Sand and soldiers. Sunburns and semi-automatics.
Alliterations aside, it’s always a bit jarring here in Cancun to see heavily armed security forces walking the beach next to tourists, but this is Mexico in 2026 -- a country as reliant on tourism as it is plagued by organized crime.
Those two worlds are increasingly colliding.
We all saw what happened last weekend after El Mencho was killed. The violence that broke out afterward was unprecedented and scary.
The Mexican army on Sunday killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho."
Widespread cartel-organized violence erupted following his death, with vehicles set on fire, hundreds of road blockages and attacks on gas stations and businesses, according to Mexican authorities.
We’ve seen cartel violence before, but never has it been so widespread nor affected tourists in this way. Thousands of people were stuck for days as the government struggled to reassert control over key infrastructure, such as roads and airports.
The Mexican government moved a Mexican naval ship into the port of Puerto Vallarta, a popular tourist destination for Americans, earlier this week with 100 Mexican troops on board.
Things have calmed down since the Mexican military operation and cartel-led response earlier this week. Cancun feels as normal and delightfully tacky as ever, even though 10,000 additional National Guard troops were deployed nationwide, some of them joining the thousands already here on the Caribbean coast.
Police are out in full force, as security officials brought us into their gleaming emergency command center, insisting to us that everything is safe.
The government sounds self-assured, but they’re talking to us for a reason. They need tourism for the country’s bottom line -- nearly 9% of its 2024 GDP. The violence prompted a wave of trip cancellations, two sources told me, and it sent a shiver up the spine of government officials.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum repeatedly said the government had the security situation under control during her daily morning press briefings throughout the week.
As we rode around in the truck bed of a typical Mexican military pick-up, the ensuing question was obvious: Is it safe to travel to Mexico for vacation?
I’ve had a couple dozen texts with a version of that question. How many of your friends and family have brought it up?
The facts and the experts say yes, it’s probably fine to still travel here. Probably.
Tens of millions of people travel to this country every year and return home safely. Crime statistics -- despite what you might think -- show that while crime is a nationwide scourge, tourists as crime victims make up an infinitesimally small part of the overall figure.
Mexicans bear the brunt of this violence, much more than the tourists, though there have been several instances of violence against travelers in recent history.
If you leave the airport, go to the hotel and do touristy stuff, the overwhelmingly likely outcome is that you’re going to be just fine.
Even during the violence last week, no tourist was harmed or appeared to be purposefully targeted. No uptick in crime against foreigners has been registered, though one Mexican civilian was reportedly killed in the operation and subsequent violence that followed, according to the Mexican government.
Organized crime in Mexico is an immense problem and it’s not going anywhere. There is every chance the violence gets worse after El Mencho’s death as narcos look to fill the power vacuum he leaves behind.
Certain areas of the country, especially tourist hotspots in Jalisco state, such as Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara, would appear to be more vulnerable to disruption.
El Mencho was one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States. He was one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into the U.S., and last year, President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the White House said.
The possibility remains that tourists could once again be caught up in that cartel violence, even if they are unlikely to be the target of it.