Pretty much don't go looking for trouble and it won't find you. There could be bad luck but generally just being smart greatly limits your chances of anything bad happening. I lived in Latin America for like 6 years: Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico and just a pick pocket incident. Someone got my (crappy) smart phone in a club and that's the worst.
My father-in-law is a Cancun 3x a year type. A quesadilla (pronounced kay-sa-dill-ee-uh) is foreign food.
They invited (and paid) us to a weeklong trip with them at an all-inclusive In Cancun a few years ago. My wife and I went two weeks early to see a few sights around the country in a rental car and a short backpacking trip. You would've thought we were visiting a warzone. He absolutely lost it.
Ironically, he didn't bat an eye when we went on a trip around Zambia and Zimbabwe for 3 weeks, after visiting South Africa, the murder capitol of the world!
There's obviously riskier places anywhere you go. But I've spent time all over and have found a little common sense, some confidence, and a good attitude goes a long way.
