The two that died are a macabre addition to a long list of 120 Americans who were murdered in Mexico in 2011, according to the Department of State website.
Students traveling to Mexico for spring break and other reasons should be concerned, especially in certain areas, Penn State U. assistant professor of history Grace Pena Delgado said.
In a travel warning issued Feb. 8, the U.S. Department of State officially notified American travelers that an ongoing war between violent drug gangs and Mexican government forces, has led to an alarming increase of gun battles, kidnappings, car-jackings and disappearances.
The narcotics-related violence has killed more than 47,000 people since December of 2006 and more than 12,000 in the first nine months of 2011 alone, according to the travel warning.
Delgado said she has delayed her own research plans in Mexico City for the last six months because the threat of violence is real — and now stretches from the borderlands of Mexico to the country’s interior, and even into nation’s resort areas.
Twenty-two foreign tourists were robbed near the coastal city of Puerto Vallarta Thursday after they departed their cruise ship at the port to explore the inland. None of the tourists where injured, but the assailants possessed a gun, according to a statement released by the city’s public safety secretary.
Delgado stressed that specific regions of Mexico, especially all border regions, Mexico City, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta and Ciudad Juarez should be avoided at all costs.
“[The drug gangs] are murdering people simply as a tactic of intimidation and violence,” she said. “They want to show that ‘we are the authority. We don’t follow the rules.’ ”
The U.S. travel warning advises Americans to take special precautions while in Mexico such as traveling only during daylight hours, avoiding isolated roads and using toll roads whenever possible. The warning also advises Americans to keep a low profile and conceal any signs of wealth.
The warning also states that resort areas and tourist destinations, in general, do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime reported in the border region and in areas along major trafficking routes.
Cancun is a significantly safer area for tourists, Delgado said.
There is no U.S. Department of State travel warning advisory in effect for the state of Quintana Roo, which includes Cancun.
While chances are students would not be subjected to violence in this area, the random nature of attacks increases the danger of any trip to Mexico, she said.
Barbara Rowe, Penn State executive director of education abroad, wrote in an email that students and faculty are prohibited from studying or researching in countries where the U.S. Department of State issues a travel warning. However, students and faculty may petition for an exemption to this rule, Rowe said.
“If a faculty member or student submits a petition, we would consider carefully the destinations and how they match with the specific regions mentioned in the travel warning,” she wrote.
To her knowledge, no Penn State students or faculty have been affected by violence in Mexico.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.