Newsweek reports that the Global Guardian security firm is warning Americans to be careful in Mexico.
I’m currently in Mexico and saw the article yesterday. If you’d told me yesterday not to go to Mexico it would have been too late!
From Newsweek: Americans have been told to be careful when traveling in and around Mexico, in case there is a fallout from the recent arrest of two top Sinaloa drug cartel leaders. Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, co-founder of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel, and another leader Joaquín Guzmán López were arrested in El Paso, Texas, last weekend. [Americans Issued Warning About Travel to Mexico, by Jordan King, Newsweek, July 30th, 2024]
Actually, Zambada and Guzman were arrested July 25th, last Thursday, which was not on a weekend.
Anyway back to Newsweek: The Virginia-based private security firm Global Guardian has urged Americans traveling to Mexico over the next few days to “pay attention to warnings or notices from the U.S. Embassy and consulates” so they do not get caught up in street violence. Director of intelligence Mike Ballard told Border Report: “They should maintain awareness of where they are going, especially (border cities) like Tijuana and Juarez, make sure they’re not driving into an active firefight situation.”
It’s always good to be careful.
Meanwhile, officials from the Mexican border state of Chihuahua also issued a warning, after Chihuahua Gov. Maru Campos said folks should “prepare for the worst of scenarios in case of a spike in violence from these detentions.” Public Safety Director Gilberto Loya said during a news conference on Monday: “Why prepare? Because it’s not clear what happened. (There could be) a different response from criminal groups if it was a surrender or a betrayal between cells of the same cartel.”
The warnings have stopped short of explicitly telling Americans not to travel in and around Mexico.
Some Americans do not want to visit Mexico at all. On the other hand, as I reported in a previous article, 36.71 million Americans traveled to Mexico in 2023, an increase over the previous year’s total of 33.54. [See How Many Americans Travel to Mexico?]
It’s a choice.
Back to Newsweek:
The Sinaloa drug cartel was described as “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world” by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Both Zambada and Guzmán are facing “multiple charges in the United States for leading the cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” according to Garland’s statement.
Greetings to readers from Mexico!
Thanks for info. I’d love to be down south now but the drug cartel fact does make one extra wary.