As Mexico’s drug cartels fracture, violence soars

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — The internal fracturing of Mexico’s drug cartels has led to soaring violence across the country in the past year, prompting the U.S. State Department to issue travel warnings to 23 of 31 Mexican states, including four bordering Texas and two popular tourist destinations.

The warnings, including Tuesday’s advisory for Quintana Roo and Baja California Sur, highlight the deteriorating security across Mexico under President Enrique Pena Nieto. He came into office five years ago promising to improve security.

“Clearly the successes of recent years are being undone,” said Eric Olson, a Latin American security expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center. “Mexico has struggled and largely failed to re-establish control in states where organized crime has its deepest roots and where local and state governments are essentially part of the criminal enterprise. It’s a crisis of governance, violence and corruption, and Mexico has yet to find the key to solving this problem.”

More than 12,500 people were killed in the first six months of this year, an increase of about 30 percent over the comparable period in 2016. That puts Mexico on pace for what could be the deadliest year in its post-revolution history.

States such as Chihuahua and Tamaulipas have consistently made the State Department’s list, but surprisingly, so have popular beach regions including Cabo San Lucas in Baja California Sur and Cancun in Quintana Roo.

The warning Tuesday could be devastating to Mexico’s $20 billion-a-year tourism industry, which accounts for about 7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Quintana Roo alone accounts for an estimated one-third of all American tourists.

“U.S. citizens have been the victims of violent crimes, including homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery in various Mexican states,” the travel advisory says. It added that “gun battles between rival criminal organizations or with Mexican authorities have taken place on streets and in public places during broad daylight.”