Andrés Manuel López says Mexico is safer than United States

• There is no issue with traveling safely through Mexico says Andrés Manuel López.
• The statement came after the kidnapping incident of Americans.
• Yet, the event has created ongoing tensions between Mexico’s president and US authorities.

Mexico, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed on Monday, is a safer country than the United States, weeks after the high-profile kidnapping of four Americans drew global attention to the country’s security crisis.

“Mexico is safer than the United States. There is no issue with traveling safely through Mexico. That’s something the US citizens also know, just like our fellow Mexicans that live in the US,” he said during his daily morning press briefing.

In early March, the kidnapped Americans were traveling in the Mexican border city of Matamoros when they were attacked by gunmen suspected to be associated with the Gulf cartel. The incident killed two Americans and a Mexican bystander.

On Friday, the Texas Department of Public Safety advised that residents avoid travel to Mexico during spring break, citing the risk of cartel violence.

Why the paranoia?

When asked about security in Mexico by a local reporter, López Obrador emphasized his country’s appeal to American visitors and ex-pats, who have flocked in recent years to attractive coastal areas as well as Mexico City to take advantage of the better weather and lower cost of living. Every year, US tourists bring in billions of dollars for Mexico.

“US government alerts say that it’s safe to only travel [in the states of] Campeche and Yucatan. If that were the case, so many Americans wouldn’t be coming in to live in Mexico City and the rest of the country. In the past few years is when more Americans have come to live in Mexico. So, what’s happening? Why the paranoia?”

The Mexican president also claimed there was “a campaign against Mexico from conservative US politicians that don’t want this country to keep developing for the good of the Mexican people.”

While portions of Mexico are popular tourist destinations, violent crime, such as kidnapping and human trafficking, is prevalent throughout the country, particularly in border areas. Mexico has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, and the country has been plagued by an epidemic of disappearances, with more than 100,000 Mexicans and migrants still missing.

Mexican officials’ incompetence and corruption have also eroded public faith; last year, a Mexican government investigation accused the country’s own military and police of the infamous disappearance of 43 students in 2014.

The US State Department has “do not travel” advisories in place for six of Mexico’s 32 states, including northeast Tamaulipas state, where Matamoros is located. It warns Americans to “reconsider travel” to seven Mexican states and “exercise increased caution” in 17 states.

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We don’t take orders from anyone

Six persons have been arrested in connection with the tragic Matamoros kidnapping, and Mexico has deployed hundreds of security officers to the area in an effort to protect “the well-being of citizens,” according to the military ministry.

Yet, the event has created ongoing tensions between Mexico’s president and US authorities.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, where the victims of the Matamoros attack are from, announced last week that he intends to introduce legislation designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and authorizing the US military to operate in Mexico to dismantle drug labs, which are typically run by such criminal organizations.

López Obrador described the notion as an “offense to the people of Mexico” and a “lack of respect for our independence.”

“We are not a protectorate of the United States or a colony of the United States. Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country. We don’t take orders from anyone,” López Obrador said at a news conference.

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