Reports of Mexican deaths are greatly understated

Editor,

I applaud the Daily Lobo’s story on Thursday about the UNM Provost’s Mexico advisory.
I am a UNM graduate, and I have worked and studied in Mexico. I have observed events in the country over the past 20 years.  The Daily Lobo article is timely but does not fully convey the unprecedented nature of events in Mexico.

1) The U.S. State Department has Mexico under a Travel Warning, which is available online.
State Department Travel Warnings “are issued when long-term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable lead the State Department to recommend that Americans avoid or consider the risk of travel to that country. A Travel Warning is also issued when the U.S. government’s ability to assist American citizens is constrained due to the closure of an embassy or consulate or because of a drawdown of its staff.”

Read the list of countries under Travel Warnings to put developments in Mexico into context.
2) A UNM faculty member was paraphrased as saying something to the effect of, “Violence was isolated to participants of illegal activity.” This is not accurate. A U.S. consulate worker and her husband were killed in Juarez in 2010 while returning to El Paso. A California educator was abducted in Gomez Palacios in 2010 and killed.  There is no evidence that these U.S. citizens were involved in illegal activity. Seventy-two migrants were killed recently in Tamaulipas for refusing to be “participants in illegal activity.”

3. Rules like, “If I don’t put myself in bad situations, nothing bad will happen,” no longer apply. Crime has become violent and unpredictable. The travel warning reads: “Bystanders have been injured or killed in violent attacks in cities across the country, demonstrating the heightened risk of violence in public places. In recent years, dozens of U.S. citizens living in Mexico have been kidnapped and most of their cases remain unsolved.”  “Facts” like Mexico’s murder rate of about 14 per 100,000 residents per year only create a false sense of security.

4) UNM’s Cross-Border Issues Group has worthy goals. Such groups must weigh the risks of their endeavors, especially since a similar UNM group was attacked in Ecuador. The Travel Warning reads:  “In April 2010, two members of a non-governmental aid organization, one of whom was a foreign citizen, were murdered near the village of San Juan Capola in Oaxaca.”

5) UNM groups must abide by rules concerning activities that authorities could misconstrue as political. The travel warning reads: “The Mexican Constitution prohibits political activities by foreigners, and such actions may result in detention and/or deportation. U.S. citizens are therefore advised to avoid participating in demonstrations or other activities that might be deemed political by Mexican authorities.”

UNM has taken steps to warn its community about travel to Mexico. UNM students and faculty must consider the extreme risks in Mexico. UNM must re-evaluate all aspects of its Mexico study programs. UNM and the Daily Lobo must publish all updates to the standing U.S. State Department Travel Warning. The risks have never been greater.

Mark Ortega
Community member