Security Risks in Mexico That Expats Don’t Talk About
Why am I writing these articles? Mexico is in a new era. Currently, the peso is “strong”; the World Cup is coming up, and while you may have read articles that the country’s wages are going up, it also means that gaps between the rich and poor are increasing, while the proximities are closing. Every bad actor will be testing new security flaws in the system, and expats are usually the last to know about it.
Coatlicue: Mexico’s Supercomputer May Be Mexico's Great Leap Forward Event
* This article is an opinion based on my “educated” thoughts after years of working in military and global logistics before moving into the Tech/Cloud/AI world. I could be wrong, I could be right. But these are my controversial thoughts.
The casual expat narrative of “it’s just like home but cheaper” is a dangerous delusion. Mexico today is a complex security environment where risk is not binary (safe/unsafe) but localized, fluid, and often invisible to the untrained eye.
This article dissects the risks that go unmentioned in digital nomad forums/Reddits.
Institutional fragility of local power dynamics and the specific vulnerability of the high-income foreigner.
We move beyond the “don’t go to bad neighborhoods” trope to analyze tactical threats, including express kidnapping, digital extortion, and the of local legal standing.
The Myth of the “Safe Neighborhood”
Most expats anchor their safety to specific zip codes,Roma Norte, Polanco, San Pedro Garza García. While these areas are objectively lowerrisk for violent crime, they are primary hunting grounds for opportunistic and sophisticated predators.
Not even Mexico’s Secretary of Security is untouchable in this enviornment.
The Polanco Paradox
In highwealth enclaves, the density of private security creates a false sense of enclosure. However, these zones are prime targets for “Rolex gangs” and luxury vehicle theft. Predators in these areas are often welldressed, utilize high end motorcycles, and monitor expensive restaurants and gyms to identify targets.
At least once every other month this is a news article of a high level attack or robbery.
The Risk: Sophisticated surveillance. If you are wearing a $20k watch in a Polanco cafe, you are being indexed.
