We told you about the travel warning from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. State Department earlier this week. With Spring Break here, travelers are being told to avoid Mexico and it's due to all the drug violence. But former Mexican President Vicente Fox has his own views on it.
In town talking about trade relations between Mexico and the United States, Fox is also talking about recent travel warnings issued by the State Department to Mexico and saying we should issue our own warnings about drug consumption in Texas and the rest of the U.S.
"There is many, many places in Mexico that are totally safe," Fox told us.
He takes issue with recent travel warnings to Mexico one week ahead of Spring Break.
The State Department declared that 14 of Mexico's 31 states are under a travel advisory, meaning Americans should defer all non-essential travel. Much of the area is in the north, near the border where drug cartel violence is well documented.
The Texas Department of Public Safety even went a step further issuing a travel advisory in resort areas, usually considered safe, saying, "However, drug cartel violence and other criminal activity represent a significant safety threat, even in some resort areas."
Fox says the advisories are too vague, since his home state of Gaunajuato has seen little violence.
"I walk there on the streets without any, any problem at all. So it should be selective," Fox said.
And it doesn't end there. Fox stops just short of saying that Texans, and Americans in general, are the reason there is even a debate on travel warnings to Mexico.
"What the warning should be is about not consuming drugs in Texas. That's what governments should issue. Because the more drugs you consume here, the more crime we get in Mexico," Fox said.
Despite travel warnings, a record of almost 27 million international visitors vacationed in Mexico in 2011 -- that's a two percent increase from 2010.
