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Is That Destination Safe For Spring Break?

05 Mar 2012
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Category: Attitude Zone
Written by Irish Will
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In the minds of most college students, spring break means excessive binge drinking, the occasional blackout, and sex with strangers.

That’s scary enough for some on Canadian soil. 

But what happens in a foreign country, where spring-breakers can easily get mixed in with common drug violence, or be abducted?
According to the Foreign Affairs, about 100,000 spring breakers will travel to Mexico and “the vast majority” will enjoy their vacation at the destinations listed here.
But perhaps not everyone. 

OFFICIAL WARNING:

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada advises against non-essential travel to the border areas between Mexico and the United States, due to continuously high levels of violence linked to organized crime in those areas.
 
Canadians should avoid crossing Mexico’s northern border by land and should do so only if it is absolutely necessary, after making appropriate arrangements to ensure their personal safety. Shootouts, attacks, and illegal roadblocks may occur at any time. Criminals especially target SUVs and full-size pickup trucks for theft and carjacking along highways in the states of Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora, and Sinaloa.

Travellers should also avoid travelling by land to or through these border states and should do so only if it is absolutely necessary, and after making appropriate arrangements to ensure their personal safety.

“Several may die, hundreds will be arrested, and still more will make mistakes that could affect them for the rest of their lives,”according to the U.S. State Department. 

 Spring Break for those of a certain age entails beach, booze and sex. But if you head to Mexico, you could also run into sexual assaults and deadly violence.

Acapulco has seen drug cartel-related deaths jump to 370 in 2010, up 147 percent from 2009, and Cancun, with its growing population, has seen a wave of sexual assaults. The violence has risen in other foreign resorts such as Jamaica, especially when a tourist strays off resort property.

The State Department has a prophetic warning for the Spring Breakers: "Several may die, hundreds will be arrested, and still more will make mistakes that could affect them for the rest of their lives."

The warnings included a provision that will allow the families of consular employees in Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros get out of town until at least April 12.

Tijuana is one of the closest Mexican destination and for years helped the Port of Entry hold the title of the world's busiest border crossing. But the drug violence that has prompted the federal travel warning has decimated the city's travel industry.

Common-sense precautions such as visiting only legitimate business and tourist areas during daylight hours, and avoiding areas where prostitution and drug dealing might occur, can help ensure that travel to Mexico is safe and enjoyable.

Here are some popular 'Spring Break' destinations that come with warnings:
 
Jamaica: The two international airports in Jamaica, Kingston and Montego Bay, have experienced regular violence, including shootings. In many popular resort areas, such as Negril, you should be safe as long as you are on resort soil. But once you step off resort property lines, all bets are off. According to a spring breaker who traveled to Negril in March 2010, “there is literally a line where you can see the sand changes color. Once you go into that different color, you are off the resort property and locals can come up to you and offer you drugs and other services.” Even on resort property, there have been instances of sexual assault on U.S. tourists, some by resort staff. It is important to keep in mind that law enforcement is understaffed and ineffective in most areas of Jamaica, so sexual assault, drug trafficking, theft and violence receive little to no attention.  

South Padre Island, Texas: Right here in the U.S., South Padre Island is a relatively safe vacation destination, provided you don’t stray too far south. Just 30 minutes away are two major Mexican drug trafficking hubs, Matamoros and Nuevo Progresso. Gangs are constantly competing for control of narcotics smuggling routes, which can be very dangerous for U.S. tourists traveling just south of South Padre Island. It long has been the practice of adventurous vacationers on the south end of South Padre to take advantage of the inexpensive alcohol and lower drinking age south of the border. Ongoing gang wars and firefights are expected to persist in the Matamoros area, into and beyond the spring break season. 

Acapulco, Mexico: A popular spring break destination off Mexico’s Pacific Coast, drug cartels have turned Acapulco into Mexico’s most violent resort city. Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven C. McCraw warns American tourists that “various crime problems exist in many popular resort areas, such as Acapulco, and crimes against U.S. citizens often go unpunished.” The Mexican government’s official accounting of drug cartel-related deaths in Acapulco jumped to 370 in 2010, up 147 percent from 2009. Rival drug cartels have battled police and each other within the city, as well as in nearby towns. Suspected drug traffickers continue to attack police in the adjacent resort area of Zihuatanejo. 

Cancun, Mexico: A typical spring break hot spot, Cancun attracts more than 100,000 U.S. college and high school students, not only for its beautiful beaches and world-class resorts, but because MTV began filming annual spring break shows there. “We get a lot of people traveling to Cancun, but Mexico is the place with the most [safety] uncertainty,” said Tom Crosby, AAA's vice president of communications. Because of Cancun’s growing population, crime is becoming more prevalent. Ross Thompson, co-founder of travel safety company Mayday360, says that the biggest danger for spring-breakers in Cancun is that they “act like they are still in the U.S. and that the U.S. law will protect them. That’s wrong and that can add up to disaster,” said Thompson. According to the U.S. State Department, “rape commonly, but not exclusively, occurs at night or in the early morning hours, and often involves alcohol and the nightclub environment.” Aside from violence and crime, Cancun’s strong undertow presents another danger. The undertow stretches along the beach from the Hyatt Regency all the way south to Club Med and, already this season, several U.S. citizens have drowned because of the ocean conditions.

Mazatlan, Mexico: Mazatlan, located just a few hundred miles north of Puerto Vallarta, has been perhaps the most consistently violent of Mexico's resort cities during the past year. It is located in Sinaloa state, home of the country's most violent cartel, the Sinaloa Federation,
and bodies of victims of drug cartels and kidnapping gangs appear on the streets there on a weekly basis, according to global intelligence firm STRATFOR. “Underestimating the violence in Mexico would be a mistake for parents and students," said McCraw. "Our safety message is simple: avoid traveling to Mexico during Spring Break and stay alive.

Canadians travelling to Mexico should exercise a high degree of caution due to a deteriorating security situation in many parts of the country. While most major tourist areas have not been affected by the extreme levels of violence in the northern border region, it is highly advisable to travel to Mexico by air (please refer to our official warning for the Mexico-United States border). High levels of criminal activity, as well as occasional demonstrations and protests, remain a concern throughout the country.

 Presidential elections are scheduled for July 1, 2012. In the period leading up to and during the elections, Canadians are advised to remain vigilant, avoid large crowds and demonstrations, exercise caution, follow the advice of local authorities, and monitor local media.

Visit Foreign Affairs web site for more information:
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=184000     

 

 



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