Every December for as long as Brenda Cardoso can remember, her family has spent Christmas together at her grandmother's house in Tijuana.
The celebration begins with nine days of posada parties and ends with an all-night gathering on Christmas Eve, with presents, pinatas, songs and homemade tamales.
But this year, her family is putting the tradition on hold.
Cardoso, 25, said she and her family are scared of the escalating drug wars and have decided to stay home in Downey for the holidays.
"It's not safe for us to gather over there," said Cardoso, who was born in Mexico but is now a U.S. citizen. "It's sad because it was a tradition that we grew up with. . . . Now, unfortunately, we can't do it because of how the situation is in Mexico."
As Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans begin to plan their holidays, many say they are choosing not to make the annual trek home to visit relatives. While some are dissuaded by the worsening economy, others are avoiding travel to Mexico because they fear the rampant kidnappings, killings and shootouts.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert late last month warning U.S. citizens to take precautions and to be aware of the "increasingly violent fight for control of narcotics trafficking routes," especially in the cities of Tijuana, Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez.
Business at Transportes Intercalifornias, which runs about 15 buses a day from Los Angeles to the border towns of Tijuana and Mexicali, is already down from last year, said dispatcher Robert Bahine.
"They don't want to go home because of the problems in TJ, all the shootings and the killings," he said.
After Cardoso's uncle was a victim of carjacking and her cousin was mugged at gunpoint, several of her relatives moved from Tijuana to the United States. Cardoso and her family still own a house in the city, where they used to spend one weekend a month, but they haven't spent the night there in more than six months.
"It's never going to be the same," she said. "We can't go back, and we can't feel free."
Mexicana Airlines has seen about a 4% drop from last year in bookings from Mexicans traveling home to visit friends and relatives, said Jorge Goytortua, vice president of sales for U.S. and Canada. But Goytortua attributed the decline to the economy, saying that many regular customers work in affected industries.
