The last Mexico Mix column
looked at why Mexico's drug-related violence has recently spilled into
tourist destinations. This time, we'll look at why that shouldn't stop
you from traveling to Mexico.
No, we're not recommending a holiday in beautiful downtown Ciudad
Juárez, Chihuahua, or a romantic getaway in Tecalitlán, Jalisco. Even I
admit that when I had to fly into Acapulco and drive across the city on
my last trip to Mexico, I was just as happy not to be lingering there.
But it's still true that drug gangs are not targeting tourists now
any more than they ever were. And even if the barrage of headlines makes
it sound as if the entire country were in flames, the violence that
feeds Mexico's death toll takes place primarily in just nine of 31
states — mainly along the U.S. border where the smuggling takes place
and in places where marijuana and heroin are produced.
The concept hasn't changed: Stay away from the trouble spots and
exhibit some common sense, and you're more likely to perish in a
tequila-fueled Jet Ski mishap than at a homicidal drug trafficker's
hands. What makes this concept more complicated today is that you can no
longer rely on the common wisdom about sticking with established
tourist destinations.
Until this year, the public had to rely on media tallies of
drug-related killings or on sporadic and often confusing numbers
compiled by various government agencies. In January, the Mexican
government made the task easier by releasing a comprehensive official database
of drug-related deaths — including gang members, police, soldiers and
bystanders — each year from the beginning of Calderón's term in December
2006 through the end of 2010. In addition to the alarming numbers in
those nine states — ranging from 40 (in Michoacán) to 297.5 (in
Chihuahua) deaths per 100,000 people — it shows that modest homicide
rates prevail in much of the country.
Outside those nine states, the total homicide rate for the four
years is a more tolerable 1.1 to 29.8 per 100,000. In 2010, Mexico
City's drug-related homicide rate was 2.2 per 100,000. While it is not
an exact comparison, since the Mexico database tracks specifically
drug-related deaths, Washington, D.C.'s homicide rate for 2009, the
latest year for which the FBI's Uniform Crime Report is available, of 24 per 100,000 adds some perspective. California's rate was 5.3; the U.S. national average was 5.0.
If you're looking for the safest places in Mexico, Yucatán and
Tlaxcala states had fewer than 1.5 deaths per 100,000 population for the
four-year period through 2010 — comparable to Minnesota and Vermont.
Puebla, Querétaro, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Veracruz, Hidalgo,
Chiapas, San Luis Potosí, the Federal District (Mexico City), Tabasco,
Zacatecas and Guanajuato also recorded single-digit rates.
Here's a closer look at the top five:
1) Tlaxcala
(1.1 deaths per 100,000): Mexico's safest state is also its smallest,
tucked just east of Mexico state like a notch in Puebla's side, with the
Sierra Madre Oriental dominating its eastern boundary. It is an
agricultural state with a significant tourism industry made up mainly of
Mexican visitors and a smattering of history-minded German, French and
Swiss travelers. Its primary attractions, barely known to U.S. tourists,
are precolumbian archaeological sites such as Cacaxtla and colonial
architecture in and around the capital city of Tlaxcala. The state has
more than 1,000 archaeological sites, only seven of which are open to
the public. It's tailor-made for travelers hankering for an authentic
cultural foray safely removed from the hordes.