The US government is warning Americans against travel to Mexico within the wake of a deadly kidnapping near a US-Mexico border town.
As a spring break approaches for a lot of within the US, the State Department issued its sternest warnings — a Level 4 travel advisory — for six Mexican states, including Tamaulipas — where the abductions occurred.
While a few of those regions had been flagged as dangerous since October, the travel alerts were re-issued after 4 Americans were kidnapped last week.
Eric James Williams, of Winston-Salem, NC, was among the many Americans snatched during a cartel shootout within the border city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, on March 3.
By Tuesday, Williams, 38, and Latavia “Tay” McGee, 35, were present in a shack in an area east of Matamoros and were rushed back to the US for medical care in Brownsville.
Their two friends, Shaeed Woodard, 33, and Zindell Brown were killed.
While the motive is unknown, Mexican authorities should not ruling out the Americans might have been targeted resulting from drug trafficking.
The 4 South Carolina residents told their families they made the journey south of the border so McGee could undergo a tummy tuck procedure.
The Mexican states of Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas are listed as “don’t travel” zones resulting from kidnappings or crime, the US government maintains.
4 US residents from South Carolina were abducted in Matamoros
“Violent crime – resembling homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery – is widespread and customary in Mexico,” the US Department stated. “The US government has limited ability to offer emergency services to U.S. residents in lots of areas of Mexico, as travel by U.S. government employees to certain areas is prohibited or restricted.”
Seven other states were slapped with “reconsider travel” labels– including Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos and Sonora.
The remainder of Mexico is taken into account protected as long as tourists exercise caution while traveling. These areas include popular vacation destinations like Baja California Sur– home to Cabo San Lucas– and Quinta Roo– where Tulum and Cancun are situated.
