Mexico Is Extremely Dangerous For Spring Break, Says Texas Officials

Texas state authorities have cautioned Americans not to visit Mexico over spring break due to security concerns.

Drug cartel violence is a serious hazard for anyone entering Mexico, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).

It follows the kidnapping of four Americans last week just after they crossed the border, BBC reported.

While two of them were released without incident, the other two were murdered. Over two weeks have passed since the disappearance of three American women who travelled to Mexico to sell clothing.

"Drug cartel violence and other criminal activity represent a significant safety threat to anyone who crosses into Mexico right now," said DPS Director Steven McCraw.

"Based on the volatile nature of cartel activity and the violence we are seeing there, we are urging individuals to avoid travel to Mexico at this time," McCraw added.

While visiting the Mexican town of Matamoros earlier this month, four Americans were taken hostage by a drug cartel, and two of them were killed. A Mexican bystander was also killed in the shooting.

Since the tragedy, the culpable cartel has apologised and turned over its own shooters to the authorities.

A letter left with the cartel gunmen, who had been left on the roadside, accused them of acting "under their own decision-making and lack of discipline" as well as supposedly breaking cartel rules over "protecting the lives of the innocent".

It was signed by the "Scorpions Group", a splinter faction of the powerful Gulf Cartel.

According to Mexican authorities, the gang members mistook the Americans for rivals and shot at them when they attempted to flee. The incident might deteriorate ties between the two nations.

The administration of President Joe Biden has been pushed by a Republican senator to permit the deployment of American troops across the border to combat the cartels.

The suggestions were labelled "arrogant" by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

According to U.S. officials, two sisters from Texas and a friend who crossed the border last month to sell clothes at a flea market are currently missing in Mexico.

The husband of one of the women reported their disappearance to police in Texas after days going by without news.

"We don't know if they made it there," Roel Bermea, police chief in the border town of Penitas, told the AFP news agency.

The FBI had been notified, he added.

Due to its location, Mexico has long been used as a staging and transhipment point for narcotics and contraband between Latin America and U.S. markets.