More fun in Mexico

[Hammer]

Authorities say gunmen ambushed and killed a top police commander and then set his car on fire in the northern Mexican border state of Nuevo Leon.

The state government says in a statement that Homero Salcido was killed Sunday night and that his body was found inside a smoldering car abandoned in downtown Monterrey. Monterrey is the capital of Nuevo Leon and Mexico's third-largest city.



http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02...est=latestnews


Here was my original post from the old site


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...256881122.html


Quote:
Caravans of armored SUVs crammed with gunmen firing automatic rifles prowled the streets. Parents pulled terrified children from schools. The town of 6,000 went dark every time the combatants shot out the transformers. In May, a man was hung alive from a tree in the central plaza and dismembered while town folk heard the screaming from behind shuttered doors.


Rival Mexican drug gangs have turned Ciudad Mier from a tourist town into a ghost town. WSJ's Simon Constable talks to reporter Nicholas Casey about the ravages of the drug war in Mexico's Tamaulipas state.
Then last week, after a new offensive by the Zetas, one of the two groups that have turned the town into a no-man's land, hundreds of residents packed what they could into their cars and fled, leaving eerily empty streets with burned out shells of cars and bullet-pocked walls.

[Fresno Bob]

we can't get our buddies to share with us a 7 bedroom villa in a gated community in Playa Del Carmen (houseswapping our place for the vacation home in the Yucatan) because they are afraid....

[Hammer]

I'll be in Mexico for almost two months starting in June. I will make sure to be scared of stuff just for all of you guys.

Are you first or second cousins with the gang leaders?

[madducks]

we can't get our buddies to share with us a 7 bedroom villa in a gated community in Playa Del Carmen (houseswapping our place for the vacation home in the Yucatan) because they are afraid....

Have to agree with your buddies here. I couldn't enjoy my vacation if i felt that i had to constantly be on the lookout for gun carrying gang members and assessing the danger potential of every situation.

I've also heard horror stories about the crooked Mexican Police falsely imprisoning tourists, robbing and beating the crap out of them. Maybe the media has gotten into our heads concerning safety in Mexico, but i would rather stay in the states. The good ole USA still has a lot to offer as far as vacation options go. It's not 100% safe either but i like the odds much better. I would rather be a live coward than a dead hero.

[heyelander]

this is like reporting crime in Camden or Detroit as the USA and saying you want no part of a vacation in Hawaii.

[Hornsby]

this is like reporting crime in Camden or Detroit as the USA and saying you want no part of a vacation in Hawaii.

Really? Check this link out and tell me that you still feel the same...

http://www.mexicovacationawareness.com/victims.html

I'm sure that the odds are that everything is going to be fine...but the odds are shifting into an area where I'm just not comfortable bucking them. And I've been to Mexico many times...love it.

On a serious Note Chris, just keep your eyes open...

[B-Fly]

Really? Check this link out and tell me that you still feel the same...

http://www.mexicovacationawareness.com/victims.html

I'm sure that the odds are that everything is going to be fine...but the odds are shifting into an area where I'm just not comfortable bucking them. And I've been to Mexico many times...love it.

On a serious Note Chris, just keep your eyes open...

I'm not sure we can blame Mexico for rogue waves, flu complications or a shark attack, but obviously a bomb blast at a tourist resort is troubling and far less of a concern in, say, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or Aruba. That said, I try not to make decisions based on scary anecdotes. Is there any way to quantify the risk? My sense is that the risk of being a victim of violent crime or terrorism on your Mexican vacation is still lower than your risk of dying in a car accident on your way to the supermarket.

[Hammer]

I'm not sure we can blame Mexico for rogue waves, flu complications or a shark attack, but obviously a bomb blast at a tourist resort is troubling and far less of a concern in, say, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or Aruba. That said, I try not to make decisions based on scary anecdotes. Is there any way to quantify the risk? My sense is that the risk of being a victim of violent crime or terrorism on your Mexican vacation is still lower than your risk of dying in a car accident on your way to the supermarket.

Even if thats true, I need to go to the supermarket. I dont need to go to Mexico.

[Mithrandir]

Even if thats true, I need to go to the supermarket. I dont need to go to Mexico.

You could order your stuff online and have it delivered.

[B-Fly]

I don't need to drive to the movie theater or the mall - I could just stay at home and watch TV and shop online and avoid the life-and-limb risk of driving around for entertainment.

I don't need to work at a job that has me commuting to NYC every day, where there's arguably a higher risk of terrorist attack than anywhere else in the US, but the risk is minimal enough in my mind that I'm not going to let it scare me out of the life I want to live.

I guess I have yet to be convinced that the risk of, say, a family vacation in Puerto Vallarta is material enough to scare me out of the vacation I want to enjoy.

[heyelander]

but obviously a bomb blast at a tourist resort is troubling and far less of a concern in, say, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or Aruba.

maybe I didn't read far enough down for another article, but the "bomb blast" that I read was a buildup of gas from a nearby swamp that ignited and exploded.

Yeah, that was a lot of drunks falling from balcony's, people drowning in riptides, and people getting sick. Not a lot of marauding psychopaths killing tourists.

Still undeterred.

[B-Fly]

maybe I didn't read far enough down for another article, but the "bomb blast" that I read was a buildup of gas from a nearby swamp that ignited and exploded.

Yeah, that was a lot of drunks falling from balcony's, people drowning in riptides, and people getting sick. Not a lot of marauding psychopaths killing tourists.

Still undeterred.

Ah, sounds like you read more carefully regarding the "bomb blast" than I did. That could be an infrastructure problem that presents a higher risk in Mexico than other beach/resort vacation alternatives, but yeah, doesn't suggest a material violent crime risk worth changing one's vacation plans or preferences about.

[Hornsby]

maybe I didn't read far enough down for another article, but the "bomb blast" that I read was a buildup of gas from a nearby swamp that ignited and exploded.

Yeah, that was a lot of drunks falling from balcony's, people drowning in riptides, and people getting sick. Not a lot of marauding psychopaths killing tourists.

Still undeterred.

Just some of the headlines as you scroll down the line...is it more dangerous than driving to work? Maybe not, but there are thousands of other vacation destinations in the world that at least SEEM to be safer at this point in time.

Ottawa-area man missing in Mexico

McAllen man presumed dead after pirate shooting on Falcon Lake

Canadian gunned down in Northeastern Mexico

Rutgers Grad Severely Beaten In Cancun

California school administrator among victims of Mexican violence

Austin Priest Found Murdered in Mexico

OC Missing Man Found Killed in Mexico

Man, 29, murdered in Mexico

[chancellor]

I think it's just scarier for people because it's foreign. After all, we don't get these kinds of admonishments and dire warnings about visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras, despite the fact that New Orleans has the 4th highest murder rate in the WORLD. The murder rate in New Orleans is twice that of Bagdhad, unbelievably.

Yeah, I'd long since given up on NO for anything other than work trips where I have to be there.

I'm a little more cautious than you on Mexico; I'd avoid the border towns and be very, very careful in Mexico City right now. The level of kidnappings in Mexico City is pretty bad.

[heyelander]

Just some of the headlines as you scroll down the line...is it more dangerous than driving to work? Maybe not, but there are thousands of other vacation destinations in the world that at least SEEM to be safer at this point in time.

I'm not arguing that there are some areas that shouldn't absolutely be avoided. There is some crazy violence happening in some areas of Mexico. There's no way I'm vacationing in Jaurez or any border town.