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If you are just hanging out in the Yucatan Peninsula, blending in with all the other tourists, you will be fine. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); "Alto al Secuestro" announced that Yucatn is among the 8 states of the republic that report zero kidnappings. Isabel Miranda de Wallace, president of the Alto al Secuestro organization, reported that only 82 criminal events were recorded during the month of August. Yucatn Magazine is a resource for curious readers looking for news, information and inspiration about living in Mexico. In 26 days, we did not experience any crime. Miracle friends today and thanks to these 2 people who helped me I can tell it,I am very afraid of going outon the street again.. The number of research folders started increased by 1.1%, from 85 in January to 86 in the second month of 2021. It wasnt her brother. Beginning next month, the soldiers will be stationed in Cancun and surrounding areas, including Tulum, where Mexican law enforcement said there are 10 groups fighting for drug dominance in the picture-postcard resort town. The Australian Government is not able to guarantee your safety. They are putting David in a vehicle, the message said. The 63-year-old entrepreneur, who did not want to be identified by name, said he has been vacationing in Tulum for more than 10 years, and bought his first condo in the seaside resort town overlooking the azure waters of the Caribbean Sea two and a half years ago. Its also become the most feared of the Mexican drug gangs. The stark States to reconsider travel to (level 3) include Ciudad Juarez, the city of Chihuahua, Ojinaga, Palomas and the Nuevo Casas Grandes/Paquime region, and Nuevo Casas Grandes. Travel safety tips:17 CIA tips on how to think like a spy and stay safe while on vacation, Not everyone wants to come to the US:Gun violence, safety concerns are keeping travelers away. The Civil Association Stop Kidnapping announced that the number of victims by kidnapping in Mexico increased 29.5 percent, compared to the month of December, registering 114 victims.. Violence is on the rise in Mexicos central and southern states, a 2018 report from the OSAC found. Without jinxing anything, what we want to make clear is that Merida is a very safe place to be. Kidnappings for ransom accounted for 81 of the investigations, 10 cases had no ransom demands, and 25 cases were virtual kidnappings. With El Chapo sentenced to life imprisonment at a maximum-security prison in Colorado, the group is now run by Ismael El Mayo Zambada Garcia, 73. Hoy presentamos nuestro informe mensual . If you do decide to travel to an area where kidnapping is common, take precautions. The 80s saw Gulf focus on cocaine and marijuana trafficking, followed by fentanyl and other synthetic drugs not to mention racketeering and human trafficking at the border, according to Mexican and US authorities. "It's a shame for people to only focus on the aspect of crime and violence that take place.". Instead, they were nabbed en route by armed gunmen, making them just two of the thousands of Mexicans rich and poor, young and old kidnapped each year. In 2016, there were 771 kidnapping cases in the country involving people connected to the U.S., according to the OSAC, including citizens, legal permanent residents and other cases in which an extortion call was made to the U.S. and police (or former law enforcement officials) have been implicated in many of these incidents. TheU.S. State Department issued an updated Travel AdvisoryWednesday for U.S. travelers visiting Mexico, including new state-level adviceandinformation on "kidnapping risk.". That is about the same as Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and More than 140,000 descend on the region every week, according to Mexican government statistics, with many wanting to invest in property for the long term, Rottloff told The Post this week. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, The decapitated body of Mexican businesswoman Susana Carrera was found last week after her family was unable to pay kidnappers the ransom they demanded. However travelers should always do some basic research before choosing a vacation destination and some areas of the country are more dangerous than others.. In the tourist town of Rosarito, the presence ofthe Jalisco Nueva Generacin Cartel,Sinaloa, Tijuana, and Santa Rosa de Limahave been identified. The entities with thehighest number of kidnappingscommitted during the month of August for every 100 inhabitants were;Tlaxcala, Quintana Roo, Hidalgo, Morelos, and Baja California. Cartel violence, by gangs including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (top right), has taken over tourist hotspots from Cancun to Tulum, Mexico, leaving foreign vacationers like Jennifer Henzold . Mexican government figures from last month showed that homicide cases in Mexico rose by 15 percent in 2018 with 28,816 investigations opened last year, compared to 25,036 the previous year. The risk is higher in some locales than others. or redistributed. Country officers are available to speak with you Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. For assistance with an abduction in progress or any emergency situation that occurs after normal business hours, on weekends, or federal holidays, please call toll free at 1-888-407-4747. Its the highest across Mexico with the State of Mexico (Edomex) and Mexico City reporting 63 and 32 kidnappings respectively. The United States tells us to avoid these states. Only "1 percent of all kidnappers are captured and carried to justice," said Torres Landa, the Mexico United Against Organized Crime consultant. According to the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice AC, the rearrangement and the dispute of the cartels by the areas of the state, brought the municipality of Playas de Rosarito, Baja California, to first place in the list of the most violent sites in Mexico. American photographer John Sevigny was kidnapped while visiting the city of Cordoba in the Mexican state of Veracruz, where violence and crime is on the rise. Davids family decorated their house with balloons and signs that read, Welcome Back, David and Miguel. But they didnt come back: The kidnappers cut all contact after getting the ransom payment. Please consider making a one-time contribution to Vox today. He said he is speaking out about his experience because there are thousands of other victims who cannot. Will you support Voxs explanatory journalism? 775. Some restrictions include not hailing taxis from the street but rather using a rideshare service like Uber or regulated taxi stands, and to not travel alone. Most of the detainees do not exceed 23 years. Two weeks later, dozens of tourists were forced to scramble for cover when 15 gang members, their faces hidden by ski masks, went on a daylight shooting rampage on a beach in the village of Puerto Morelos, south of Cancun, killing two suspected traffickers. Arrested in an upscale Guadalajara neighborhood on Monday, Gonzalez Valencia is charged with laundering money for the cartel. This is the real story of "Maria" and her husband "Jose". A police cordon marks the perimeter of the site where a forensic team and judicial authorities work in unmarked graves where skulls were found, on the outskirts of Veracruz, Mexico March 16, 2017. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. The updated Travel Advisory includes new information on the Coahuila, Mexico, Nayarit, and Zacatecas states. The government has had successes in capturing some of its most wanted criminals; consequently, organized criminal groups are becoming much less organized and disciplined. But after what occurred over the next few days, they didnt know if they ever wanted to set foot in the country again. In the last few months, a Senior Police Officer and a Taxi driver were both murdered by drug cartels. Crespo and Valdez promised their victims safe passage across the Yucatan Straits and then overland across Mexico, according to court documents. Before 2020, more than eight million Americans visited Mexico each year, and a 2019 census reported that 1.2 million American and Canadian expats call Mexico home.. Expats are mostly drawn to the beach areas for the amazing weather, crystal-clear Pacific Ocean or Caribbean Sea, the lower cost of living, and the . The authorities are colluding with the kidnappers, she said. For many, this municipality is much more interesting and refined thanTijuana, which is why during the holidays a large number of young Americans come attracted by good seafood and lively nightlife. Two men promised to smuggle at least three Cuban migrants into the United States, but instead locked them in a Merida house and tortured them, Florida prosecutors say. Apr 24, 2022, 7:16 PM. Mexican prosecutors say they have found a total of eight dead people on Cancun with two bodies dumped in two spots and four others individually found shot to death. Call Davids mom! Similarly, the State Public Safety Council was installed and through Yucatn Seguro technological equipment was acquired to strengthen State security through video cameras, among other strategies. If money was paid, the victims were sent on a bus to the U.S. border and instructed to ask for asylum, according to prosecutors. Rosarito, Mananillo, and Tijuana beacheswere the most violent municipalities during 2019, according to the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice. The state ofBaja California cannot clean its face from the violence that thedrug traffickingleft. Aileen Teague, assistant professor at The Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University,reminds people that while organized crime does exist in parts of northeastern Mexico, there are also "beautiful places that are dependent on tourism and relatively safe. He covers organized crime, immigration, farm policy, and anything in between. We were lucky to escape, and if our story can prevent one other person from going through what we went through, and what we almost had to go through, it would be worth it., Criminals have splintered into smaller gangs. The fact that in a long period of time there has been not a single kidnapping in Yucatan is due to some of the strategies deployed at the state level, such as the installation of the Coordination Table for the Construction of Peace and the operation of the Multidisciplinary Group of Justice. (Photo: Pixabay), All Rights Reserved The Yucatan Times 2020. However the tragic death of Susana Carrera, whose body was found a week after she was kidnapped allegedly with a note claiming she was killed because her husband didnt want to pay a $207,000 ransom, is just one of the dozens of kidnappings and murders reported in the first two months of the year. Attention merchants of Tulum this was a warning, said the sign, which went on to threaten managers and owners of bars and restaurants on the Mini Quinta tourist zone. Furthermore, if possible travel in at least groups of 2 or more and when using the ATM one individual acts as a buffer/distance mechanism for any who may be attempting to observe or approach. Days before, an armed attack against police officers occurred in the city. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Two of the . 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. It ended on Sunday the 18th, when police officers broke into the building at 113 . I was not kidnapped because of my photographs as far as I know. All rights reserved. You can also contribute via. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has listed a $10 million bounty for El Menchos capture. The Dry Tortugas National Park located about 70 miles off of Key West, Florida has , A British tourist was gunned down on 02 January at the guest house at which . The government has gotten really serious about cracking down on crime.. If a U.S. citizen still decides to travel to a Mexican state with a Level 4, or "do not travel to,"Travel Advisory or Level 3, "reconsider travel to," Travel Advisory, they are urged to read the State Department's information on high-risk travel. When they saw that the neighbors came out they got into their truck and left, she said. The civil association Stop Kidnapping revealed that the number of victims associated with kidnapping decreased in February on Mexicowith a ratio of 7.9 percent, 131 victims were reported during the month.. The states of Veracruz, Mexico City, Puebla, Morelos, and the State of Mexico had the highest incidence of kidnapping crime. Its slogan is: Were all going to behave.. 17 CIA tips on how to think like a spy and stay safe while on vacation, Gun violence, safety concerns are keeping travelers away, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Discrimination against indigenous communities, and especially. I feel extremely safe here, said a Dutch expatriate, who just closed on a home in the area. The Gulf Cartel among the oldest criminal enterprises in Mexico is mired in infighting, according to security experts. The number of tourists from the US to Mexico in 2017 numbered 35.5 million. There he spoke with a federal agent, who said they could not investigate unless he made a report with local authorities in Cordoba. In Monterrey Mexico a gemologist was kidnapped in 2014 while on a fishing trip. Telling them that their missing companion may have . According to the U.S. Department of State, 66 of these were U.S. citizens, 14 of these cases involved Legal Permanent Residents. See all contact information. Yet drug-related violence and widespread media coverage of Mexico's insecurity have severely impacted its tourism industry. In 2017 the FBI investigated 116 kidnappings in Mexico. The U.S. State Department issued an updated Travel Advisory Wednesday for U.S. travelers visiting Mexico, including new state-level advice and information on "kidnapping . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mexico can be a very dangerous place. Gomez said there are now hundreds, and possibly thousands, of gangs of organized kidnappers. The monthly report detailed that in January the number of detainees for the crime of kidnapping decreased to 72.4 percent, since only 35 people were apprehended, while in December 127 arrests were reported. Travel.State.Gov. With longtime kingpin El Chapo gone, things have been a bit messy in the organization, which smuggles a wide variety of drugs, including opioids. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. "Violent crimesuch as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robberyis widespread and common in Mexico," warns the State Department. Help me! She climbed 20 feet up a tree and hid among the branches for several hours before Frank returned with officials later. They had both been to Mexico a handful of times over the years, but said that experience didnt help them avoid this incident. And the problems getting worse. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has launched a campaign aimed at persuading people to not break the law. Single-family home prices slid 1% in January, as compared to December 2022, according to data from Moodys Analytics. Then the kidnappers sent a video of the torture to his family members in Las Vegas, according to the complaint.The kidnappers contacted a second victims family in Miami and said their relative would be beaten and killed if they didnt fork over $7,000, according to court records. A month after his kidnapping, Veracruz prosecutor Jorge Winckler Ortiz reported that his office, as well as the FBI, were investigating something that Sevigny denies. It had access to European ideas as well, since its capital Mrida was less than thirty miles from Yucatan's main port, Progreso. Support our mission, and make a gift today. The NGO detailed that, from December 2018 to September 2021, 5 thousand 234 victims of kidnapping have been registered, . A few hours later, Ramirez managed to contact his sister, Deborah. Zambada Garcia, who headed up his own eponymous criminal operation before joining the Sinaloa Cartel alongside El Chapo, is reportedly in ill health and in hiding. According to the advisory, "U.S.citizens are advised to adhere to restrictions on U.S. government employee travel." She called back for hours, receiving no response. This is the reason why Mazatln stopped being the Capital of Sinaloa, Rescuing tradition! Well, were still doing business in real estate, said Rottloff. There is a lot of suffering going on. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. What were seeing is a huge increase in street fighting from the plaza bosses, Texas-based security consultant Robert Almonte, an expert on Mexican cartels, told The Post. Homicides shot up 16 percent during the first half of this year as drug traffickers and gangs battle for dominance. The attackers put a hood over her husbands head while they threatened them both. In Mexico, it is common for police officers to be directly involved in crime, any crime, said Gomez. The Gulf Cartel also has cells in some border towns in Texas, and alliances with mobsters in Italy. Government of Mazatln analyzes promoting the game of Ulama in the city, Puerto Peasco Rocky Point delivers hot meal to the neediest families, Despite Mazatlan Mayor allowing restaurants to open state health official overrule him, They arrest a Russian couple and a Sinaloan with half a million dollars, Denuncia Paisano, the app to report corruption and extortions of travelers in Mexico by authorities, In the middle of Mazatlan Motorcycle Week, a Tijuana biker is shot to death. May 2, 2021. Among those killed were Rhonita Maria Miller, 30, and her four children Howard, 12, Krystal 10, and 8-month-old babies Titus and Tiana. Last week, the State Department issued an alert to U.S. citizens when reports of "multiple vehicle fires, roadblocks, and heavy police activity" surfaced in Tijuana and the surrounding area. In Baja California, the arrival of theArzate brothers, meant a radical change in the illegal drug business. USA TODAY. In her message the young woman calls on women to be careful. The abduction and massacre of 43 Mexican students in Ayotzinapa, the seizing and murder of two federal agents in February, the kidnapping of three students by a group posing as police in March, and the disappearance of a politicians sister in a town just outside of Mexico City in March are the most recent high-profile examples of a criminal business strategy that has ballooned over the past decade. In 2017 the FBI investigated 116 kidnappings in Mexico. The woman known as La Jefa the chief was Jaliscos main accountant, part of a subgroup known as Los Cuinis, Almonte said. The hot spots (or hot zones) in the country (Map: Infobae Mxico) In the aforementioned period, more than 4,491 murders were registered in the largest source of alarm in the country: the Guanajuato-Michoacn area - disputed mainly by the Jalisco Nueva Generacin Cartel, Santa Rosa de Lima, and the United Cartels -, and in where the National Guard has a permanent presence in 22 percent of . Although Mexico has one of the highest kidnapping rates globally, when it comes to kidnapping and mugging, Cancn is generally safe.Wealthy persons who travel to locations where police and security services are not present can be targets. Its a trend that experts refer to as the democratization of kidnapping. The First Feminist Congress was held in Mrida even if most liberal women were uncomfortable with the idea of . So among stories of drug cartels, kidnappings, and more, it might get you wonderingis Merida, Mexico safe? Kidnapping: percentage of cases for ransom 2004-2012, by continent Family violence crime victims in Russia 2012-2021 Usage of the search term symphony in bibliographic databases in the U.S. 2010 For a full list of destinations, look at the State Departments website. You dont see the violence until you are in the middle of it, Sevigny said. I am getting better. The couple believed they were able to escape because both spoke fluent Spanish and were physically fit. Thats all gone now. But now that many of those criminal organizations have begun to splinter, there are more groups vying for a piece of the drug trade, which means that they have more costs to meet. Rory Smith is a freelance data journalist based in Europe. In addition to the 10 outfits fighting to control drug sales in the plazas or drug marketplaces of Tulum, there are two other gangs in Cancun fighting for dominance of the Riviera Maya, according to Oscar Montes de Oca, the lead prosecutor in the state of Quintana Roo, where Cancun, Puerto Morelos and Tulum are located. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission uncovered the massive phenomenon of the kidnapping of Central American migrants in the country in 2008, when it recorded 198 kidnappings and 9,857 . Express kidnappings made up 66 percent of all kidnapping crimes in 2016, according to the National Institute for Statistics and Geography in Mexico. Below these regions are Zihuatanejo, Ciudad Jurez, Celaya, Acmbaro, Uruapan, Solidaridad, Centro (Villahermosa), Valle de Santiago, Silao, Tecate, Salvatierra, Irapuato, Zamora. Reynaldo Marquez Crespo, 41, and Jancer Sergio Ramos Valdes, 33, both Cuban, face 35 years in prison on charges of alien smuggling and kidnapping. He is a former Senior Security Advisor to Cisco and served 30+ years within the CIA which awarded him the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal upon his retirement. U.S. government employees are forbidden from traveling to those states due to widespread violent crime., We just want other people to know these dangers exist, Frank Massabki said. The 80 days mark the first two months under the new administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office Dec. 1. Hundreds of people in Mexico are kidnapped every year. | (clockwise from top right) Miguel Tovar; Yuri Cortez; Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images. Kidnappings in Mexico come in three forms. Not only the rich and famous were vulnerable but also the majority of the population, Gomez, the professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, told me. Instead, many of these homicides are drug-related and criminal groups tend to stay away from tourists because crimes against them draw more media attention, he said. Each of these cases may have involved more than one victim, so the total number of homicides is likely to be higher. Similarly, it was announced that in February the number of detainees for this crime increased, with 120 people, while in January there were 35 alleged perpetrators of kidnapping. To get the low-down on the situation we turned to a number of governments travel warnings on Mexico, especially those who called out the kidnapping threat. After 2007, as organized crime fragmented and groups faced more competition from rival organizations, abductions increased by almost 200 percent, according to SNSP data. While the states with a record of zero kidnappings were: Baja California, Campeche, Coahuila, Durango, Nayarit, Quertaro, San Luis Potos, and Yucatn, said Miranda de Wallace. The 2019 study details that the bloody incidents have created a negative image of the tourist gem, which has a . Its part of a trend experts refer to as the democratization of kidnapping. Five years later, the young men are still missing. All the violence comes at a time when Mexico is trying to bolster its tourism sector, which accounts for 8.5 percent of the countrys gross domestic product. As noted, the majority of cases reported to the U.S. Embassy have been kidnapping for ransom. The U.S Depart of State has updated its Mexico travel advisory and has decided to keep Mexico at Level Three: Reconsider Travel. The State Department has suggested caution in the state of Quintana Roo, which includes the popular destinations of Cancun, Tulum, and Cozumel. But instead of launching a raid at that location, they launch a raid at some other random location. 1:53. This prompted them to go ahead and contact local authorities. Still, the sisters hang on to their hope that Ramirez and Rivera are still alive. The only U.S. cities that rank higher than Merida are Irvine, California, and Amarillo, Texas. In 2013, a record 1,700 kidnappings took place, according to data from the Mexican National System of Public Security (SNSP). Like all countries around the world, sexual assault, pickpocketing and scams also present risks for travellers. ), violent crimes (being mugged or robbed, being attacked or insulted), corruption and other crimes. I think the government took a lot of security measures after it happened, he said, adding that authorities also cracked down on drug trafficking in the area. "Violent crimesuch as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robberyis widespread and common in Mexico," warns the State Department. the boardwalk will close for triathlon, take your precautions, These are the challenges that Mazatln has in the face with the real estate boom, Despite stalled legalization, Marijuana producers in Sinaloa are still making plans for a legal global market, The most dangerous municipality in Mexico, Murders, kidnappings, and Extortion, American citizen sentenced to 21 years in prison for drug trafficking in North Carolina, Lopez Obrador wants narco-linked witness to testify against Calderon and Fox, The National Civic Front in Mazatln call for a protest against Plan B of the Electoral Reform in Mazatlan, More than 3 tons of garbage removed from the beaches during Carnival, The expansion of Santa Rosa Avenue is coming. Jennifer and Frank Massabki are telling their story to caution other Americans heading to the country. Like a scene out of a movie, the friends of an American tourist had a miserable night out in the Cancun area. Who knows what kind of information she will give to authorities, Almonte told The Post. Governments around the world (United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia) identify kidnapping as a concern for visitors to Mexico. The Massabkis believe they were able to escape in part because they are both fluent in Spanish and could understand what the kidnappers were saying. Later, the victim said that a kidnapper told the group that he had raped the wives of other victims he had previously kidnapped as a form of payment, according to court records. Kidnappings fell briefly thereafter, dipping to 1,069 in 2015, but they are starting to climb again. People keep asking me if Tulum is safe. But the per capita rate is highest in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, near the U.S. border. Heat stroke, dehydration and gastroenteritis, better. Two human rights organizations, the Association . Cartel members last year tried to assassinate Omar Garcia Harfuch, Mexico Citys chief of police, in an attack that wounded him and left three people dead, including two of his bodyguards. . In the month of August of this year, a decrease of 5.7 percent was detected compared to the statistics of July, when 87 events were detected. 13 Feb. 2020. When Jennifer and Frank Massabki traveled to Mexico in May 2017, they had recently gotten engaged and were looking for potential locations to host their wedding later that year. Im asked a lot about travel to Mexico, and my recommendation is dont go.. The U.S. Department of State issued a travel advisory for Americans visiting Mexico last year, saying to exercise increased caution due to crime.