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Mexico.

The Department of State revised its travel advisory for U.S. citizens planning on traveling to Mexico, and reminds the public that "millions" of Americans safely visit Mexico every year.

With that fact out of the way, the State Department notes the transnational criminal organizations, drug-related violence, homicides, gun battles, kidnappings, carjackings, highway robberies (*inhale*), disappearances, crooked cops, assaults, and other things that have been going on around the country that you may want to take into consideration for your trip.

See also:
-Fear Is Killing Tourism in Rocky Point, Mexico, Though Tourists Are Relatively Safe There -- For Now
-Rocky Point Warning Cites Cartel Violence of Past Year
-Six Killed, Including One Police Officer, in Rocky Point Shootout


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​For the first time, the U.S. State Department has specifically mentioned Rocky Point in a travel advisory, citing recent cartel violence there as the reason.

The small town on the coast of the Gulf of California has long been a popular vacation spot for Arizonans -- but not so much in recent years as news streams north of extreme smuggling gang violence. Mexico tourism is down in general, and far fewer people have been driving down to Rocky Point, known in Mexico as Puerto Penasco.

If you want the full scoop, read our February feature article about Rocky Point, Scarecation. We found the place nearly empty in December, and only slightly more full of tourists in February, just before the universities went on spring break. New Times explored the evidence of recent violence, including a slaying last August at a popular boat dock.

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Violence in Mexico seems to be increasing, with wars between drug gangs claiming a record 12,456 lives from January to November of this year, a top Mexican official said today.

All told, said Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chavez, 30,196 people have died in the drug wars since President Felipe Calderon took office four years ago.

And that's just in Mexico. The ruthless drug trade is also responsible for plenty of homicides in Arizona and other states - as Tuesday's slaying of a Border Patrol officer near Nogales exemplifies.

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Image: http://lonewolftradingco.net/splash.html

​Lone Wolf Trading Company, a Glendale gun store, leads a top-12 list by the Washington Post of traced crime-scene guns recovered in Mexico.

The Post conducted its own Wikileaks-like expose, apparently, defying a 2003 federal law that's supposed to keep the names of gun dealers hidden from the public.

Two other Arizona stores made the list: J&G Sales in Prescott and Sprague's Sports in Yuma.

Most of the stores on the list were Texas. 

 

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Nothing like a peaceful round of golf in Sonora, Mexico -- just be sure to finish up well before dark, says the State Department

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The State Department has issued an updated travel warning about Mexico, urging visiting Americans to be ultra-cautious because of all the drug-related violence.

The announcement supercedes a previous warning in May and comes after extreme, new violence -- including a Sonoran gun battle between rival gangs that left 21 people dead (two charred heads were found on a cemetary fence near the Arizona border on the same day) and an Iraqi-style car bombing in Juarez.

Most of the trouble can be found just south of Texas, especially in Juarez, the report says. Tijuana, just over the border from San Diego, is also a violence hotspot.

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​Just when it seems like smuggling violence can't get any worse comes news of a slaughter just south of Nogales, Mexico: 21 dead, at least six wounded in a massive gun battle.

Media outlets are reporting that the skirmish between rival gangs took place Thursday morning on a dirt road between Tubutama and Saric, about 30 miles southwest of Nogales, Sonora.

On the same day, reports the Nogales International, two charred, human heads were found hanging on fence at the Del Rosario Cemetary, near the Arizona border. Next to the heads was a cardboard sign to warn another smuggling gang. 

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