Belize Embassy in Mexico on High Alert Amid Cartel Violence, Travel Advisory Issued

The Government of Belize says its embassy in Mexico remains fully engaged and on high alert following a wave of cartel-linked violence that has seen vehicles and buildings set ablaze in several Mexican states.  Reports out of Mexico indicate that the unrest is tied to a major anti-narcotics operation by Mexican authorities, which has triggered retaliatory actions by criminal groups. The developments prompted Belize to issue a travel advisory urging nationals to exercise a high degree of caution, particularly in affected regions.  Belize’s Ambassador to Mexico, Oscar Arnold, says the embassy has been closely tracking the situation and maintaining communication with Belizean nationals.

H.E. Oscar Arnold, Ambassador of Belize to Mexico: “As everyone would have seen or known yesterday, there was the capture and the death of Ruben Oseguera Cervantes who is also goes by the alias of “El Mencho” the head of the CJNG which is one of the larger more feared narco groups in Mexico. What transpired yesterday was the culmination of months and even years of planning and intelligence gathering by the Mexican security apparatus. They were able to locate where he would be and then they planned an intervention and attack in about a day and a half and which led to his capture and him being injured and then subsequently dying on the transport to Mexico City. What we saw yesterday was a concentration of retaliatory acts by his supporters and other members of the CJNG in Jalisco, Michoacan, Guadalajara, Tamaulipas, and Puerto Vallarta as well where even some commercial flights were cancelled because those were the areas where the CJNG really had some strongholds. Yesterday as well, it hasn’t made the mainstream media news, but also another top person, one of his generals who was coordinating this I don’t want to say insurgency but these attacks was also captured and killed. The Government of Belize did issue a travel advisor for this area yesterday for Belizeans. The Americans have done so as well and they’re advising their residents or tourists who are in those affected areas to stay in place, to give the Mexican and authorities time to restore back security to 100% before they make any travel plans.”

Ambassador Arnold explained that the advisory was issued out of an abundance of caution as the situation evolved rapidly following the security operations.  Despite the dramatic scenes circulating on social media, the ambassador says the situation is being actively managed by Mexican authorities and has not directly impacted Belize.

H.E. Oscar Arnold, Ambassador of Belize to Mexico:  “But as of last night and early this morning, the Mexican military, along with local police and state police have taken back control of whatever was taking place in these areas. Vehicles are being cleared. Buses are being cleared that were burned and security from this morning from the president’s press briefing they’re saying that between 90 to 100% of these flare-ups are under control. They have dispatched additional troops within these hot areas or these hot zones and they’re restoring security and restoring calm to many many of these places. We received in excess of 75 calls, text messages, emails from students living in Mexico, attending school in Mexico, as well as concerned parents back home. I was able to contact two different groups of people who traveled from Belize to Merida yesterday because I believe in one of the reports North Yucatan was mentioned because if you know how the network of federal highways go, you have a federal highway that passes through there. There wasn’t any incidents or any issues in Merida per se but I believe on the federal highway that leads into Merida coming north so it was refreshing to note that yesterday two different groups traveled from Belize to Merida and they didn’t have any issues. They didn’t see any blockages on that portion of the highway and they didn’t see any issues and they arrived in Merida safe. The Belizeans and students who we have registered here at the embassy, we do have telephone numbers for them, contact numbers and email as well. So later today again, for those who we didn’t speak to or who didn’t send a a message in yesterday, we’ll be sending out an email blast, just checking on them. Another important aspect that we will be, that we have advised and will continue to advise Belizeans and students who live and study and work in Mexico is that try to get information, try to rely on information from credible news sources. The Federal Government of Mexico, all the arms of the Federal Government have official X pages, they have official Instagram pages. Some of them still use Facebook. So try to make sure that you get the information from there. If you’re living in one of the states or another state outside of where we are right now, try to rely on credible local news media as well for the information that you receive. You would be well aware that there’s a lot of pages out there, social media pages who would post things just to get the views and the likes and that can create undue concern or panic. So it’s important for us to try to get as much credible information as we can so that we can make informed decisions.”

Arnold is also reminding Belizeans that the embassy and its network of honorary consuls remain accessible for anyone needing assistance.

H.E. Oscar Arnold, Ambassador of Belize to Mexico: “We do have a network of honorary consuls. We have a person in Veracruz. We have a person in Merida, Yucatan. We have in Quintana Roo that we’ve been in contact with and they’ve been providing local information from on the ground and that has stated that there’s no issues as well. So for the Belize Embassy and the hotline and this is a 24-hour number, the number is 5620430000. We also have honorary consuls like I said, in Merida, in Quintana Roo, in Chetumal,  in Veracus who have been very useful in the past with car dealers, with Belizeans who’ve gotten into accidents, with car dealers who’ve maybe gotten into a fender bender or some kind of issues. They do work very hard and we’ve been able to resolve most issues, not all, because some of them are really out of our control. But I think you’ve made note of the hotline number. That is the number that’s always manned.”

Belizeans in Mexico who require help or information are encouraged to contact the embassy hotline at 56-2043-0000. Officials say the situation continues to be monitored in real time.