Got a kid heading off on spring break? The U.S. State Department just issued a travel warning for travelers heading over the Mexican border, urging them to exercise extreme caution in unfamiliar areas and limit their travel to daylight hours on well-traveled roads. Many of the typical spring break locales - Cancun, Cozumel and Cabo San Lucas, for example - are still fairly safe, but in the last several months, drug cartel-fueled violence has escalated dramatically in border towns, including Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales. Among the incidents: shootouts in malls and other public venues in broad daylight, kidnappings and assaults that have claimed innocent bystanders as well as police officers.The University of Arizona, Arizona State and colleges across Texas, California and the Southwest are passing the warning along to their spring breakers, encouraging them to avoid those border towns and perhaps pick a different vacation destination altogether. (Click here, if you're looking for spring break alternatives.)
1/3 of ALL non-natural deaths of U.S. citizens occur in Mexico (state.travel.gov). These deaths are primarily caused by lack of safety and security in construction and maintenance of many resorts in “popular” tourist destinations.
The majority of the hundreds of deaths are senseless and would not have happened if even minimum safety standards were adhered to.
Please review victims link at MexicoVacationAwareness.