Does anybody go to Mexico?

[waiting for bottom]

Here is the story of an acquiantance of mine. He is a surfer who went down to Mexico many, many times. Never again after this. Not murder, but supports the position of not going.

http://www.giveforward.org/mattandcove/

[bubble_contagion]

Today the CISEN (a Mexican federal agency equivalent to the CIA) published a report with the drug war statistics for the last 4 years. President Felipe Calderon intensified the war against the drug cartels 4 years ago when he took office.

28,000 dead
963 gun battles on the street between the army and cartels (almost one per day)

Now the good news:

34,699 cartel vehicles have been confiscated
several billion dollars have been confiscated
The average cop salary of $250/month has been increased to fight corruption.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/699304.html

Unfortunately the situation is getting worse. This year’s dead toll will be much higher than the previous by a few thousand dead. The same happened last year and the year before last.

Other developments that are new for 2010:

the use of a car bomb for the first time (a body with a fake police uniform was left on the street, when medics and police came to investigate a car was blown via cell phone)

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/696677.html

the use of inmates to commit killings. Inmates were given weapons and driven at night in cars owned by the jail to commit killings for the cartels. It was until a rival cartel posted on youtube a video of the confession of a policeman about these operations (while being tortured and then shot dead) that the federal government took action and apprehended the officials running the jail. The last killing by inmates resulted in 17 dead at a party.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/77099.html

the theft of oil, gas and petrochemicals by cartels to export to the US. In Tamaulipas, on May 23rd, members of Los Zetas hijacked the natural gas field Gigante Uno in the Burgos basin, holding five PEMEX workers as hostages to prevent authorities from coming in. The group was siphoning fuel for an entire month before the Mexican army decided to enter and engage with the gunmen on June 24th. PEMEX did not disclose any information about the hijacking until media pressure drew national and international attention to the incident.

http://www.roubini.com/latam-monitor/259296/rule_of_law_and_security_update

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/primera/35320.html

BTW I believe that as a tourist the chances of getting killed in TJ are not higher than a few years back. The chances of getting mugged or kidnapped are probably a little higher than a few years ago because there are less tourists.

[bubble_contagion]

Today the CISEN (a Mexican federal agency equivalent to the CIA) published a report with the drug war statistics for the last 4 years. President Felipe Calderon intensified the war against the drug cartels 4 years ago when he took office.

28,000 dead
963 gun battles on the street between the army and cartels (almost one per day)

Now the good news:

34,699 cartel vehicles have been confiscated
several billion dollars have been confiscated
The average cop salary of $250/month has been increased to fight corruption.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/699304.html

Unfortunately the situation is getting worse. This year’s dead toll will be much higher than the previous by a few thousand dead. The same happened last year and the year before last.

Other developments that are new for 2010:

the use of a car bomb for the first time (a body with a fake police uniform was left on the street, when medics and police came to investigate a car was blown via cell phone)

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/696677.html

the use of inmates to commit killings. Inmates were given weapons and driven at night in cars owned by the jail to commit killings for the cartels. It was until a rival cartel posted on youtube a video of the confession of a policeman about these operations (while being tortured and then shot dead) that the federal government took action and apprehended the officials running the jail. The last killing by inmates resulted in 17 dead at a party.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/77099.html

the theft of oil, gas and petrochemicals by cartels to export to the US. In Tamaulipas, on May 23rd, members of Los Zetas hijacked the natural gas field Gigante Uno in the Burgos basin, holding five PEMEX workers as hostages to prevent authorities from coming in. The group was siphoning fuel for an entire month before the Mexican army decided to enter and engage with the gunmen on June 24th. PEMEX did not disclose any information about the hijacking until media pressure drew national and international attention to the incident.

http://www.roubini.com/latam-monitor/259296/rule_of_law_and_security_update

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/primera/35320.html

BTW I believe that as a tourist the chances of getting killed in TJ are not higher than a few years back. The chances of getting mugged or kidnapped are probably a little higher than a few years ago because there are less tourists.

[bubble_contagion]

Today the CISEN (a Mexican federal agency equivalent to the CIA) published a report with the drug war statistics for the last 4 years. President Felipe Calderon intensified the war against the drug cartels 4 years ago when he took office.

28,000 dead
963 gun battles on the street between the army and cartels (almost one per day)

Now the good news:

34,699 cartel vehicles have been confiscated
several billion dollars have been confiscated
The average cop salary of $250/month has been increased to fight corruption.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/699304.html

Unfortunately the situation is getting worse. This year’s dead toll will be much higher than the previous by a few thousand dead. The same happened last year and the year before last.

Other developments that are new for 2010:

the use of a car bomb for the first time (a body with a fake police uniform was left on the street, when medics and police came to investigate a car was blown via cell phone)

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/696677.html

the use of inmates to commit killings. Inmates were given weapons and driven at night in cars owned by the jail to commit killings for the cartels. It was until a rival cartel posted on youtube a video of the confession of a policeman about these operations (while being tortured and then shot dead) that the federal government took action and apprehended the officials running the jail. The last killing by inmates resulted in 17 dead at a party.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/77099.html

the theft of oil, gas and petrochemicals by cartels to export to the US. In Tamaulipas, on May 23rd, members of Los Zetas hijacked the natural gas field Gigante Uno in the Burgos basin, holding five PEMEX workers as hostages to prevent authorities from coming in. The group was siphoning fuel for an entire month before the Mexican army decided to enter and engage with the gunmen on June 24th. PEMEX did not disclose any information about the hijacking until media pressure drew national and international attention to the incident.

http://www.roubini.com/latam-monitor/259296/rule_of_law_and_security_update

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/primera/35320.html

BTW I believe that as a tourist the chances of getting killed in TJ are not higher than a few years back. The chances of getting mugged or kidnapped are probably a little higher than a few years ago because there are less tourists.

[bubble_contagion]

Today the CISEN (a Mexican federal agency equivalent to the CIA) published a report with the drug war statistics for the last 4 years. President Felipe Calderon intensified the war against the drug cartels 4 years ago when he took office.

28,000 dead
963 gun battles on the street between the army and cartels (almost one per day)

Now the good news:

34,699 cartel vehicles have been confiscated
several billion dollars have been confiscated
The average cop salary of $250/month has been increased to fight corruption.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/699304.html

Unfortunately the situation is getting worse. This year’s dead toll will be much higher than the previous by a few thousand dead. The same happened last year and the year before last.

Other developments that are new for 2010:

the use of a car bomb for the first time (a body with a fake police uniform was left on the street, when medics and police came to investigate a car was blown via cell phone)

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/696677.html

the use of inmates to commit killings. Inmates were given weapons and driven at night in cars owned by the jail to commit killings for the cartels. It was until a rival cartel posted on youtube a video of the confession of a policeman about these operations (while being tortured and then shot dead) that the federal government took action and apprehended the officials running the jail. The last killing by inmates resulted in 17 dead at a party.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/77099.html

the theft of oil, gas and petrochemicals by cartels to export to the US. In Tamaulipas, on May 23rd, members of Los Zetas hijacked the natural gas field Gigante Uno in the Burgos basin, holding five PEMEX workers as hostages to prevent authorities from coming in. The group was siphoning fuel for an entire month before the Mexican army decided to enter and engage with the gunmen on June 24th. PEMEX did not disclose any information about the hijacking until media pressure drew national and international attention to the incident.

http://www.roubini.com/latam-monitor/259296/rule_of_law_and_security_update

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/primera/35320.html

BTW I believe that as a tourist the chances of getting killed in TJ are not higher than a few years back. The chances of getting mugged or kidnapped are probably a little higher than a few years ago because there are less tourists.

[bubble_contagion]

Today the CISEN (a Mexican federal agency equivalent to the CIA) published a report with the drug war statistics for the last 4 years. President Felipe Calderon intensified the war against the drug cartels 4 years ago when he took office.

28,000 dead
963 gun battles on the street between the army and cartels (almost one per day)

Now the good news:

34,699 cartel vehicles have been confiscated
several billion dollars have been confiscated
The average cop salary of $250/month has been increased to fight corruption.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/699304.html

Unfortunately the situation is getting worse. This year’s dead toll will be much higher than the previous by a few thousand dead. The same happened last year and the year before last.

Other developments that are new for 2010:

the use of a car bomb for the first time (a body with a fake police uniform was left on the street, when medics and police came to investigate a car was blown via cell phone)

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/696677.html

the use of inmates to commit killings. Inmates were given weapons and driven at night in cars owned by the jail to commit killings for the cartels. It was until a rival cartel posted on youtube a video of the confession of a policeman about these operations (while being tortured and then shot dead) that the federal government took action and apprehended the officials running the jail. The last killing by inmates resulted in 17 dead at a party.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/77099.html

the theft of oil, gas and petrochemicals by cartels to export to the US. In Tamaulipas, on May 23rd, members of Los Zetas hijacked the natural gas field Gigante Uno in the Burgos basin, holding five PEMEX workers as hostages to prevent authorities from coming in. The group was siphoning fuel for an entire month before the Mexican army decided to enter and engage with the gunmen on June 24th. PEMEX did not disclose any information about the hijacking until media pressure drew national and international attention to the incident.

http://www.roubini.com/latam-monitor/259296/rule_of_law_and_security_update

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/primera/35320.html

BTW I believe that as a tourist the chances of getting killed in TJ are not higher than a few years back. The chances of getting mugged or kidnapped are probably a little higher than a few years ago because there are less tourists.

[Anonymous]

Why does this guys story support the position of not going to Baja? His problems were due to a combination of bad decisions and bad luck.

The lesson, in general is to be prepared for a major international road trip, especially to a third world country. Also, if you are making regular trips to a foreign country, you might try to learn the language first. It sounds like from the story he was at fault in the crash and his Mexican auto insurance obviously wasn’t up to snuff.

Above all it is always risky if you travel to a sparsely populate area like Southern Baja, or anywhere with little or no population or medical facilities.

This story really isn’t relevant to the original topic.

[Anonymous]

Why does this guys story support the position of not going to Baja? His problems were due to a combination of bad decisions and bad luck.

The lesson, in general is to be prepared for a major international road trip, especially to a third world country. Also, if you are making regular trips to a foreign country, you might try to learn the language first. It sounds like from the story he was at fault in the crash and his Mexican auto insurance obviously wasn’t up to snuff.

Above all it is always risky if you travel to a sparsely populate area like Southern Baja, or anywhere with little or no population or medical facilities.

This story really isn’t relevant to the original topic.

[Anonymous]

Why does this guys story support the position of not going to Baja? His problems were due to a combination of bad decisions and bad luck.

The lesson, in general is to be prepared for a major international road trip, especially to a third world country. Also, if you are making regular trips to a foreign country, you might try to learn the language first. It sounds like from the story he was at fault in the crash and his Mexican auto insurance obviously wasn’t up to snuff.

Above all it is always risky if you travel to a sparsely populate area like Southern Baja, or anywhere with little or no population or medical facilities.

This story really isn’t relevant to the original topic.

[Anonymous]

Why does this guys story support the position of not going to Baja? His problems were due to a combination of bad decisions and bad luck.

The lesson, in general is to be prepared for a major international road trip, especially to a third world country. Also, if you are making regular trips to a foreign country, you might try to learn the language first. It sounds like from the story he was at fault in the crash and his Mexican auto insurance obviously wasn’t up to snuff.

Above all it is always risky if you travel to a sparsely populate area like Southern Baja, or anywhere with little or no population or medical facilities.

This story really isn’t relevant to the original topic.

[Anonymous]

Why does this guys story support the position of not going to Baja? His problems were due to a combination of bad decisions and bad luck.

The lesson, in general is to be prepared for a major international road trip, especially to a third world country. Also, if you are making regular trips to a foreign country, you might try to learn the language first. It sounds like from the story he was at fault in the crash and his Mexican auto insurance obviously wasn’t up to snuff.

Above all it is always risky if you travel to a sparsely populate area like Southern Baja, or anywhere with little or no population or medical facilities.

This story really isn’t relevant to the original topic.

[Eugene]

[quote=davelj][quote=Eugene]

More than 200 U.S. citizens have been slain in Mexico’s escalating wave of violence since 2004 — an average of nearly one killing a week, according to a Houston Chronicle investigation into the deaths. … in at least 70 cases, U.S. citizens appear to have been killed while in Mexico for innocent reasons: visiting family, taking a vacation, or simply living or working there. … In addition to those killed, as many as 75 Americans, mainly from Texas and California, remain missing in Mexico, based on FBI data.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6252174.html%5B/quote%5D

There have been almost 25,000 murders in Mexico since 2004. Let’s assume that the entire 200 Americans murdered or missing were “innocents” (it’s probably half that number, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt). That’s 0.8% of the total murders over the period. Nothing to celebrate, but confirms my suspicion that the total number of “innocent bystanders” killed in Mexico is a very low percentage of the total. There will always be anecdotes to the contrary.[/quote]

I would be more interested in comparing those 275 murders & disappearances with the number of tourists who go to Mexico and stay there overnight.

[Eugene]

[quote=davelj][quote=Eugene]

More than 200 U.S. citizens have been slain in Mexico’s escalating wave of violence since 2004 — an average of nearly one killing a week, according to a Houston Chronicle investigation into the deaths. … in at least 70 cases, U.S. citizens appear to have been killed while in Mexico for innocent reasons: visiting family, taking a vacation, or simply living or working there. … In addition to those killed, as many as 75 Americans, mainly from Texas and California, remain missing in Mexico, based on FBI data.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6252174.html%5B/quote%5D

There have been almost 25,000 murders in Mexico since 2004. Let’s assume that the entire 200 Americans murdered or missing were “innocents” (it’s probably half that number, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt). That’s 0.8% of the total murders over the period. Nothing to celebrate, but confirms my suspicion that the total number of “innocent bystanders” killed in Mexico is a very low percentage of the total. There will always be anecdotes to the contrary.[/quote]

I would be more interested in comparing those 275 murders & disappearances with the number of tourists who go to Mexico and stay there overnight.

[Eugene]

[quote=davelj][quote=Eugene]

More than 200 U.S. citizens have been slain in Mexico’s escalating wave of violence since 2004 — an average of nearly one killing a week, according to a Houston Chronicle investigation into the deaths. … in at least 70 cases, U.S. citizens appear to have been killed while in Mexico for innocent reasons: visiting family, taking a vacation, or simply living or working there. … In addition to those killed, as many as 75 Americans, mainly from Texas and California, remain missing in Mexico, based on FBI data.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6252174.html%5B/quote%5D

There have been almost 25,000 murders in Mexico since 2004. Let’s assume that the entire 200 Americans murdered or missing were “innocents” (it’s probably half that number, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt). That’s 0.8% of the total murders over the period. Nothing to celebrate, but confirms my suspicion that the total number of “innocent bystanders” killed in Mexico is a very low percentage of the total. There will always be anecdotes to the contrary.[/quote]

I would be more interested in comparing those 275 murders & disappearances with the number of tourists who go to Mexico and stay there overnight.

[Eugene]

[quote=davelj][quote=Eugene]

More than 200 U.S. citizens have been slain in Mexico’s escalating wave of violence since 2004 — an average of nearly one killing a week, according to a Houston Chronicle investigation into the deaths. … in at least 70 cases, U.S. citizens appear to have been killed while in Mexico for innocent reasons: visiting family, taking a vacation, or simply living or working there. … In addition to those killed, as many as 75 Americans, mainly from Texas and California, remain missing in Mexico, based on FBI data.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6252174.html%5B/quote%5D

There have been almost 25,000 murders in Mexico since 2004. Let’s assume that the entire 200 Americans murdered or missing were “innocents” (it’s probably half that number, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt). That’s 0.8% of the total murders over the period. Nothing to celebrate, but confirms my suspicion that the total number of “innocent bystanders” killed in Mexico is a very low percentage of the total. There will always be anecdotes to the contrary.[/quote]

I would be more interested in comparing those 275 murders & disappearances with the number of tourists who go to Mexico and stay there overnight.

[Author]

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