Sonora border remains open for American visitors

art along the border wall in nogales sonora

Editor’s note: Since this article was published, Sonora has closed its border to non-essential travel. Tourists can still cross the border for medical and dental services, and to purchase medication. Read more. 

Mexico and Border restrictions are targeted at Canadian and Mexican non-commercial travel

When the White House Coronavirus task force restricted “non-essential” travel from Canada and Mexico (with a few exceptions) last week, many thought the restrictions were reciprocal and also apply to Americans.

They do not.

The State Department also issued an international travel advisory last week that elevated every other nation in the world to Level 4, a “do not visit” recommendation. That advice is relevant but not binding, and the agency further advised that Americans currently in foreign countries should come home immediately or plan to stay where they are for an extended amount of time.

Many who live or have extended stays have started coming back as they realize that their insurance policies have been canceled. And that they do not want to be in the middle of a pandemic outbreak in an area with limited resources and medical care options.

Agreements not reciprocal

As mentioned, the border restrictions have a few exceptions, such as Mexicans and Canadians coming to the United States for medical care or educational purposes.

But Mexico has not enacted any restrictions to foreign visitors. And for reasons listed above, you probably do not want to travel very far into Mexico. But at this moment it seems there are reasons why you might want to visit a Sonoran border city.

Visiting Sonora border cities

The website Planet Nogales has posted some reasons for visiting the border, even during these times of crisis.

Border dentists and doctors use personal protective equipment (PPE), as always, to minimize the risk of pathogen transfer as they care for patients.

Border pharmacies offer discount medications that may not be available in Arizona, such as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. And it is a place where you can safely practice social spacing in the sparse plazas and shops, and in the short lines to return across the border.

Nogales dentist Dr. Victor Manuel Perez of Dental Advanced in Nogales, who has cut back hours during the border closure, has posted information on his website that explains how Nogales dentists are dealing with the coronavirus. Measures that include offering a medical prescription to clients that they can present at the border to show they were in Nogales for medical reasons.

Conclusion

The border is open, the Mexican peso is inexpensive and all of the reasons to visit the Nogales border tourism areas are still relevant.

Just remember to take the appropriate precautions of washing and sanitizing your hands, not touching your face, and maintaining the appropriate physical distance from others.

So, is it time to make a run for the border?

Nogales Dental Advanced
Arizona-Sonora website

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

Mexican Defense Secretary Announces New Initiative in Sonora

Warns of Cartel Infiltration in Local Police Forces

On September 2, Mexico’s Secretary of Defense Luis Sandoval announced federal action to counter an infiltration of organized crime elements into local police agencies in the state of Sonora, Mexico.

Sonora newspaper El Imparcial reports that Sandoval, who was accompanied by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich, announced a “purification process” for local police agencies would begin immediately.

The initial action will include the municipalities of Cajeme (Ciudad Obregon), Hermosillo, Guaymas (which includes Guaymas and San Carlos), Empalme and Navojoa.

Sandoval also noted that local police in the state of Sonora are understaffed by 40 percent.

Because of this, 4000 soldiers of the National Guard and federal military forces have been deployed to Sonora in permanent positions.

In addition to policing, their objective will be to increase intelligence activities against the operations and logistics of criminal organizations in Sonora.

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

Tucson Couple Kidnapped in Nogales, Sonora

The Arizona Republic reported yesterday that an American couple from Tucson, ages 38 and 40, were kidnapped by several armed gunmen last week in Nogales, Mexico.

The pair was abducted by several armed men last Wednesday, April 24. They were bound and held in a house in southern Nogales as their abductors attempted to get $15,000 from relatives in Tucson.

The situation ended the following day when investigators from the Sonora Attorney General’s office located and freed them.

They were interviewed to provide evidence for the prosecution of the kidnappers before they were taken to the international border to return to the United States.

Read more about the Nogales international border kidnapping. 

Hermosillo to Be Latest National Security Priority Area

Sonora newspaper El Imparcial reports that Hermosillo is the next security priority region in Mexico for federal authorities. The security enhancement will include the deployment of the Mexican National Guard to the city. 

The move to enhance security in Sonora was announced in mid-April by Alfonso Durazo Montaño, the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection for Mexico. It indicates that public safety in the municipality of Hermosillo has declined to a point that it is now a national focus for improvement.

Of the existing 19 priority security zones that have already been established nationally for the deployment of federal police and armed forces, two current Sonora priority zones are Cajeme (Ciudad Obregon) and the Guaymas – Empalme region.

In addition to adding Hermosillo to its list of priority zones, the government also added priority focus areas in Tlajomulco, Jalisco and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. There are also proposals for the addition of another 24 security regions in Mexico, including two in Baja California Sur – La Paz and Los Cabos.

In his announcement, Secretary Durazo Montaño specified that the deployment of forces to security areas will depend on the essential training of new recruits. He added that by the end of this year troops can be active in 45 special priority security zones throughout Mexico.