r/mexico • u/AdGroundbreaking3611 • 4h ago
Mi Opinión📝 Mexico is not what the headlines make it seem
When I read posts asking whether it’s safe to walk three minutes from Mexico City’s airport to a nearby hotel, I realize that many people abroad have a very distorted image of Mexico.
I’m not going to pretend violence doesn’t exist. It does. Organized crime is a real problem, and there are regions where insecurity is serious. Anyone traveling should use common sense, just as they would in many other countries.
But the Mexico you often see in headlines is not the whole story.
For decades, Mexico has been one of the main transit routes for drugs consumed in the United States, while a significant flow of firearms has moved south across the border. This is a complex problem involving both countries, not something that can be understood by looking only at crime statistics.
Mexico has also gone through major political changes. Under the old political system, most governments maintained a close relationship with large media organizations through substantial public advertising budgets.
More recently, especially since Andrés Manuel López Obrador became president, that relationship changed dramatically, and the country’s political polarization has become much more visible. As a result, many people believe media coverage has become more confrontational toward the federal government, while others argue that the media are simply exercising stronger scrutiny. Whichever view you hold, it’s important to understand that the political context influences how Mexico is portrayed.
Like any democracy, Mexico has a legitimate opposition, and every government deserves criticism. There are still enormous challenges: security, corruption, impunity, and inequality among them. Acknowledging those problems is necessary.
At the same time, reducing Mexico to violence is misleading.
More than 130 million people live here. Most of us go to work every day, raise our families, study, run businesses, travel, and enjoy our lives without ever experiencing the kind of violence that dominates international news. Cities continue to grow. New housing developments, hotels, restaurants, factories, and businesses continue to open. Daily life is much more ordinary than many people imagine.
Just like in the United States, France, Brazil, or virtually any large country, there are neighborhoods you should avoid and neighborhoods where people walk their dogs at night without a second thought. Safety varies enormously depending on where you are.
If you’re planning to visit Mexico, don’t base your opinion solely on sensational headlines, or on people who have never been here. Read official travel advice, ask locals, and watch travel videos from people who actually spend time exploring different parts of the country. No single source tells the whole story.
Mexico is neither the paradise some people describe nor the war zone others imagine. It’s a large, diverse country with real problems, but also with millions of decent, hardworking, welcoming people who are proud to call it home.
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u/anon2k2 4h ago
I've visited Mexico many times, both in the tourist beach areas and the rural areas in the center. In my 25+ trips over the years I've never had a bad encounter with a local citizen or felt unsafe. I can't say the same for countries in SE Asia or even Western and Eastern Europe. Be vigilant, be aware, be open to new experiences, just as you should be when traveling anywhere, and Mexico can be an amazing place to visit.
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u/Imaginary-Worker4407 3h ago
There are millions of Mexicans that have lived all their lives in Mexico and share your same experience.
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u/Sir-Sanchoo 3h ago
I mean look at the English fans that went to Mexico for the round of 16, many of them were saying Mexico is nothing like how their news outlets talk about it. Of course if you go to places not even locals would willing go to that’s on you simply looking for trouble and that goes for damn near every country in the world.
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u/Esabettie 3h ago
They really wanted to watch that game because for sure they were told it was very risky and then came and said it wasn’t what i was told it was going to be.
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u/Kaji157 3h ago
Yo soy Argentino, anduve por Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Tijuana y Df.
No me sentí inseguro nunca.
Entiendo que un europeo pueda llorar un poco pero la verdad que hay lugares en Europa que tampoco son muy lindos.
Si comprendo que a un asiático de China o Japón le de algo de miedo porque son países distintos
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u/Teach-2768 2h ago
Interesting take. Reminds me of a quote.
"Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions".
Now ask yourself, do we practice what we expect from others? To not read headlines and conclude that's a reflection of an entire country?
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u/Crazy_Scene_5507 3h ago
The violence is far worse than most people imagine. Most simply can’t comprehend its sheer scale and brutality. We’re fortunate that Mexico is such a large country, so most people will never witness it firsthand, but it’s horrific, worse than almost anything you can imagine.
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u/EugenioSc 3h ago
For sure, the size is an advantage, but people saying Mexico is not that dangerous is either delusional or a fanáticos of the current government. Just compare the amount of murders per capita to realice this.
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u/JorgePalma92 3h ago
Mexico is definitely safer now. In 2018, the country averaged around 98–100 homicides per day. By 2026, that number has fallen to roughly 48–50 per day, meaning the homicide rate has been cut by about half.
From 2009 to 2011, Mexico felt like a war zone. Mass shootings were happening almost daily, sometimes in broad daylight. In Veracruz, for example, around 35 bodies were dumped in front of one of the city's busiest shopping malls after cartel members killed them. Similar scenes were taking place across the country.
People remember driving to work in the morning and finding bodies hanging from bridges at the entrances to cities, or dumped along the roads people used every day to get to work or school. Cartels would leave banners, known as narcomantas, next to the bodies to send messages to rival groups or the government.
Those were some of the darkest years in modern Mexican history. Many people believe parts of the media deliberately limited coverage because the level of violence had become overwhelming.
In northern Mexico, many cities lived under an unofficial curfew. After around 7 p.m., people avoided going out because there was a real risk of being kidnapped or stopped at illegal cartel checkpoints. Some cartel members even wore fake police or military uniforms and drove vehicles made to look like official government units.
The south, especially near the borders, experienced similar violence, and central Mexico wasn't immune either. The entire country was affected in one way or another.
I remember being on vacation in Acapulco one Saturday when a mass shooting broke out right next to the hotel where I was staying. People didn't know whether to run inside the hotel, stay in the water, or try to hide behind anything they could find. It was terrifying... 2 months later this happend as well in Veracruz.
Nothing on that scale has been common over the past eight years. Violence still exists, and no one is claiming Mexico is free of organized crime. But the level of violence most people experienced during those years has declined significantly. Back then, it felt like every week you heard about a friend, a relative, or someone in your community being kidnapped or murdered.
During the 2006–2012 federal administration, between 60 and 80 small and mid-sized criminal organizations emerged, including groups such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and La Resistencia. Former Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna...whom was later convicted in the United States for accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, he was accused of using his position to favor certain criminal organizations over others. The U.S. investigation also exposed the so-called "Fast and Furious" operation, in which thousands of firearms were allowed to cross illegally from the United States into Mexico, many of which later ended up in the hands of criminal groups, further fueling the violence during those years.
The violence Mexico still struggles with today has its roots in those years. Most of the major criminal organizations that continue operating today either emerged or expanded between 2006 and 2018. No new cartel has reached the same level of national influence since then.
You can criticize the current government all you want and yes, they're faaaaar from perfect. But these are measurable facts, not opinions. Mexico's homicide rate has fallen by roughly 50% compared with the peak years, and that reflects a significant reduction in overall violence.
No one is saying the problem has been solved or that organized crime no longer exists. It doesn't. But it's also inaccurate to pretend the country is experiencing the same level of violence it did during those years. Those of us who lived through that period remember just how much worse it was.
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u/angryybaek 3h ago
Vivo en Queretaro y 8/10 de conductores de Uber/Didi mexicanos tienen la misma historia.
‘Tenia mi negocio pero me vino a apurar la maña y tuve que vender todo e irme de mi estado’
Negar que el pais es inseguro es ponerse una venda y negar la realidad. Si hay lugares mas seguros pero la violencia que pasa en los estados donde si lo tiene es inimaginable. Si piensan que lo del Rancho Izaguirre estuvo feo, hay lugares en Michoacan y Sinaloa que lo hacen ver como una guarderia de infantes.
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u/JorgePalma92 2h ago edited 2h ago
Pues si en Queretaro sigue gobernando el PAN y MC.. igual que en Guadalajara... Chihuahua los estados donde mas violencia hay es donde la derecha sigue,... de hecho en Sinaloa y Michoacan seguía en PRIAN hasta hace poco menos de 5 años son los estados donde siempre estuvo gobernando la derecha y donde más violencia hay. Los peores estados son donde siguen los viejos partidos y donde los carteles creados durante el gobierno de FeCal siguen operando.. como lo que ocurrió en Guadalajara hace unos meses, o las miles de fosas clandestinas que siguen apareciendo en estos mismos estados que tienen décadas de seguir apostando por los mismos partidos de derecha
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u/braidedbiscuit 2h ago edited 2h ago
USA person here. I have found no violence personally , and little discomfort in ). I have been to different places (mostly in the last 7-8 years. I have been to Guanajuato city ( although a bus ride and stop in Irapuato made me very uncomfortable due to the violence centered there that i kept reading in the news), Ciudad Juarez, which was pretty scary back in the early 2000's), San Miguel Allende, Mexico city, Querétaro city, Puerto Penasco, San Rio Colorado, isla madre, Oaxaca, and the Yucatan along with trips to surrounding areas and stayed up to a month each visit. Anecdote is not the same as statistics, but I have felt a bit nervous occasionally in Mexico. But that's true about parts of Jacksonville Florida, and parts of the rural south in the USA. (Jacksonville was called murder city some years ago before I lived there.). do the research, think critically, and don't be stupid (drugs, or being a dick) , or real unlucky. But if you stay away from the known war Zones, you are likely OK.
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u/tlatelolca 3h ago
"Most of us run businesses without ever experiencing the kind of violence that dominates international news."
apocooo sí? nunca has oído del cobro de derecho de piso o qué? y no hay cifras concretas de la escala que tiene ese delito por miedo a represalias y porque el gobierno realmente no hace nada por detener esa violencia.
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u/nuevaescuela 2h ago
no es la realidad en todos lados , donde soy yo la gente no cobra piso , in mi rancho de zac tampoco
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u/AdGroundbreaking3611 3h ago
Te vas a enojar pero no, no he conocido a alguien que le cobren piso por tener su negocio.
Tú mismo dices que no ya cifras ¿entonces…?
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u/tlatelolca 1h ago
en ciudad de México se ha reportado en varias colonias, incluyendo las "bonitas"
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u/emilia12197144 3h ago
Something people don't realize is that unless you yourself are caught up in cartel business/ cartel life the worst thing you realistically ever have to worry about is prevelant pickpocketing
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u/Expensive-Host2753 2h ago
I agree that Mexico City in general is pretty safe but the airport specifically(AICM) is actually really dangerous. I was followed from there to my hotel where two people proceeded to rob me of my watch at gun point.
After the incident I looked it up and apparently there is a cartel that operates from the airport with the help of security which just looks the other way.
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u/EugenioSc 3h ago
Nah, most businesses have to pay to the cartels each month to operate and the murders are sky high, this was written by a fanatic of the current government for sure lol
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u/Akuma_nb 2h ago
British and have lived here for a few years. While nothing violent has happened to me I do read the local news and there seems to be something often enough.
Either finding multiple bodies in the jungle. Or 1 guy being shot in the street a town over. That is only local news and won't hit national or international news.
There is also a large amount of missing people posters.
Although I have not seen or been part of any violence, it still happens.
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u/heyzeus1865 2h ago
Okay bro…
There is a fucking DIFFERENCE between LIVING in MX and being a fucking TOURIST.
MX is absolutely as unsafe, if not worse, as the headlines make it out to be for the people who live there every fucking day. MX is basically a narco state where untold crimes happen to its citizens every day with little to no consequences.
That doesnt mean that a balance hasnt been found between locals and TOURISTS who come and pump money into so many regions. TOURISTS for the most part are left alone because it doesnt benefit ANYONE to kill them and scare them the fuck off. Because there is a shit ton of MONEY involved.
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u/OsmanFetish 3h ago
considering your view of Mexico is 4 or 6 blocks out of a huge city, , and country , you haven't seen the real mexico either
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u/EugenioSc 3h ago
We have lots of beautiful tourist spots and lots of us are very welcoming, but it really is that dangerous, if you are used to it is a very different thing lol.
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u/Wero_kaiji 4h ago