Hermosillo - Post Report Question and Answers
Are there personal security concerns to be aware of at this post? Please describe.
While Hermosillo is a safe city (the whole city is a green zone), Sonora is a hot bed for trafficking and cartel activity. For those reasons, we are heavily restricted on where we can go and are only allowed to drive to/from select locations within Sonora during daylight hours. Check out travel.state.gov to read more about travel in Sonora. - Sep 2024
Sure, it's Mexico. While the state of Sonora as a whole experiences a lot of violence, Hermosillo itself is generally considered safe. We don't have restrictions within the city itself. I have never felt threated, fearful, or unsafe here. The highway we use to get to the border has a history but follow the RSO guidelines, only drive during the day, and nobody from our community has had any issue or incident. The state has a lot of cartel action going on but it doesn't really have any impact on us and our day-to-day life. - Jun 2023
Of course, but in the context of Mexican posts, especially "border posts," it is a fairly safe city. We are a few hours from the border, but we are often lumped in as a quasi-border post. The city itself feels very safe, relative to many other similar cities. We don't have travel restrictions inside the city. We can drive at night. We can sit out on a patio at a restaurant in public. We can walk around public spaces, go to food trucks, and walk to lunch. There is always the potential for violence to crop up, but we haven't seen anything significant inside the city since I've been here. There is a beach resort town called San Carlos nearby that is incredible. Very nice town with very good beaches and seafood. There was a two week period where there was some violence, but the police really focused on preventing further escalation and it appears to have worked--there have not been any reported acts of violence in months. The road to Arizona can be a little nerve-wracking because it is such an important aspect of morale and violence can happen in the cities along the way. We don't stop until we get across the border. Again, there was a short period (maybe a month) where there was an increase of violence against cars on the road, but almost all of them happened after midnight when we are not allowed to be on the road anyway. Driving should be completed by sundown, going either direction. Common sense and good planning (i.e. make sure your GPS has the correct route before you depart, know which POE you are going to, don't stray onto roads that are off limits) make this drive just fine. The wait at the border can be 2+ hours, but if you get global entry/SENTRI, you will avoid the worst of it most of the time. I'm not aware of anybody in the consulate community falling victim of crime while in Hermosillo since my arrival. - Sep 2022
While there is violence throughout Mexico and even in the state of Sonora, Hermosillo is relatively safe in comparison to the rest of the state and other cities in Mexico. We do not have any off limit areas in the city. We can drive from here to the US border in three hours. We can also go to the beaches Kino and San Carlos. There are Cartel members in Hermosillo and maybe even some in your neighborhood, however, like many posts, it's important to follow the security guidance given to you by RSO during your briefing upon your arrival. - Sep 2022
This is a city known for being the place where the cartel raises their families. Targeted assassination hits happen, bodies are hung from bridges. Car jackings and shootouts happen on the only road to Arizona. Without going into detail, in my opinion, security is not adequate. - Aug 2022
Yes. We sit smack dab in the middle of the Sinaloa Cartel's area. I'm pretty sure many of our neighbors are narcos. We occasionally get stopped on the freeway because of shootouts between the narcos and cops. Although I feel these issues are increasing, I also feel quite safe here. Everyone knows what's going on and tries to lay low. But the cartels are professionals, and in our part of Mexico there aren't a lot of people accidentally implicated in shootouts. - Aug 2015
Hermosillo is generally regarded as a safer area of Mexico, as it is a sleepier town. However, there have been thefts from people's cars, spare tire thefts, etc. Our RSO has been excellent at keeping us up to date on what is going on here. As members of the consulate community, we have restrictions about where we can travel within Sonora and are not allowed to travel into Sina Loa. We remain vigilant. - Apr 2013
Narco-related violence is less prevalent in Hermosillo than in other parts of Mexico, although there have been isolated incidents of attacks on the police and private individuals. Kidnappings are allegedly underreported by the Mexican government although like some of the murders, they tend to target traffickers and those associated. Street crime is not as bad as larger cities in the region, but robberies of persons and vehicles do take place with some regularity. - Dec 2009
It's a relatively safe city. There are safer and less safe areas of town, as is the case in most medium/large cities. There are not nearly the violence and crime rates of cities like Culiacán or even Mexico City. Walking after dark is safe in many of the important parts of town. - Feb 2008
