Yesterday the U.S. Department of State issued a travel warning for Mexico. The warning applies to only certain locations in Mexico and warns U.S. citizens of traveling to certain places in Mexico due to threats to safety and security. According to the U.S. State Department, U.S. citizens have been the victims of violent crimes, such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery by organized criminal groups in various Mexican states.
You can read the warning here.
We have heard from cruise passengers of sporadic problems in Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. The majority of ports in Mexico (with the exception of Acapulco which we recommend against visiting) are not subject the U.S. warning. We covered the last crime warning from Mexico earlier this year. Our evaluation has not changed.
The State Department also issued a crime warning for El Salvador last week. Violence in this country is out of control. The current murder rate in El Salvador is among the highest in the world, an annual rate of 103.1 murders per 100,000 citizens for 2015. In comparison, the U.S. rate is 4.5 per 100,000.
It has become a more dangerous country for tourists even since my article last summer.
It’s so dangerous that the Peace Corps just announced that it was leaving the country.
Mexico and El Salvador attended the Miami Cruise Shipping (photo above) to promote destinations there for cruise passengers.
With crime warnings in these countries as well as in the Bahamas and other countries in the Caribbean, families from the U.S. seem to have fewer and fewer cruise destinations not on the U.S. State Department’s list of countries suffering from high crime rates.
Photo credit: Jim Walker