Tourism News, Events and Observations

Arizona family robbed at gunpoint during Sonora beach vacation

Lessons to be learned regarding travel in Sonora, Mexico

A family of four from Mesa, Arizona traveling to their Sonora, Mexico beach house were forced to pull over at gunpoint as they traveled south of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora (also known as Rocky Point). The assailant then stole their pickup truck, luggage, ATVs and other possessions. The auto, which they had paid off just two months earlier, and possessions were not insured in Mexico, and the family estimated it to be a $70,000 loss.

According to published reports, Mason and Natalie Davis from Mesa were driving to their Puerto Lobos beach house with their two daughters last Tuesday evening, October 6. At approximately 6:00 p.m. they had just passed through Puerto Peñasco and were driving south to their beach house in Puerto Lobos, Sonora when a grey sedan pulled alongside their white 2017 Toyota Tundra pickup truck.

A man in the sedan pointed an AK-47 assault rifle at Mason Davis and indicated for him to stop the vehicle. After Davis had pulled over, one of the assailants climbed into the vehicle’s driver’s seat while Natalie and the two girls were still inside. They jumped out of the pickup just before it sped away with the passenger doors still open. The pickup was towing a 20-foot tandem axle trailer loaded with three quad ATVs, luggage, a bicycle and other family possessions, which may have been the targets of the carjacking.

The Davis family was left stranded at the side of the road until a bus that transports mine employees stopped to give them a ride to a nearby military post, and they returned home the following day.

Pickup recovered without trailer

The Toyota Tundra was recovered by Sonora state police three days later in the town of San Felipe, located in the municipality (similar to a county in the U.S.) of Caborca.

Important lessons for those considering travel to Sonora, Mexico

Purchase vehicle and travel insurance

Many frequent visitors to Sonora feel so safe and confident in their travels that they do not purchase Mexico auto insurance or travel insurance before crossing the border into Mexico. The Davis family, who had traveled to their Puerto Lobos beach house for 20 years, apparently had this faulty sense of safety and confidence.

As a result, they paid dearly for the oversight. And given the current high level of violence in Sonora, they are fortunate to be alive.

Do your research

Before crossing the border, make an informed decision on whether you should travel to Sonora, or any other part of Mexico. The state does not perform comprehensive coronavirus testing, as indicated by their positivity rate of 45%, and they are beginning to experience a second wave of the virus.

Puerto Lobos was the scene of a cartel battle in June that left 12 dead. The municipality of Caborca and other Sonoran municipalities are currently under siege as local cartels battle with out-of-state criminal organizations, as evidenced by news reports of armed conflicts in the region spurred by Caborca turf wars and other news reports.

Also, the U.S. Department of State publishes travel warnings regarding Sonora, but in this case their advice was not only useless, but potentially dangerous.

Previously the State Department had allowed government employees to travel to Puerto Peñasco by entering Mexico at Nogales and driving from Santa Ana to Rocky Point via Mexico highway 2, which passes through Caborca. When Caborca heated up earlier this year they removed mention of that route but did not mention why (they did not even mention that it had been removed) or add any travel advisories.

If the State Department had acknowledged the danger of traveling in Caborca, and in particular travel to the coast of Caborca, the Mason family may have decided not to take the trip; or at least they may have taken more precautions.

Basically, the only relatively safe places to visit in Sonora include day trips to border towns and the route from the Lukeville-Sonoyta border crossing to Puerto Peñasco.

Follow common precautions

Sonora is more dangerous now than it has been in years, so these basic, common sense precautions are more important than ever.

Avoid conspicuous signs of wealth. This not only applies to wearing expensive jewelry while shopping, but driving late-model pickups and towing expensive and highly desired vehicles.

Travel in groups. When possible, travel with others for extra security.

Be aware of your surroundings. Frequent visitors to Mexico may be lulled into a sense of false confidence and not notice signs of danger.

Travel during daylight hours. When traveling in Sonora, always travel during the daylight hours. Again, familiarity with Sonora and a false sense of confidence may have been the reasons why the family chose to travel at dusk and into the evening hours.

Make good decisions, and be safe

Sonora’s economy has been hit hard by the coronavirus. Combine that with a lack of economic support from government, and the result is that many Sonorans are suffering from health and economic distress. Know that if you flout your wealth in that environment, you may just end up being robbed. Or worse.

Be safe.

US-Sonora border closed for “nonessential travel”

Early closure notice results in rush of holiday weekend visitors

On Wednesday, July 1, in order to try to stem the rapid growth of coronavirus cases in her state, Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich announced that the border between Arizona and Sonora would be closed to non-essential (leisure) travel at three major border crossings, starting on the 4th of July weekend.

The operation, conducted in coordination with Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM), would place officials south of border crossings in Agua Prieta, Nogales and San Luis Rio Colorado. The Lukeville-Sonoyta border crossing would remain open to allow tourists to visit the coastal city of Puerto Peñasco, also known as Rocky Point.

Essential activities

The closure defined “essential” travel in the same way as U.S. border closures have, with the exception of being able to cross the border for education-related activities, which is not allowed.

Essential activities for travelers who want to visit Sonora include crossing the border for medical and dental services, to purchase medication and for legitimate business purposes.

Crossing the border for leisure activities is not permitted.

Rush to the border

As soon as the closure was announced, Arizonans packed their weekend bags and rushed the border to get into Sonora before the ban began.

But at the Lukeville border crossing, citizens and local police in Sonoyta essentially blocked southbound traffic on Friday. They stopped foreign vehicles and turned them around, not allowing traffic to proceed to Rocky Point. The blockade was disbanded before the weekend stream of traffic to Puerto Peñasco.

Lax enforcement?

On Friday, El Imparcial reporter Rubén A. Ruiz watched a checkpoint between Adolfo López Mateos Avenue and Campillo Street in Nogales. Operated by state police assisted by the Nogales Civil Protection Unit (UPC), in a two-hour period on Friday morning they turned back 12 vehicles from the U.S.

But starting at noon, they began to allow all vehicles to pass and continued to do so for the time that reporters watched the checkpoint.

Current border closures

Currently, the border crossings at Douglas-Agua Prieta, Nogales and San Luis Colorado are closed to southbound non-essential traffic.

The Lukeville-Sonoyta border crossing should be open. However, due to conflicts between the municipalities of Sonoyta and Puerto Peñasco, there may be intermittent closures that prevent southbound traffic from the U.S.

Woman with COVID-19 symptoms dies on Sonora passenger bus

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Boarded the bus on Saturday; died on Sunday night

A 28-year-old woman traveling with her family on a commercial bus was unresponsive at approximately 11:00 p.m. on Sunday night when the bus reached at the Querobabi military checkpoint south of Santa Ana, Sonora.

When her mother tried to wake her, it became evident that she had passed away.

According to Sonora media reports, the woman had been traveling with symptoms of COVID-19. She her family had boarded the bus on July 4 in Cuautla, Morelos and were passing through Sonora en route to their home in San Quintin, Baja California.

It was not clear whether the woman was symptomatic when she boarded the bus for her journey home.

Bus stations in Mexico typically check the temperature of passengers as they board. However, it is possible that this screening was not available in Cuautla, due to the time of boarding or lack of equipment.

It is not clear whether contact tracing was done, or will be done, for other passengers who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus as they shared a bus with the woman.

Tourist advisory

We do not recommend bus travel in Mexico at this time. It has become apparent that people infected with the coronavirus may cause buses to become a congregate setting for the rapid transmission of the virus.

And if you do not feel well, or have flu-like symptoms, do not go out in public and especially avoid indoor congregate settings. Stay home.

Weekend accident kills 4 on Sonora highway

Adults and children killed and injured in multi-vehicle accident

According to published Sonora news reports, a collision between two vehicles at kilometer 74 + 300 on the highway between San Luis Rio Colorado and the Gulf of Santa Clara on late Saturday night or early Sunday morning left 16 adults and children wounded or dead.

The accident was caused by a collision between a minivan with Baja California license plates and a gold-colored Buick sedan that did not have license plates.

Four people were declared deceased at the site of the accident, including a five-year-old girl.

Twelve others were taken to hospitals, including adults in their 20’s and a three-year-old girl.

Alcohol may have been a contributing factor in the accident.

Travel advisory

We strongly recommend and reiterate that visitors to Sonora should not drive at night, especially on highways, due to the high possibility of dangerous conditions.

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Coronavirus cases continue to grow in Sonora, Mexico

The novel coronavirus has spread rapidly through the state of Sonora, and as you can see on the graphic above, Sonora’s coronavirus cases are still on a steep incline. Because of this, we do not recommend any travel to the state of Sonora, with the possible exception of brief border visits, until the pandemic has run its course.

Sonoran health officials confirmed the first coronavirus case in the state on March 16, a 72-year-old musician who had returned to Hermosillo from a trip to the United States.

To their credit, the Sonora state government, police and health officials were able to stop the throngs of people from migrating to the beach during Semana Santa, the holy week before Easter.

The week is an annual event that is Sonora’s spring break, and the fact that the state sucessfully closed beaches and imposed stay-at-home orders, and that the people complied with the guidance, definitely helped to slow the level of infection in Sonora.

Since then, though, the state’s cases have seen a continual increase, with a surge beginning in mid-May that continues today, where the state has 6,173 confirmed cases and 550 deaths.

Because there is no widespread testing program, the number of cases reported reflect sick people who have been tested as they sought medical assistance. This indicates that reported cases are far less than actual numbers of people infected with the virus. The state has no organized contact tracing program.

Some manufacturers in Sonora who are deemed “essential” have continued to remain in operation. In addition, at the beginning of June, other maquiladora factories with ties to American companies began to re-open. The Hermosillo Ford plant opened on June 1, and within two weeks an employee had died from COVID-19.

To reaffirm, we do not recommend travel to Mexico during the pandemic. If you become ill while in Sonora, you may not be able to find a hospital bed and would likely need to be evacuated. So, if you do visit Sonora for an extended period of time, you should plan and prepare for potential issues, to include purchasing medical evacuation insurance.

To check daily numbers of coronavirus infections in Arizona and Sonora, click here.

No tourists allowed at Comcaác Seri New Year celebrations this year

Priority to protect the health of the Seris

This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, outsiders will not be able to see the traditional New Year’s celebrations of the Comcaac Seri on June 30 and July 1.

The Seris traditionally hold five fiestas in Desemboque and Punta Chueca, where hundreds of visitors typically attend.

But the small Comcaác communities do not have a doctor or medical equipment, so they must be very careful about avoiding the coronavirus.

Miguel Estrella Romero, President of the Council of Elders of Desemboque de los Seris, was quoted in the Sonoran newspaper El Imparcial yesterday regarding the travel ban.

He acknowledged that the lack of tourists will directly affect native artisans, who sell their art and crafts during the events.

“But health comes first,” he said.

The Comcaác New Year celebrates a time when the Sea of Cortez and Sonoran Desert begin a cycle of regeneration, with an abundance of food from the desert and fish from the sea.