The U.S. government has issued another travel warning for U.S. citizens planning to go to Mexico because of security issues raised by the continuing violence generated by the drug war and organized crime cartels, who are in the midst of a "violent struggle for the control of the drug trafficking routes towards the United States."

The State Department issued a new travel warning recently, replacing the advisory issued on Nov. 20, 2012. The new warning includes additional warnings for U.S. government personnel that might travel to Mexico.

"Transnational criminal organizations are involved in a violent struggle to control drug trafficking routes and other criminal activities. Crime and violence are serious issues and can occur anywhere in mexican territory," the alert states.

The alert also said that the Mexican government has made a considerable effort to protect U.S. nationals, as well as other visitors to major tourist destinations in the country. According to alert, there is no evidence that transnational criminal organizations are targeting U.S. nationals solely because of their national identity. 

Each year millions of Americans visit Mexico for education, business and tourism. An estimated 150,000 Americans cross the Mexican border everyday on commutes.

Last year alone, over 20 million Americans visited Mexico, according to the official release by the State Department.

While highlighting the vigorous state of Mexican-American migration, which is at an all time high, the notice also said that Americans have been victims of a number of crimes, such as murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, car theft and highway robberies and that precautions were necessary while in Mexican territory.

While most of the known victims were members of the drug cartels, or were in some way associated to drug trafficking, innocent people have also died during the ongoing war with the criminal cartels, the State Department added.

In 2011, a total of 113 Americans were killed in Mexico; 71 were killed in the country last year, according to the report.  

The Mexican government has not issued a formal response to the warning. When the U.S. government issued the first warning last November, Mexico denied the claims that the country was unsafe territory, and invited tourists to come visit and see for themselves. Mexico's tourism industry is one of its largest revenue generators and negative perceptions abroad can severely diminish the number of tourists that might want to vacation in the country.