(CNSNews.com) - The travel alert for Mexico posted on the U.S. State Department's Web site on Feb. 20 is sufficient information for Americans considering a trip to that country, despite escalating drug-related violence in the country that has resulted in more than 7,000 deaths since January 2008.

"The travel alert fully encompasses the problems that are being encountered in traveling to Mexico at this time," Gordon K. Duguid, a State Department deputy spokesman, told CNSNews.com at the agency's daily press briefing on Friday.
 
"We notice that many of the violent activities are localized in several different places. They are not general across the north of Mexico, let alone in Mexico as a whole," Duguid said.

The State Department's criterion for issuing a "travel alert" is when there are "short-term" threats to U.S. citizens, such as natural disasters or high-profile events. A "travel warning" is issued when there are "long-term" conditions that "make a country dangerous or unstable."

When asked to explain why the ongoing, long-term violence in Mexico did not warrant a "travel warning," Duguid declined to answer but said the travel alert contained all pertinent information.

The wording of the travel alert – posted for many months but updated most recently on Feb. 20 – describes graphic violence in many areas of Mexico, including violence that has harmed Americans.

"The greatest increase in violence has occurred near the U.S. border," the alert says. 
 
"However, U.S. citizens traveling throughout Mexico should exercise caution in unfamiliar areas and be aware of their surroundings at all times. Mexican and foreign bystanders have been injured or killed in violent attacks in cities across the country, demonstrating the heightened risk of violence in public places," it says.

"Robberies, homicides, petty thefts, and carjackings have all increased over the last year across Mexico generally, with notable spikes in Tijuana and northern Baja California," the alert says. 
 
"Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales are among the cities which have recently experienced public shootouts during daylight hours in shopping centers and other public venues. Criminals have followed and harassed U.S. citizens traveling in their vehicles in border areas including Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, and Tijuana," the alert adds.

The alert also refers to two land-locked Mexican states where the U.S. government has restricted non-essential travel for government employees.

"The U.S. Mission in Mexico currently restricts non-essential travel to the state of Durango and all parts of the state of Coahuila south of Mexican Highways 25 and 22 and the Alamos River for U.S. government employees assigned to Mexico," the alert says. "This restriction was implemented in light of the recent increase in assaults, murders, and kidnappings in those two states."

A State Department spokesperson told CNSNews.com that the distinction between the alert and warning lists focuses on what is recommended about plans to travel to a certain country or region.

"A travel alert can recommend that American citizens reconsider/defer travel to a country or region," the spokesperson said. "Travel warnings do recommend that American citizens defer or reconsider travel to a country."

Listed with Mexico on the travel alert page are the French West Indies because of recent labor strikes and street protests, and Madagascar because of political unrest and the cyclone season in the South Pacific, which runs from Nov. 1 to April 30.

Countries included on the travel warning list are the West Bank and Gaza in Israel, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

John Bailey, professor of comparative government at Georgetown University, told CNSNews.com that because the vast majority of deaths in Mexico are not U.S. citizens, the State Department can stand by its travel alert policy.

"An alert in the case of Mexico is sufficient at this time," Bailey said. "The crime-related (mostly drug-related) homicides are a serious problem. However, they are generally concentrated in intra- and inter-gang violence in five or six of Mexico's 32 states."

Bailey said Mexico's overall homicide rate is 11 per 100,000 while Guatemala's is as much as 40 per 100,000. He added that most deaths in Mexico are people who are involved in the drug cartels and, to a lesser extent, Mexican police and military.

"The key concern for the State Department is U.S. citizens in Mexico, and these are least affected, at least to date," Bailey said. "If trafficking gangs begin to target U.S. citizens in Mexico deliberately, it would be a major (and very negative) change. In such an event, State would have to take another look at its policy."