Travel to Mexico down in wake of El Monte educator's murder

The number of tourists and businessmen traveling to Mexico appears to be dwindling following the New Year's execution of an El Monte educator in a Mexican city, it was reported today.

Bobby Salcedo, an assistant principal at El Monte High School, was gunned down with five other men in the state of Durango. He was there with his wife visiting family for Christmas, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.

South El Monte Councilman Hector Delgado told the newspaper that he would never travel to Mexico again in the wake of Salcedo's death. The State Department issued a travel alert in August warning U.S. citizens to be cautious as violence in Mexico has increased, the Tribune reported.

"Before it was very taboo to even consider assaulting an American, now these are ruthless gangsters and they don't care,'' said Delgado, who is urging people to boycott traveling to Mexico.

Angel Pedroza of the Vista Travel Center in El Monte, said people who travel to Mexico now are doing so because they need to visit family for business, not for leisure.

Airline travel to Mexico from the U.S. is down 12.5 percent for the first nine months of 2009, compared to the same period the year before, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

For nearly 40 years, Mel Montes, owner of a Santa Fe Springs-based trucking company, who has been traveling to Mexico to visit family and friends and for work told the Tribune he opts for higher-end, and presumably safer restaurants when visiting Zacatecas and Guadalajara. Montes hopes justice will be served by Mexican officials for the Delgado killing.

"We have to think positive,'' Montes said. "We can't let that stop us from doing what we want.''

The Tribune reported that Mexican officials in the U.S. have tried to reassure the U.S. public that incidents like Salcedo's slaying are rare among tourists. They say the increased killings are the result of turmoil caused by a government crackdown on cartels.

The overall murder rate in Mexico has been declining, according to officials.

Most of the violence has been concentrated in five states: Chihuahua, Baja California, Sinaloa, Guererro and Michoacan, according to officials.