Is it safe to travel in Sonora in 2020?

We have created a Sonora travel risk map, and will update the regions and colors as security situations change.

Current Sonora Warnings and Advisories

Sonora Travel Warning: Coronavirus Pandemic

The novel coronavirus has spread through the state of Sonora, with outbreaks in Sonora’s major cities and municipalities. Travel to Sonora is not recommended at this time, with the possible exception of brief visits across the border. Read more.

Increased Crime in Sonora

Despite coronavirus travel restrictions, the number of homicides and other violent crimes have continued to grow in Sonora in 2020. This is especially true in the municipalities of Guaymas (including San Carlos), Empalme, Cajeme (Ciudad Obregon) and Hermosillo.

Everything changed in 2019

Travelers to Sonora, Mexico have always been aware of inherent risks of traveling in a state where cartels control drug and human trafficking routes from the south of Mexico through Sonora to the United States.

Enjoying the state’s natural beauty whle perhaps having an uneasy recognition that killings and other bad things were happening all around, particularly at night, from a tourist perspective things seemed relatively calm.

And even though the U.S. State Department placed Sonora on a higher-risk list in 2018 asking tourists to reconsider travel to the state, foreigners were not targeted and tourism areas felt safe with no violent daytime incidents.

But all of that changed in 2019.

2019 in Sonora, Mexico

Crime steadily increased from April through the end of the year 2019 in Sonora, much of it focused in the municipalities of Guaymas, Empalme, Cajeme (Ciudad Obregon) and Hermosillo.

As the police and federal government armed forces response has evolved, more police officers and other public officials were murdered.

City officials from Guaymas, Agua Prieta and Benito Juárez were murdered.

And the situation has spilled over to 2020 as crime has exceeded 2019 records in Sonora, Mexico.

Increased violence

As violent crime began to increase in early 2019, two young men and their Uber driver died in a hail of gunfire as they were leaving San Carlos on Manlio Fabio Beltrones Rivera Boulevard.

In April, a shootout in the tourist city of San Carlos left a policeman dead. And Mexican Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Alfonso Durazo Montaño announced that Hermosillo was next on the priority list for a deployment of federal National Guard troops.

Also in April, reports published by Hermosillo newspaper El Imparcial noted that Hermosillo ranks second nationally in the killings of women. And that 67 children had been killed in Sonoran “narco conflicts” since 2015.

As the summer weather heated up in Sonora, so did the violence in the state. Ten people were murdered in the state of Sonora on one day, Sunday, June 10, 2019. Four men and a woman were gunned down in the border city of Agua Prieta, and another four men died in a fusillade of gunfire in the nearby border town of Naco, Sonora. The tenth victim was murdered in Hermosillo. And that violence continued in June.

On June 6, gunmen entered the emergency room at a hospital in Guaymas to murder a man. It was the third time in five years that had happened.

Also in Guaymas, on June 20 the municipal comptroller of that municipality and another municipal employee were gunned down on the main Guaymas thoroughfare, Avenida Serdán. Just six months earlier, on October 4, 2018, five municipal police transit officers were murdered on that same street.

Violent crime exploded in Ciudad Obregon – Cajeme in June, with 63 murders reported during the month. During that time, the bodies of two murder victims were displayed in public.

Violence continued into the fall. In September, a 69-year-old municipal official in Agua Prieta was stangled and a taco vendor was gunned down outside of the police station in San Carlos. Nine members of the Langford and LeBaron families were murdered in November. At the end of November another public official, Pedro Alejandro Fernandez, the treasurer of the town of Benito Juárez, was killed by gunfire as he drove in a sedan with his wife.

Frequent violent crimes continued through the rest of the year and into the first two months of 2020, especially in the state’s problem areas of Ciudad Obregon, Empalme, Guaymas and Hermosillo.

Police killings

As the year 2019 started, local municipal police were being replaced by state police due to rampant local corruption of law enforcement by cartels. Tensions increase between the two groups, which resulted in shootouts and the murders of police officers.

In April, an officer was killed and a commander gravely wounded in the tourist area of San Carlos. Two Hermosillo police commanders were gunned down in May.

And in July, a police officer was murdered in the border town of San Luis Rio Colorado and two police officers were murdered in Guaymas.

On the day of the first murder of Guaymas police officer Marlon Gonzalez Juanqui outside of an Oxxo convenience store on July 2, his partner radioed “they are going to kill us all.” Guaymas’s municipal president Sara Valle Dessens took to the radio airwaves to caution citizens to avoid public areas as she suspended all public events for the day.

The second July Guaymas murder brought the total of police murdered in that city to 10 officials since the start of the current municipal administration in 2018.

And in September, three Sonora state police officers were gunned down in Ciudad Obregon, and two San Carlos police officers were ambushed by an armed group in a shootout at the San Carlos Marina.

National guard deployment

Violence continued in Sonoran urban areas during the summer, with 63 murders registered in the municipality of Cajeme (Ciudad Obregon) in June.

The Mexican federal government responded to the violence by sending in National Guard troops to help maintain order.

Thus far, troops have been deployed to Hermosillo, Guaymas, Empalme, Ciudad Obregon and Nogales. And there has been related violence as the Guard troops battle criminal groups.

Americans affected by increased violence

In years past, proponents of Sonora tourism (including me) would point to the fact that many murders in Sonora were between members of rival crime groups and that crime did not affect foreign visitors. That changed in 2019.

In April, tourists waiting at the Empalme Only Sonora state for their Only Sonora permits to visit Southern Sonora were surprised by armed thieves. The carjackers stole their Jeep Cherokee and Lincoln Navigator. The tourists were unharmed.

And on November 4 members of the Langford and LeBaron families were gunned down on a remote Sonora highway in acts of unspeakable horror. A group of three vehicles came under automatic gunfire from criminal elements.

Nine members of the family were killed – three women and six children – and six children were injured. One of the vehicles was incinerated, burning a mother, her two adolescent children and two infants alive.

State Department Travel Advisory for Sonora

Following is the State Department’s 2020 Travel Warning for Sonora, as of February 2020:

Sonora state – Level 3: Reconsider Travel

Reconsider travel due to crime.

Sonora is a key location used by the international drug trade and human trafficking networks.

U.S. government employees traveling to and from Hermosillo may travel between the border crossing points of DeConcini and Mariposa in Nogales only during daylight hours and only on Highway 15, including stops at restaurant/restroom facilities along Highway 15.

U.S. government employees may travel to Puerto Peñasco via the Lukeville/Sonoyta crossing during daylight hours on Federal Highway 8, or by using Federal Highway 15 south from Nogales and east via Federal Highway 2 and State Highway 37 through Caborca during daylight hours. U.S. government employees may also travel directly from the nearest U.S. Ports of Entry to San Luis Rio Colorado, Cananea, and Agua Prieta but may not go beyond the city limits without official Consulate Nogales clearance.

U.S. government employees may not travel to:

  • The triangular region west of the Mariposa Port of Entry, east of Sonoyta, and north of Altar
  • The district within Nogales that lies to the north of Avenida Instituto Tecnologico and between Periferico (Bulevar Luis Donaldo Colosio) and Corredor Fiscal (Federal Highway 15D), and the residential areas to the east of Plutarco Elias Calles.
  • The eastern edge of the state of Sonora, which borders the state of Chihuahua: all points along that border east of Federal Highway 17, the road between Moctezuma and Sahuaripa, and State Highway 20 between Sahuaripa and the intersection with Federal Highway 16.
  • All points south of Federal Highway 16 and east of Highway 15 (south of Hermosillo), as well as Empalme, Guaymas, and all points south, including Obregon and Navojoa. U.S. government employees may travel to Alamos by air only and may not go beyond the city limits.

In addition, U.S. government employees may not use taxi services in Nogales.

The Sonoran coastal community of Puerto Lobos
Kino Mission Nuestra Señora del Pilar y Santiago de Cocóspera
Sonoran traditions - Dia de San Juan Bautista in Pueblo Viejo, Navojoa, Sonora
Temple of Our Lady of Balvanera in La Aduana, Sonora, Mexico

Gunmen Spray Targets in Downtown Guaymas

Weekend shooting near downtown supermarket

 

Sonora newspaper El Imparcial reported yesterday that several gunmen armed with high-powered weapons unleashed a fusillade of gunfire on a home and three vehicles at approximately 8:00 p.m. in downtown Guaymas, Sonora.

The targets that received the hail of gunfire are in a commercial district, in an area where people shopped in a nearby supermarket and other stores. The newspaper did not report any casualties in the incident.

The shooters were able to escape before National Guard soldiers arrived on the scene.

The incident underlines the uncertainty and potential danger in the seaside city of Guaymas, for residents and visitors.

And it perhaps raises questions about the effectiveness and placement of the National Guard in Guaymas, as well as their deterrent effect. The fact that the gunmen felt confident enough and were able to conduct such an assault in a busy downtown area of a city with a heightened presence of National Guard soldiers is unsettling.

We recommend that visitors to Sonora avoid the Guaymas area until the level of public safety is demonstrably improved.

More Sonora news and insights

Sonora Business Leaders Demand a Solution to Violence

Members of the organization Comparmex, the “business center of Northern Sonora,” met with public officials on August 13 in Guaymas to demand action to address the extreme violence that has gripped the state.

In addition to Comparmex members, the meeting was attended by Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich, state and federal security officials and the municipal presidents of Cajeme, Guaymas, Empalme and Navojoa

According to its website, Comparmex is a politically independent group of employers and entrepreneurs founded in 1929. It seeks to establish social conditions that contribute to the prosperity of all Mexicans, to increase equity and social cohesion.

Sonora newspaper El Imparcial reported that Comparmex President Arturo Fernández Díaz recommended that state and federal governments devote more resources to security forces, to include better training, equipment and salaries.

Anti-government and -police violence

Of particular concern is the level of violence against municipal governments, in particular municipal police officers. Their increasing frequency and levels of violence may indicate signs of social instability in the state of Sonora, Mexico.

On June 20, the comptroller of the city of Guaymas, Daniel Morales Pardini, was gunned down with another municipal employee, Enrique Galarza Núñez, as they were driving on Avenida Serdán, the main street in Guaymas. Both men were killed. Pardini had previously been the municipal police director for Guaymas.

On June 28, the eastern command police headquarters in Guaymas was assaulted by an armed gunman. There were three violent murders in Guaymas earlier in the day, and the presidenta municipal (mayor) of Guaymas, Sara Valle Dessens, announced on the radio that because of the violence, people in Guaymas should not leave their homes if they do not need to.

And in July, after seeing his partner slain in front of an Oxxo convenience store, a Guaymas police officer is quoted as saying “They are going to kill us all.”

An August 4 attack on the palacio municipal (city hall) of the municipality of Mazatan, Sonora. Gunment riddled the building with a fusillade of bullets.

The next day, August 5, an Hermosillo police officer was shot to death in his home. He was the 15th police official killed in Sonora in 2019.

Violence within proximity of children

And unfortunately, children have not been spared from seeing examples of violence in the state.

On July 29, a dismembered body was left outside a primary school in Empalme, just 500 meters from the police station.

On August 3, two men were gunned down outside of an Hermosillo McDonald’s where children were celebrating at a birthday piñata party.

And on the evening of August 4, a man entered the Ballpark restaurant, withdrew a weapon and shot a man who was dining at the restaurant, killing him. At a nearby table, several children dove under their table in terror as the man was murdered.

One week later, the manager of the Ballpark restaurant was kidnapped. He was later released.

Conclusion

By August 24, Hermosillo had experienced 160 violent homicides in 2019, just 15 fewer than all of 2018.

Earlier this year the Mexican federal government announced the deployment of federal national guard troops to establish “security priority areas” in Sonora. It is not clear what specific actions have been taken at the state level to curtail the violence in Sonora, but it has continued. We are especially concerned about growing tensions between armed groups and local governments, in particular against local police officials.

We recommend that you exercise extreme caution when traveling to or driving through the cities of Guaymas – San Carlos, Empalme, Ciudad Obregon and Hermosillo. Nighttime travel is definitely not recommended.

More Sonora news and insights

August Is the Deadliest Month of 2019 in Hermosillo

Violent Murders on the Increase in Hermosillo

Sonoran newspaper El Imparcial reported this morning that August is already the most violent month this year in the state capital of Hermosillo. As of yesterday, when two people were murdered in gun violence, 38 people have been killed in Hermosillo in August. That brings the 2019 total of murders in the capital city to 160, just 15 fewer than all of 2018.

There were more “malicious homicides” in the municipality of Cajeme, which includes the city of Ciudad Obregon. Cajeme experienced 167 violent deaths through the end of July. There were 63 murders in that municipality in the month of June.

There were also dozens of bodies recovered earlier this year from killing fields in Cajeme, near Ciudad Obregon. 

There were 537 violent deaths in the state of Sonora, Mexico through the end of July. Most of the violence occurred in the areas of Hermosillo, Ciudad Obregon (Cajeme), Guaymas – San Carlos and Empalme.

We advise that you exercise extreme caution when visiting or driving through those areas, especially at night.

More Sonora news and insights

Sonora Will Be “Dry” Only on Sunday, July 1

“Ley Seca” will only be applied on July 1

Sonora’s Director General of Alcoholic Beverages Zaira Fernández Morales has announced that the “ley seca” (dry law) that bans alcohol sales on the day of and the day before a federal election will only be applied during the 24 hours of Sunday, July 1.

The government had previously announced that the dry law alcohol sales ban would begin on Friday, June 29 and last through election day on Sunday. However, due to intense pressure from groups that represent Sonora’s hotel and restaurant sectors, Fernández Morales announced the change yesterday.

The Sunday ban on alcohol sales includes bars, hotels, restaurants, self-service stores, nightclubs and venues for social events – any business that might otherwise be allowed to sell alcohol.

Fernández Morales also announced that any business found to be in violation of the law may be subject to a fine of up to 50 thousand pesos and revocation of its alcohol sales license.

To read more information about the 2018 Mexico elections, click here.

Sonora Tourism Advisory – July 1 Mexican Elections

May affect borders, alcohol sales prohibited starting Friday

 

Update: On Thursday, June 28 the head of the Sonora Directorate of Alcohol, Zaira Fernández Morales, announced that the dry laws would be further amended to ban the sale of alcohol only on Sunday, July 1. Bars, clubs, convenience stores and other places that sell alcohol will be able to sell alcoholic beverages until midnight Saturday.

 

On Sunday, July 1, Mexicans will go to the polls to elect a new president, federal senators and legislators, and local officials. With far-left presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (also known as “AMLO”) leading in the polls, there is speculation that the election and its aftermath could cause controversy south of the border.

López Obrador is a populist candidate who has promised reforms that will help Mexico’s working class, and if he is elected it will represent the first time a candidate that is not part of one of Mexico’s two ruling parties of PAN and PRI ascends to the presidency of Mexico.

And he plans to officially close his campaign in the Sonora capital of Hermosillo.

Mexicos “ley seca” (dry law), which prohibits the sale of alcohol on the day of federal elections and the day before, has been extended to two days before the election, and will begin this Friday, June 29.

As a result, many businesses will be closed or have limited hours of operation over the weekend. There may also be heavier than normal northbound traffic at the Arizona-Sonora ports of entry on Friday and Saturday.