The Texas Department of Public Safety issued an advisory Friday urging residents not to travel to Mexico for spring break after four people were kidnapped and two of them were found dead. Spring breakers are seen partying in Cancun, Mexico, in March 2013. File Photo by Alonso Cupul/EPA
March 11 (UPI) — The Texas Department of Public Safety issued an advisory Friday urging residents not to travel to Mexico for spring break after four people were kidnapped and two of them were found dead.
“Drug cartel violence and other criminal activity represent a significant safety threat to anyone who crosses into Mexico right now,” DPS Director Steven McCraw said in a statement.
“We have a duty to inform the public about safety, travel risks and threats. Based on the volatile nature of cartel activity and the violence we are seeing there; we are urging individuals to avoid travel to Mexico at this time.”
The U.S. State Department issued an advisory in October noting the “increased risk of crime and kidnapping” in the country.
The federal government has particularly warned against travel to the Mexican states of Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas. The U.S. has also urged residents to reconsider travel or exercise increased caution in 24 other states in Mexico.
The only Mexican states that the federal government has advised exercising normal precautions, the lowest level of the advisory, are Campeche and Yucatan.
Earlier this week, a Mexican cartel appeared to have claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of four U.S. citizens from Matamoros in the state of Tamaulipas.
The kidnapping occurred when Eric James Williams, Zindell Brown, Latavia McGee and Shaeed Woodard crossed the border from the United States into Mexico seeking lower-cost cosmetic surgery. Brown and Woodard were later found dead.
The Gulf Cartel seemed to issue an apology for the incident on a note left with five beaten and bound men, ABC News reported.
Investigators were working to confirm the identities of the men, whether they are tied to the kidnappings, and the validity of the note, though the note is believed to be real.