Despite Reports, U.S. State Department Has Not Issued a New Mexico Travel Advisory
by Daniel McCarthy /Quintana Roo. Photo: Shutterstock.com
The U.S. State Department has not re-issued a new travel advisory for those heading to Mexico.
Some consumer reports from this week suggested that the State Dept. had reissued a new advisory for spring breakers headed to Mexico.
However, a State Dept. spokesperson on Friday confirmed to TMR that it last updated the Travel Advisory for Mexico on October 5, 2022, with updates to health information, and that there has been no update to its warning since then.
The current advisory, issued on Oct. 5, warns travelers not to travel to some states because of crime or kidnapping including Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas. It also suggested reconsidering travel to states for the same reasons including Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, and Sonora.
For most everywhere else, including Quintana Roo and Mexico City, the State Department advises travelers to “exercise increased caution” mostly due to crime.
The State Dept. typically issues warnings in order for travelers to make their own well-informed decisions before travel. The advisories do not allow or disallow Americans to travel to their places, rather they simply provide “the most relevant, timely information possible regarding safety and security around the world,” the spokesperson told TMR.
For Mexico in particular, the State dept. assess each individual state differently, which means that it issues those different warnings depending on where a traveler is headed to. Some areas of Mexico might have an increased risk of crime while others might now.
The State Dept. advisories are different than U.S. Embassy Security Alerts, one of which was recently issued for those traveling to Cancun. That warning came “in the wake of recent incidents involving taxi and Uber drivers in Quintana Roo,” which has seen cleared up according to Reuters.
“U.S. citizens are reminded of guidance provided on Travel.State.gov, specifically about the use of application-based transportation services in Mexico, which states: Application-based car services such as Uber and Cabify are available in many Mexican cities, and generally offer another safe alternative to taxis,” the U.S. Embassy warning read.
