Violence in Mexico isn’t just scaring away vacationers from the country. Students are staying away, too.
In 2009, the Provost’s Office issued a travel advisory for the country following an escalation of violence, and ever since the number of UNM students studying abroad in Mexico has dropped; 13 in 2009, seven in 2010, and only two in 2011.
Robyn Cote, program manager at UNM’s Latin American and Iberian Institute, said the numbers are dropping because of a travel warning issued by UNM and by the United States Department of State.
“People just don’t want to go to Mexico because of the travel warnings,” she said. “What they see and hear on the news has really impacted the amount of students studying in Mexico.”
According to the Department of State, more than 15,000 murders occurred in Mexico in 2010 (2011 data not yet released), many of them drug related. In 2011, the death toll in Ciudad Juárez alone was reported to be 1,955.
Cote said the drop in numbers started around the same time drug cartels began a campaign to take control of the Mexican government.
Sarah Garcia is a senior at UNM planning to study in a foreign country over the summer, but said she has ruled out Mexico as an option.
“I really don’t think it would be a good idea to ever go to Mexico, let alone for a summer,” she said. “I always hear on the news about all of the drug problems and kidnappings and murders. I don’t want to put myself in a situation where that could happen to me.”
Cote said students are also denied some scholarships based on travel warnings, including the Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship. The scholarship, which provides up to $5,000 to over 2,300 undergraduates each year, cannot be used in countries with a travel warning. Cote said students often opt to go to other countries where funding is more readily available.
Former UNM student Andrew Beale studied in Mexico during the summer. He traveled to Mexico City, Querétaro and Cuernavaca, all located in central Mexico. He said he always felt safe.
“There are still parts of Mexico that are completely safe if you know where you’re going and you know what you’re doing,” he said.
Deborah Kuidis, manager of industrial security at UNM, said Ciudad Juárez is extremely dangerous.
“Juárez is the most violent city in the world, and I believe that the increase in murders has a direct correlation with why students are not studying there,” she said.
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Kuidis puts together an international safety presentation at a mandatory pre-departure meeting for students studying abroad each semester. She said she focuses on students studying in Mexico.
“I tell them to travel in groups, and I let them know about the drug cartel issues that are going (on) over there,” she said. “They can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time and be a victim of a homicide.”
UNM offers students 35 different universities to study at in Mexico, but Lia Driscoll, office assistant at LAII said students from UNM only visit a small number of safer universities in the country, including universities in central and southern Mexico.
“No UNM students are allowed to go to any northern part of Mexico, including Monterrey and Nuevo Leon,” she said.
Driscoll said if students want to study at universities in the north, including Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, and Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, they are required to apply for special permission from the Regents.
But Cote said Mexico isn’t as dangerous as it is made out to be.
“For everyone who goes there they honestly don’t have any problems,” she said. “They all felt very safe when they were down there and I still encourage students to go there.”
