US further restricts government travel in Mexico

The State Department warned visitors to Mexico on Tuesday that U.S. officials may not be able to help them because of heightened restrictions on government travel.

“U.S. government employees and their families are not permitted to drive for personal reasons from the U.S.-Mexico border to or from the interior of Mexico or Central America,” reads the latest travel advisory. “Personal travel by vehicle is permitted between Hermosillo and Nogales but is restricted to daylight hours and the Highway 15 toll road (cuota).”

The advisory warns that U.S. government personnel and their families are prohibited from personal travel to all areas described as “defer non-essential travel” because of the risk of kidnapping and carjacking. When travel to those areas for official purposes is essential, “it is conducted with extensive security precautions.”

The affected areas include the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon (except Monterrey), San Luis Potosi (except the city of San Luis Potosi), Sinaloa (except the city of Mazatlan), Tamaulipas, Zacatecas (except the city of Zacatecas) and Michoacán (except the cities of Morelia and Lázaro Cardenas). Parts of the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Guerrero (except Acapulco, Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa), Colima, Aguascalientes and Sonora are also considered high-risk.

“While the general public is not forbidden from visiting places described as 'defer non-essential travel,' " the advisory warns, "USG personnel will not be able to respond quickly to an emergency situation in those areas due to security precautions that must be taken to travel to those areas."

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