Texas police officer issues strict travel advisory to avoid travel to ‘dangerous’ Mexico

A Texas soldier has warned Americans to reconsider the trip to Mexico after three women disappeared crossing the border to sell clothes at a flea market – joining the more than 500 US citizens currently missing in the country .

Lt. Chris Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety has issued a stark warning to American travelers as many prepare for spring break and plan trips to the popular destination.

“Our department urges anyone traveling to Mexico, especially spring breakers, to avoid these areas as it is too dangerous right now with the increase in violence and kidnappings in Mexico,” Lieutenant Chris Olivarez told Fox News. “I can’t say enough for those who are thinking about traveling to Mexico, especially on spring breaks… avoiding those areas as much as possible.”

The warning comes after two sisters Maritza Trinidad Perez Rios, 47; Marina Perez Rios, 48, both from Peñitas, and her friend Dora Alicia Cervantes Saenz, 53, went missing on February 24.

Officials said they traveled in a green mid-1990s Chevy Silverado to a flea market in the town of Montemorelos, in Nuevo Leon state — about three hours from the border — and never returned. Peñitas is just a few hundred meters from the Rio Grande River.

It comes after the high-profile case in which four Americans were kidnapped by a cartel after traveling to the country for a tummy tuck. Her kidnapping was caught on video last week. It attracted an avalanche of attention and was resolved within days. But the fate of the three women, who have not been heard from for about two weeks, remains a mystery and has received relatively little publicity.

Lieutenant Chris Olivarez (pictured) “urges everyone traveling to Mexico, especially spring breakers, to avoid these areas as it is too dangerous at the moment with the rise in violence and kidnapping.”

Maritza Trinidad Perez Rios, 47, Marina Perez Rios, 48; Both Peñitas and her friend Dora Alicia Cervantes Saenz, 53, (pictured) went missing on February 24

They drove to Mexico to sell clothes at the flea market three hours from the border (pictured: Maritza and Marina)

The sisters’ cousin, Ludy Arredondo, wrote on Facebook that they “didn’t have a single message [and] the authorities say nothing,” while she and several others continue to pray for their safe return.

“They have no clues,” she wrote. “Please don’t leave us alone.

“My cousins ​​and their friends are women, working women, responsible mothers of their children, noble, simple women, they are WOMEN WHO GO TO WORK. PLEASE post friends [and] share,” she asked.

The last to hear from the women was one of her husbands, who called her while she was traveling in Mexico. He later reported her missing after becoming concerned when he couldn’t reach her afterwards, Peñitas Police Chief Roel Bermea said.

“Unable to make contact this weekend, he came this Monday and reported it to us,” Bermea said.

The husband of one of the women spoke to her on the phone while she was traveling in Mexico, but became concerned when he was unable to reach her afterwards (pictured: US-Mexico border).

Officials at the prosecutor’s office said they have been investigating the woman’s disappearance since Monday. In addition, officials in the US and Mexico have not said much about their pursuit of the three.

The FBI said Friday it was aware that two sisters from Peñitas, a small border town in Texas near McAllen, and their friend had disappeared. Bermea said their families have been in contact with Mexican authorities who are investigating their disappearance.

The three women are among a staggering 550 Americans who have been reported missing in Mexico, according to public records. That’s a small fraction of the country’s total of 112,000 missing people — and a tiny percentage of the millions of US citizens who travel to Mexico each year for vacation and work.

But many loved ones of those still missing are wondering why their loved ones haven’t been given a higher priority for Washington, like the recent kidnapping.

Bermea said the women traveled in a green mid-1990s Chevy Silverado to a flea market in the town of Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon state (Maritza pictured).

Officials at the prosecutor’s office said they have been investigating the woman’s disappearance since Monday

The three women are just one of hundreds who have been reported missing around the country and are still missing. 550 Americans are reported missing (pictured: Marina Rios)

For Lisa Torres, whose son Robert disappeared at 21, she became furious when she saw the four friends’ coverage.

“I’m so angry I couldn’t sleep thinking about how my US government handled the kidnappings in Matamoros,” she wrote Twitter. “This only confirms that my US government can help in my son’s case, which it has not done. WHY?’

A lawyer, Geovanni Barrios, whose son was kidnapped in Reynosa when he was 17, told the Washington Post: “We see results when the US government makes strong statements. But it’s not just four Americans who have disappeared in Mexico. We don’t see [the US government] to make these statements about the hundreds of other missing Americans.’

Latavia ‘Tay’ McGee and Eric James Williams both survived the experience. Shaeed Hakim Woodard and Zindell Zaquille Mckinley Brown were killed by the cartel

Members (pictured) of the Gulf cartel’s Scorpions Group have been abandoned on a Matamoros street and have been accused by the criminal organization of being behind the kidnapping of four Americans who had traveled to the country for an operation

Unlike the many families who still cling to the hope that their loved ones will resurface, many are not receiving the massive searches and government attention that the four Americans are receiving. For most of the country’s 112,000 missing people, the only ones looking for them are their desperate relatives.

The four Americans were caught in a drug cartel shootout in the border town of Matamoros, and video showed them being taken away in a pickup truck. The two survivors were found Tuesday in a wooden shack near the Gulf Coast.

Squads of Mexican soldiers and troops from the National Guard were involved in the massive search this week for the four kidnapped Americans.

Authorities also lack staff, equipment and training – things are so bad that authorities are unable to even identify tens of thousands of bodies found.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk