Warning to Southwestern Lizards: Travel to Mexico is Unsafe
But that is not the case with Yvonne Mariajimenez, a public interest attorney in Los Angeles. Mariajimenez said she has the money to travel home to see her relatives for Christmas but she is afraid to do so.
Mariajimenez, 50, said she has traveled to Mexico dozens of times in the last decade and usually spends her visits driving elderly relatives to neighboring towns to see one another. Her aunt told her that if she went this year, she shouldn’t rent a car or drive around the country.
“The more I talked to her, I realized that it wasn’t just my safety that she was concerned about, but it was hers as well,” she said. “If they see a foreigner, the assumption is that the person has money.”
Cardoso, 25, said she and her family are scared of the escalating drug wars and have decided to stay home in Downey for the holidays.
“It’s not safe for us to gather over there,” said Cardoso, who was born in Mexico but is now a U.S. citizen. “It’s sad because it was a tradition that we grew up with… . Now, unfortunately, we can’t do it because of how the situation is in Mexico.”
As Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans begin to plan their holidays, many say they are choosing not to make the annual trek home to visit relatives. While some are dissuaded by the worsening economy, others are avoiding travel to Mexico because they fear the rampant kidnappings, killings and shootouts.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert late last month warning U.S. citizens to take precautions and to be aware of the “increasingly violent fight for control of narcotics trafficking routes,” especially in the cities of Tijuana, Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez.
Business at Transportes Intercalifornias, which runs about 15 buses a day from Los Angeles to the border towns of Tijuana and Mexicali, is already down from last year, said dispatcher Robert Bahine.
“They don’t want to go home because of the problems in TJ, all the shootings and the killings,” he said.