Mexico ‘Do Not Travel’ advisory in effect for US residents ahead of spring break

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. State Section is reminding American citizens it has issued its optimum-degree warning advising in opposition to travel to pieces of Mexico. 

This arrives after the FBI announced 4 U.S. citizens were kidnapped soon after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the northern Mexico border city of Matamoros. The 4 experienced entered Matamoros, throughout from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday and were being traveling in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates. The FBI reported that the vehicle arrived below fireplace soon after it entered Mexico.

“All 4 Americans ended up positioned in a motor vehicle and taken from the scene by armed adult men,” the business explained.

Suggested: California family members of 6 killed in cartel-design execution: Sheriff

Matamoros is found in the northeastern Mexican point out of Tamaulipas, which is involved in the travel warning together with Guerrero, Colima, Michoacan, Sinaloa, and Zacatecas.

Even so, officials claimed mainly because Matamoros is a border town, U.S. citizens who stay in Brownsville or in other places in Texas frequently cross the border to stop by family members, go to clinical appointments, or store. It also serves as a crossing issue for people touring further into Mexico, according to officials. 

Matamoros is notorious for warring factions of the Gulf drug cartel, and the violence has turn into so lousy that the U.S. Consulate issued an inform next the kidnapping. 

For several years, a night out in Matamoros was also portion of the “two-nation vacation” for spring breakers flocking to Texas’ South Padre Island. But improved violence there over the earlier 10 to 15 many years frightened away a great deal of that business enterprise.

FOX 11 has documented on various incidents of kidnappings and crimes towards American vacationers in Mexico. Just past calendar year, an American vacationer had his foot hacked by a machete immediately after remaining kidnapped by his taxi driver. 

Earlier Protection: 

In January, 33-12 months-aged Orange County public defender Elliot Blair was located lifeless in Rosarito throughout a 1-calendar year wedding ceremony celebration with his wife. A Mexican prosecutor described Blair’s loss of life as an unlucky accident, declaring he fell off the hotel’s balcony soon after ingesting a considerable amount of liquor.  Blair’s relatives, having said that, does not think he was intoxicated and fell. They believe that he was the sufferer of a brutal crime. Blair’s autopsy report performed in Mexico confirmed the law firm sustained 40 fractures to the back again of his skull as perfectly as “highway rash” on his knees and a toe personal injury, which indicated he was dragged. The final results contradict statement from authorities indicating Blair died from a slide from a balcony at the Rosarito Beach vacation resort exactly where the couple was staying, the family’s law firm explained.

If you should journey to Mexico, officials strongly advise the next: 

• Review the U.S. Embassy’s webpage on COVID-19.
• Go to the CDC’s website page on Vacation and COVID-19.
• Retain touring companions and family members again residence informed of your journey options. If separating from your vacation group, ship a buddy your GPS spot. If taking a taxi by yourself, choose a photograph of the taxi number and/or license plate and textual content it to a good friend.
• Use toll roadways when possible and avoid driving by itself or at evening. In several states, law enforcement presence and crisis solutions are extremely confined outside the house the point out cash or key cities.
• Work out elevated warning when browsing local bars, nightclubs, and casinos.
• Do not display screen indicators of prosperity, this sort of as carrying pricey watches or jewelry.
• Be further vigilant when checking out banks or ATMs.
• Enroll in the Sensible Traveler Enrollment Application (Move) to acquire Alerts and make it less complicated to find you in an unexpected emergency.
• Abide by the Division of Condition on Facebook and Twitter.
• Observe the U.S. Embassy on Fb and Twitter.
• Assessment the Place Protection Report for Mexico.
• Mariners organizing vacation to Mexico need to check for U.S. maritime advisories and alerts, which involve instructions on reporting suspicious activities and assaults to Mexican naval authorities.
• Prepare a contingency approach for crisis scenarios. Critique the Traveler’s Checklist.

The Affiliated Push and FOX News contributed to this report.