The FCDO has warned Mexico holidaymakers heading to the country over the dangers they face on holidays.

The Foreign Office has issued an urgent warning for UK tourists heading out of the European Union for holidays in North America. The FCDO has warned Mexico holidaymakers heading to the country over the dangers they face on holidays.

Tourists have been warned not to travel to several Mexican cities due to “increasingly frequent gun battles”. The United States travel advisory for the Tamaulipas region, bordering Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, has a level 4, “do not travel” warning due to violent crime and kidnapping.

The US embassy in Mexico said in a security alert on 27 January: “The U.S. Consulate is aware of increasingly frequent gun battles occurring in and around Reynosa in the late night and early morning hours.” Areas where FCDO advises against all but essential travel include parts of the city of Tijuana.

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Parts of the state of Chihuahua, parts of state of Sinaloa and parts of the state of Tamaulipas are also listed by the FCDO. Areas south-west of the road 45D, in the state of Guanajuato, parts of the state of Michoacán and parts of the state of Jalisco are also listed.

Parts of the state of Colima and parts of the state of Guerrero complete the list. The embassy added that criminal organisations are “increasingly” manufacturing IEDs. “Separately, the state of Tamaulipas has issued a warning to avoid moving or touching improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have been found in and around the area of Reynosa, Rio Bravo, Valle Hermoso, and San Fernando along dirt and secondary roads,” it said.

US government employees may only travel within a limited radius around the US Consulates in Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros and have been ordered to “avoid all travel in and around Reynosa and Rio Bravo outside of daylight hours” and to “avoid dirt roads throughout Tamaulipas”.

State-specific advice for Colima says: “Violent crime and gang activity are widespread. Most homicides are targeted assassinations against members of criminal organizations. Shooting incidents between criminal groups have injured or killed bystanders.”