio. I had fallen in love with Mexico, and returned soon afterward (1981). Some are transnational enterprises which operate as far south as Argentina and have off-shoots in Europe. Instead, the vacuum left behind has led to further battles between rival gangs and warring pretenders to the vacant leadership positions. El Menchos leadership is indisputable [but] hes discreet. President Lpez Obrador said in May 2019 that his government would reject the initiative and re-orient US-Mexican cooperation to target the drivers of migration to the US by reducing poverty in Central America and southeastern Mexico. In this year's report, discover: The number of consumers impacted by cybercrime and identity theft in the past year How the pandemic has influenced consumers online habits and safety What consumers were doing to proactively protect their digital lives Read This Year's Findings Experts Paige Hanson Chief of Cyber Safety Education, NortonLifeLock Yes, many parts of Mexico are dangerous today, especially for foreigners. It was mid-spring when residents of the wasteland behind Guadalajaras international airport noticed a dog roaming their community with a strange object in its mouth: a human forearm. This is all about organized crime, said Aguilar, who spends her life locating and excavating Mexicos 21st-century killing fields in search of the victims. The Institute for economy and peace reports that Zacatecas state has the highest murder rate in Mexico, of 97.3 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. In my opinion, Mexico is one of the most beautiful countries in the entire world. #31 out of 78 in 2021. On 7 June, an astonishing 117 murders were recorded in 24 hours, making it the country's most violent day of the year so far. Here then is a recap of key crime and anti-crime events and developments in Mexico in 2020, and of the bleak prospects for 2021. There is evidence that digital surveillance is being deployed in public spaces without legal frameworks or oversight in ways that can have a chilling effect on freedom of assembly and the work of human rights defenders and journalists. The committee expressed concern at reports that courts routinely fail to investigate torture allegations. In March 2020, the US government stopped accepting most asylum applications made at the US-Mexican border, using the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to begin summarily expelling most people arriving at the US border or transferring them to Mexican officials who usually deport them to Central America. I have been back many times, sometimes alone, with my young children and with friends. Although violent crime is rare (but not impossible), petty crime is common. Everyone here has lost someone.. Mexico is considered a safe country to visit but there are numerous dangerous areas and regions that tourists should avoid traveling to. It truly breaks my heart to see what has happened over the past 42 years. In 2019, journalists registered 609 threats, attacks, or other forms of aggressionreportedly the highest year on record. Four months later officials told her some body parts had been recovered from a notorious torture house called El Mirador. That year, the Attorney Generals Office opened only 351 investigations into disappearances and prosecuted only 2. In 2019, the CNDH received 606 complaints of abuses against migrants, and the attorney general opened 72 investigations of crimes against migrants. NECC Financial Sanctions Evasion Russian Elites and Enablers ( pdf, 290 KB ) (12066 downloads) Popular. Here you can truly experience Mexican culture with mariachi being present everywhere, dancing, singing and many, many amazing Mexican dishes that leave my mouth watering just thinking about them. In August 2020, the government recognized the jurisdiction of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances to consider cases in Mexico, as recommended by a number of UN member-states during its 2018 Universal Periodic Review. Each Wednesday, desperate mothers, wives, sisters and daughters gather outside the citys forensic institute seeking news of loved ones. Ive never lived through a civil war but I think this is what living through a war must be like, said one. The U.S. Government advises people to "reconsider travel" to Mexico, which is the third-highest of four levels of danger.Covid-19, as well as a rise in crime and kidnappings, are the major reasons.Like many countries, some areas are safer than others.Major tourist areas are generally safe.The overall crime rate per thousand people is actually higher in the United States than in Mexico. The U.S. Government has issued a do not travel designation for Mazatln, Acapulco, Matamoros, and Nuevo Laredo. 98 shares. I do not personally recommend Quintana Roo, except for the islands of Isla Mujeres and Cozumel. Twelve states allow transgender people to change their names and gender markers on birth certificates through a simple administrative process before the state Civil Registry. However, authorities often fail to investigate allegations of torture. Authorities routinely fail to investigate crimes against journalists adequately, often preemptively ruling out their profession as a motive. The number of investigations into cases of torture by state and federal prosecutors has risen in recent years, from just 13 in 2006 to over 7,000 in 2019, according to a report by the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights.