Canadians travelling to Mexico may be looking at newspaper headlines with concern these days. In the northern part of the country, drug-related violence is creating a serious problem for Mexican authorities.
The brazen murders earlier this week of three people related to the U.S. consulate in dangerous Ciudad Juarez ups the ante significantly, claiming more innocent victims in an ongoing drug war that up until now has largely spared Americans.
Two families leaving a children's birthday party put on by the consulate were targeted by gangsters and sprayed with gunfire. The violence left Arthur H. Redelfs and his pregnant wife, Lesley A. Enriquez, a consular employee, dead. Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, whose wife works at the consulate, was gunned down in a separate attack. His two children were wounded.
Clearly, these most recent attacks have ratcheted up the tension on a number of fronts. Mexican President Felipe Calderon faces increased pressure at home to regain control of his own country's streets and put a stop to a drug war that by some accounts has claimed more than 20,000 lives since 2007.
U.S. President Barack Obama faces pressure to do something about the growing threat of violence so close to the American border. After all, an attack on consular officials amounts to an attack on the United States.
U.S. officials have warned Americans not to travel in the area and Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs followed suit with a warning of its own shortly after the Ciudad Juarez attacks.
While the northern part of Mexico is widely acknowledged as a danger zone, recent shootings and drug-cartel violence farther south are also making news. Last weekend alone, about 50 people were killed in Mexico, nine of those in the Acapulco region - a favourite destination for many sun-seeking Canadians.
It would be foolish, of course, to generalize the troubles from a few areas to the entire country. It will be unfortunate if the bloody war that rages inside Mexico results in a decrease in tourism, an industry so important to the lives and livelihoods of so many ordinary Mexicans. For American and Canadian sun seekers, Mexico is one of their favourite destinations, and the country is a wonderful place for a vacation.
Vacationing in Mexico is hardly like taking a trip to Kabul. For the most part, its resort areas continue to be a place to enjoy a safe week or so at a luxury resort. The best advice is to check current conditions with a travel agent, and that's the case no matter where you go.
Until Calderon gets a grip on violence in some parts of the country, due diligence is the best approach for anyone traveling in Mexico.
