Mexico Under Siege

MEXICAN EXPATS WARNED ON TRAVEL HOME

Officials There Advise Them to Move in Convoys Because of the Drug Violence.

It is an annual ritual, a pilgrimage that Mexicans living in the
United States make to visit hometowns and families for the holidays.

But this year, the terrifying drug war violence sweeping parts of
Mexico is taking its toll.

The Mexican government is warning travelers driving into Mexico for
the holiday season -- many from Southern California -- to move in
convoys and only during daylight hours.

These convoys can be "escorted or monitored" if travelers check in
with federal agents upon crossing the border, the government said.
The Mexican army is also offering protection.

The recommendation signals an acknowledgement that hold-ups and
violence on Mexico's roads attributed to drug-trafficking gangs could
affect the holiday travel crush.

"When our own government says it's not safe to travel in our own
country, it really makes you feel sad," Luis Garcia, head of one of
the numerous clubs that Mexicans belong to in the Los Angeles area,
said in a telephone interview from Lynwood.

Garcia said many of the nearly 2,300 members of his Federacion
Veracruzana, an association of people originally from the coastal
state of Veracruz, have decided to cancel their trips this year. The
topic has been a top concern among Mexican expat clubs, and "people
are really worried," he said.

Too often, Garcia said, motorists come upon roadblocks where people
disguised as police demand money or the travelers' possessions. And
waiting to form convoys can be time-consuming.

Mexicans living in the U.S., legally or illegally, often return to
their hometowns for extended breaks from late November through early January.

The Interior Ministry made its travel recommendations this week in an
announcement timed to coincide with the launch of its Compatriot
Program. The multi-agency effort is designed to ease returning
Mexicans back into their home regions by reminding them of rules and services.

"Compatriots can call free of charge the number 060, from any phone
inside Mexican territory, to ask for information, report crimes or
seek help," the ministry said in its statement.

Cash remittances from the estimated 12 million Mexican-born adults
living in the United States are Mexico's second-largest source of
foreign income, after oil exports.

Mexican state governments have predicted that travel home this
holiday season may be down as much as 50%.