Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador revealed that the United States Department of Transportation would elevate the country’s air safety rating.
25.08.2023 - 14:00 / skift.com / Andres Manuel / Lopez Obrador
Mexico’s president said on Monday his country is safer than the United States, pushing back against U.S. critics of his security record following a deadly kidnapping this month near the border that claimed the lives of two Americans.
The March 3 attack on four Americans in the Mexican city of Matamoros and their subsequent abduction was covered closely by U.S. media and sparked recriminations from politicians in the U.S., particularly Republicans.
By the time Mexican authorities found the Americans, two of them were dead. Five purported Mexican drug cartel members have since been arrested over the kidnapping.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has threatened to urge Mexican-Americans not to vote for Republican candidates if they continue their criticism, rejected U.S. official security warnings that depict much of Mexico as a risky place to visit.
“Mexico is safer than the United States,” he told reporters when questioned about the warnings at a news conference. “There’s no problem with traveling safely around Mexico.”
Lopez Obrador said American tourists and Mexicans living in the U.S. were aware of how safe the country is, and pointed to a recent rise in Americans residing in Mexico. Last year saw a sharp jump in U.S. tourists coming to Mexico.
He blamed an “anti-Mexico” campaign by conservative U.S politicians for negative reports about security.
The U.S. embassy in Mexico did not respond to a request for comment about the president’s comments.
At 28 per 100,000 people, Mexico’s murder rate was around four times higher than in the United States in 2020, according to data published by the World Bank. Homicides fell about 7% last year in Mexico, but the current government is on track to register a record total for any six-year administration.
The U.S. State Department assigns varying levels of travel risk to all but two of Mexico’s 32 regions.
On top of the kidnappings, U.S. police say two women from Texas have been missing in Mexico since late February when they drove across the border to sell clothes at a flea market.
A spokesperson for police in Penitas, near McAllen, said sisters Marina Perez Rios, 48, and Maritza Trinidad Perez Rios, 47, and their Mexican friend, Dora Alicia Cervantes Saenz, 53, have been unaccounted for since Feb. 27, and the FBI had been alerted.
Meanwhile, authorities in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, which has been racked by severe gang violence, said seven women – including a group of six – had been reported missing in the state during the last week.
Separately, an attack by gunmen in a bar in the town of Apaseo El Grande, Guanajuato, on Saturday night has claimed the lives of 10 people, a spokesperson for state prosecutors said. Prosecutors first reported
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador revealed that the United States Department of Transportation would elevate the country’s air safety rating.
Content warning: This story contains a mention of suicide.
I have quite dry skin and eyes, so I need all the moisture possible. I use a Neostrata Matrix Support day cream and Intensive Eye Therapy; then when I shower, I use Dermafix DermaPolish + Activated Charcoal. I feel like I have great skin now, but it’s been a journey to maintain it. Dr. Fatima Bhabha, my doctor in Johannesburg who specializes in aesthetic medicine, really got me thinking that I need to follow a routine and use sunscreen. I use this Italian brand, BioNike Defence Sun 30 Mineral Cream. On my body, I use Nivea Men All Seasons Moisture Body Cream, and because I have such dry skin I always use aloe vera to moisturize. My grandmother always had the plants outside and would slather me with aloe.
Every traveler worth their salt knows that Egypt is not the only country in the world to have pyramids, there are plenty of them in Sudan, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico, among other locations. In fact, the largest pyramid in the world, The Great Pyramid of Cholula, also known as Tlachihualtépetl, is in Mexico, just 80 miles southeast of Mexico City. And it’s not even the closest pyramid to the capital: The Archeological Site of Teotihuacán, just 27 miles northeast of the city is home to three of them. Actually, Mexico City itself has a few.
When it comes to vacationing in Mexico, most head straight for the busy tourist hubs of Cancun or Tulum. But why not give Akumal a shot on your next trip? This quiet little beach town is located about an hour and a half from Cancun. Its name alludes to what makes it so special, as Akumal is a Mayan word that translates to “place of the turtles”.
Semi-private air carrier JSX is jetting off to Mexico for the fall and is offering big discounts on tickets to make for a luxe travel experience.
Born in Southern California and then lured back after college, I've spent more than a decade here — first southeast of Los Angeles and now northeast. I've traveled all across the region, down to the border of Mexico and up to San Francisco, journeying through our deserts, forests, beaches, and mountains.
Mexico is launching its army-run 'Mexicana' airline in September.
Mexican hotel operator FibraHotel said on Wednesday it is looking to buy resorts and all-inclusive hotels in the coming years while shedding some under-performing properties, aiming to seize on what it described as a boom in beach travel by U.S. tourists.
More than a dozen U.S. air marshals plan to refuse deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a group representing them, a sign of challenges facing U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration as it grapples with record migrant crossings.
While U.S. and European-based online travel agencies fret about the impact of inflation and potentially softer travel demand, Argentina-based Despegar sees a more stable economic climate on its Latin America home turf.
The Mexican government signed a deal with several aviation unions Friday to purchase the brand of the defunct Mexicana airline for 811.1 million Mexican pesos ($42.41 million), a union spokesman told Reuters.