The U.S. State Department has issued a strongly-worded alert for Puerto Peñasco travelers on the eve of the traditionally busy Memorial Day weekend.
The “warden message” from the U.S. Consulate in Nogales, Sonora, urges travelers to make the trip during daylight hours due to reports of unofficial checkpoints on the Mexican Highway 8 to Puerto Peñasco, also known as Rocky Point.
“There have been unconfirmed reports that unauthorized checkpoints have been set up by unknown persons at night,” it says. “Reports from those passing through these checkpoints indicate that the operators of the checkpoint only requested to see identification before allowing them to pass. U.S. Consulate Nogales strongly advises any traveler who must take this route do so during daylight hours.”
The message provides three recommendations for travelers who are stopped at an unofficial checkpoint:
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• “Do not resist. Cooperate immediately and fully.”
• “Stay calm, put up your hands, and comply with demands.”
• “If you have a child in the car, immediately alert the checkpoint operators of the child’s presence.”
The alert said that “motorists who have not stopped at unofficial checkpoints have been shot at and killed.”
The consulate's security office has advised staff to limit travel to major roads during daylight hours, and consulate officials making official trips between cities must do so in armored vehicles, the warden message says.
The U.S. Department of State already has a travel warning for Mexico based on the raging violence from the Mexican drug cartels. The latest warning, issued March 14, urges people to delay "unnecessary travel" to parts of the Mexican states of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua.
Travel to Sonora is not included in the warning. The city of Rocky Point, also known as Puerto Peñasco, is not mentioned, either.
The city of Nogales, Sonora, however, is mentioned twice for drug-related violence, as it was in the travel alert that was updated on Feb. 22. The State Department has specifically mentioned Nogales in its Mexico travel alert since October 2008.
The number of killings in Mexico's drug wars has spiked to unprecedented levels in Nogales over the past three years, as drug cartels battle for the prized corridor and as Mexican law enforcement attempts to weaken them.
There were 136 homicides in 2009, up from 126 in 2008 and 52 in 2007. Through March 12 of this year, there already have been 70 killings, according to a tally maintained by El Imparcial newspaper in Sonora.
Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com
