Authorities in Texas warned US citizens to not travel to Mexico during the spring break, due to high levels of criminal activity, and after the recent cases of deadly kidnapping of Americans in the country.
Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), said in a statement that drug cartel violence and other criminal activity represented a "significant safety threat" to anyone who crosses into Mexico right now.
The US State Department has issued a 'Do Not Travel' advisory warning for six Mexican states, including Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas state.
At the same time, the US government warned it had limited ability to provide emergency services to US citizens in many areas of Mexico, as travel by government employees to certain areas is prohibited or restricted.
Lieutenant Chris Olivarez of the DPS said the department was gearing up for spring breakers who might be seeking to cross the border.
Speaking to Fox News, he said: "Right now it is too dangerous with the increase in violence and kidnappings that are taking place in Mexico.
"I can’t stress enough to those that are thinking about travelling to Mexico, especially for spring breakers … to avoid those areas as much as possible."
In the latest disturbing incident, two sisters from Peñitas, Texas and a friend are missing after they crossed the border last month to sell clothes at a Mexican flea market, US authorities said Friday.
Maritza Trinidad Perez Rios, 47, Marina Perez Rios, 48, and their friend, Dora Alicia Cervantes Saenz, 53, haven’t been heard from in about two weeks.
US Customs and Border Protection said the three women crossed into Mexico on February 24, according to Bermea. Peñitas is a few hundred feet from the Rio Grande.
The husband of one of the women spoke to her by phone while she was travelling in Mexico, the police chief said, but grew concerned when he couldn’t reach her afterward.
“Since he couldn’t make contact over that weekend, he came in that Monday and reported it to us,” Bermea said.
The three women haven’t been heard from since.
Bermea said the women were travelling in a green mid-1990s Chevy Silverado to a flea market in the city of Montemorelos, in Nuevo Leon state.
It’s about a three-hour drive from the border. Officials at the state prosecutor’s office said they had been investigating the women’s disappearance since Monday.
It comes after the case of four US citizens that were abducted in Matamoros, Mexico gained massive publicity, and in contrast with the little attention similar criminality incidents in the area have. 112,000 Mexicans are missing nationwide, but little effort is being done by authorities on their cases.
The four were travelling Friday in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates. They came under fire shortly after entering the city of Matamoros from Brownsville, at the southernmost tip of Texas near the Gulf coast.
