MEXICO CITY -- Five states in Mexico have gotten the sternest "do not travel" advisories under a revamped U.S. State Department system unveiled Wednesday.
The five include the northern border state of Tamaulipas and the Pacific coast states of Sinaloa, Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero.
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The State Department had previously discouraged travel to all or part of the five states' territories but the new warnings are sterner, placing the drug- and crime-plagued states on the same level warning level as Somalia, Yemen, Syria or Afghanistan.
Mexico as a whole has a level-two rating, "exercise increased caution" in the new four-level alert system, because of concerns about crime.
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But an additional 11 Mexican states got a level-three warning, "reconsider travel." Mexico has 31 states, half of which are under level 3 or 4 warnings.
A Mexico beach is shown in a file photo. (KABC)