Should Belize Issue Travel Advisory to 15 US States? 

Recently, the United States reissued a travel advisory for Belize urging its citizens to “exercise increased caution” due to a surge in violent crime, particularly gang-related violence. The advisory was updated on December 30, 2024, with serious safety risks, including armed robberies, home invasions, and sexual assaults, even in popular tourist areas.

When asked about this yesterday, Minister of Home Affairs, Kareem Musa, defended the country’s safety record. According to Musa, he has brought up these concerns in talks with the U.S. embassy, especially over the past two or three years. He says that with the decrease seen in the number of homicides each year, Belize’s homicide rate is now lower than that of around fifteen U.S. states.

“It could be argued that Belize should be issuing a travel advisory to those fifteen states… And it is something that I flag each year, and it certainly doesn’t make sense in my opinion why it is that these travel advisories are issued when in fact there is that downturn,” Musa said.

Musa added that the significant rise in overnight visitors in 2024 reflects the contrary, stating, “But no doubt I think travellers on their own have seen the beauty and charm of Belize. They don’t find it as a violent destination.”

This morning in the Open Your Eyes morning show, Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, Anthony Mahler, stated that while the crime rate in Belize may be a factor that affects tourism, he said, “I like the trend that we’re seeing—the murders go down, major crimes go down.”

Just last week during the CompStat report, the Belize Police Department reported that eighty-nine murders were recorded, a slight increase from the eighty-seven in the previous year. According to the report, this reflects a sixteen percent decrease in major crime. 

The Canadian government issued a similar advisory in December 2024.