Even with order in Mexico largely restored after the killing of a top cartel boss set off widespread violence, safety questions are lingering as the nation prepares to help host the world’s largest sporting event, the FIFA World Cup.
The biggest soccer tournament ever — involving three countries, 104 games, 48 teams — will be played this summer partly in Mexico.
But even before then, four qualifying matches will be held next month in the cities of Monterrey and Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state, the stronghold of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. That is the group once led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho, who was killed in a Mexican military operation on Sunday.
After his death, armed groups unleashed a wave of violence in 20 states across the country, including in Monterrey’s state, Nuevo León.
While officials including President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, Jalisco’s governor, soccer’s global leader and Mexican soccer’s chief have tried to project calm in the aftermath, some teams have admitted feeling nervous about playing in the country and have opened the door to possibly changing venues.
“We are very aware of what’s happening there, and, of course, you are very concerned,” Michael Ricketts, the president of the Jamaican soccer federation, said in an interview on Wednesday. His team will face off against New Caledonia in Guadalajara on March 26.
The Bolivian federation, which will play Suriname on March 26 in Monterrey, said that it had sent a letter to FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, asking for clarity on the security situation.
The Portuguese federation, which will play a separate World Cup tuneup game against the Mexican national team on March 28 in Mexico City, said this week that while it planned to take part in the scheduled matchup, “the recent evolution of events requires continuous evaluation” and that “any decision will be made as a result of ongoing monitoring.”
Throughout the week, Ms. Sheinbaum and others have tried to quash the idea that Mexico is unsafe for visitors and World Cup-related games. On Tuesday, she said that Mexico had “all of the guarantees” to remain an event host, along with the United States and Canada, and that there was “no risk” to visitors.
Two days later, she noted how much life, including businesses and schools, had returned to normal in Jalisco state.
“Let me tell all of the national and international tourists who can come to Mexico,” she said, “that Mexico is fashionable, that the World Cup is going to be a great celebration and that we are always waiting for them with open arms.”
The head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, said his organization had “total confidence” in Mexico and Ms. Sheinbaum’s government.
“Things happen,” he said. “We don’t live on the moon or another planet. That’s why we have states; that’s why we have police, authorities who are going to ensure order and security.”
Pablo Lemus Navarro, the governor of Jalisco state, where Mr. Oseguera was hiding out in a wooded cabin community two hours from Guadalajara when he was mortally wounded in a shootout with Mexican special forces, said that Mexican officials met with FIFA’s representative in Mexico earlier this week. “There is absolutely no intention on the part of FIFA to take any of the venues away from Mexico,” he said.
This summer, Mexico will host 13 World Cup games: five in Mexico City, the capital, and four each in Monterrey and Guadalajara. The country will become the first to host the World Cup three times. And Estadio Azteca in Mexico City is set to become the first stadium to host the opening match three times.
Mexico, already in the top 10 of most-visited countries in the world, is expected to receive five million visitors and a large injection of spending, officials have said. So Mexican leaders want to project confidence, and moving a long-planned World Cup game would be a large undertaking anyway.
But at least one major sporting event in Mexico has already been affected by this week’s events. On Thursday, the global governing body for swimming said that a diving competition in the greater Guadalajara area had been canceled because of travel restrictions by some international embassies.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City lifted all restrictions for its staff in the country and said that U.S. citizens in the country should resume normal levels of precaution.
Later that day, the Mexican team hosted Iceland in a friendly match in Querétaro, in central Mexico, with an approximately 3,000-person security presence. No incidents were reported.
Mr. Ricketts, the head of the Jamaican team, said that he had seen signs of a return to normalcy in Guadalajara. But he said he understood that cartel violence could persist after the removal of a leader. So, he said, “there’s still this level of uncertainty.”
He said that the Jamaican team had not asked for a change of venue, but that if things got worse in Mexico, it might do so.
“We are waiting and hoping for the best,” he said.
James Wagner covers news and culture in Latin America for The Times. He is based in Mexico City.
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