Mexico’s president claimed on Monday that his country was safer than the United States in response to criticism he received about the country’s security, especially for tourists.
“Mexico is safer than the United States. There is no problem to travel safely around Mexico,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during a press conference.
Obrador’s comments came just a week after four Americans were recovered after they were kidnapped in the northern border state of Tamaulipas across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, killing two of them.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a ceremony commemorating the Zocalo in Mexico City’s main square, August 13, 2021. (AP)
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But the Mexican president asserted that Mexico is perfectly safe for Mexicans and Americans and alleged that the latest criticism was from “anti-Mexican” conservative lawmakers who were looking to halt development in their southern neighbor.
Although data from the World Bank collected in 2020 suggests Mexico has a murder rate four times that of the United States, Reuters first reported.
The State Department currently rates six Mexican states as having Level 4 travel concerns – meaning those areas with “higher potential for life-threatening risks”: Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas, all because of higher crime risks and nearly all with There is a high risk of kidnapping.
“Violent crime and gang activity is prevalent,” the department said in a warning from one area. Most of the murders are targeted assassinations against members of criminal organizations.
Police officers monitor the site where authorities found the bodies of two of four Americans who were kidnapped by gunmen, in Matamoros, Mexico on March 7, 2023. (Reuters/Daniel Becerel)
Tamaulipas is the state where the four Americans were kidnapped after they were allegedly smuggled from Haiti, and carries a Category 4 red flag warning, which strongly advises Americans not to travel to any area under this designation.
Travel experts have advised Fox News Digital that Mexico is safe to travel to as long as tourists adhere to the State Department’s travel advisory.
Top travel destinations like the state of Quintana Roo, which includes places like Cancun and Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula, are so safe for American tourists that the State Department has issued a travel advisory with only a yellow flag — meaning it advises Americans to “exercise increased caution” when traveling there, because largely to kidnappings and robberies.
Mexican Army soldiers prepare for a search mission for four US citizens who were kidnapped by gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico, on Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo)
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Other major global destinations such as France and the United Kingdom also have tier two warnings due to terrorism concerns.
Mexico tourism safety expert Stephanie Farr, founder and CEO of Maya Luxe, told Fox News Digital that tourist destinations like Cancun are “generally considered very safe.”
Swimmers enjoy Forum Beach as tourism returns to the city during Holy Week on April 3, 2021 in Cancun, Mexico. (Medios Way Media/Getty Images)
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The one piece of advice she always gives to tourists who travel to Mexico is to avoid engaging in “any kind of drug-related activity”.
Areas popular with travelers often “boom from tourism,” Farr said.
“It is in their interest to keep the destination safe so more tourists come,” she added.
Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this article.
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