"What? You are going to Mexico?"

[Nictoshek]

Tourists walk along the beach in front of Zazilkin, a hotel with rustic cabanas in Tulum, on the Yucatán Peninsula

The Mexico Quandary: Safety or Savings?


By MICHELLE HIGGINS
December 21, 2010

WHEN Alex Trettin and his wife, Jenn, suggested to family and friends that they take a group vacation to Mexico, the reaction was mixed. About half of the group of 29 immediately signed on for the November trip to the Riviera Maya, south of Cancún, where they would visit Maya ruins, fish and lounge by the pool at an upscale resort for the bargain price of $150 a person a night. The other half hesitated, citing concern about Mexico’s continuing drug war.

“My aunt stated she hoped we didn’t have any issues with the drug cartels,” said Mr. Trettin, a Mexico-travel specialist in Tacoma, Wash., who assured everyone that the beach resort they were going to near Playa del Carmen was far from the violent clashes they had seen on television. Ultimately, they all went, but the concerns that some in the group expressed are indicative of the quandary many travelers face when they consider the safety risks versus the convenience and affordability of a vacation in Mexico.

While most of the drug-related violence has been in the northern border region of Mexico, far from the Maya temples of the Yucatán, the regional cuisine of Oaxaca or the beaches of Baja California Sur, violence has erupted in tourist destinations like Acapulco and the state of Michoacán, home to the famous monarch butterfly sanctuaries. Even Cancún’s safety was questioned earlier this year after eight employees of a strip club there were killed when a group of men threw Molotov cocktails into the building in an area not frequented by tourists.

To combat the perception that violence has been widespread, tourism officials in Mexico have invested $30 million in advertising and social media initiatives to spread the word that much of the country is safe for tourists. “Visitors have the right to be well informed,” said Alfonso Sumano, the regional director for the Mexico Tourism Board for the Americas. Many of the affected areas, he said, “are very far from the destinations tourists visit.”

The latest travel warning, issued by the State Department in September, urged American citizens to defer unnecessary travel specifically to Michoacán and areas along the northern border, including Tamaulipas, and parts of Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila, where tourists generally don’t go. Yet, ever cautious, it stated, “violence has occurred throughout the country, including in areas frequented by American tourists.” Visitors were encouraged to stay on main roads in daylight hours and to remain in well-known tourist areas.

All of this has made travel to Mexico a hard sell lately, but travel agents say the negative publicity has also made Mexico among the best values out there as resorts lower rates or add free incentives to entice travelers. When asked where agents are recommending travelers go to get the most for their dollar this year, 70 percent said Mexico, according to Travel Leaders, a major network of agents.

“A lot of clients will come here and say, ‘I’ll go anywhere except Mexico,’ ” said Kate Rosevear, owner of a Travel Leaders agency in Plymouth, Mich. “Quite often we’ll be able to talk them back around to it based on the value.”

Some of the deals agents and tourism officials point out include Casa Ticul, a boutique hotel in Playa del Carmen, which is offering 20 percent off rates of $171 a night to travelers who book a January stay by the end of December. Villa del Palmar Cancún, a new all-inclusive resort in Playa Mujeres with a Greg Norman-designed golf course, has rates from $186 a person a night during the holidays and a rate of $142 a person a night after that — up to 60 percent off. And St. Regis Punta Mita is offering butler service, a third night free, a $50 resort credit per room and a glass of Champagne with its Welcome to Paradise deal from $580 a night for stays starting Jan. 11.

Mexican Destinations, the Mexico Villa brand of the rental company VacationRoost, has trained its agents to educate clients who call with safety concerns about how far its villas are from reported violence, and is offering specials of 25 to 50 percent off. One deal is Casa del Sol, a four-bedroom, five-bath property on the Pacific Coast in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, where rates have been slashed to $750 a night, from $1,500, in early January.

The pricing strategy seems to be working. The number of international tourists arriving in Mexico by air from January to October was 8.2 million, according to the latest data from the Mexico Tourist Board. That is an increase of 17.8 percent compared with the same period last year, when Mexico endured a down economy, H1N1 scares and drug violence. Visitors are up 6.4 percent over the same period in 2008, which was considered to be one of the best years for travel to Mexico. The number of American travelers increased by 13.4 percent, compared with the same time period in 2009.

Many resorts say safety is at the top of their guests’ minds. “When our reservations manager receives requests, the first question that is asked is if there has been violence in this area,” said Giorgio Brignone, the proprietor of Costa Careyes, a luxury resort two hours south of Puerto Vallarta, which has added free airport transfers to and from Manzanillo. To put jittery travelers at ease, the company has placed ads in magazines promoting “a different Mexico.” In addition, the company’s Web site highlighted the 24-hour security at the resort.

Part of the problem is that many travelers are unclear about where the violence has occurred and how it might affect their vacation, Mr. Brignone said. “People don’t realize that there are many regions and areas in the country that are not affected by the violence and drug wars,” he said. “It’s like saying I will not go to Dallas, or New York, because there are problems or riots in Los Angeles.”

Still, there are some tourist destinations travelers should steer clear of, at least for now. “I would not encourage my family to visit Acapulco right now,” said Josh Miller, who lives in Mexico City and is the general director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for Control Risks, a risk management firm. “While a wonderful place to visit,” he said, “violent confrontations have been spilling over from the military effort against the cartels.” Travelers should also hold off on visits to Michoacán, in central Mexico. The state is a stronghold of La Familia, a drug cartel known for bold ambushes.

Popular resort areas, including Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa and Cancún’s resort strip are generally safe for travelers, Mr. Miller said, particularly if visitors stay within the resort’s boundaries. “Mexico is a volatile place,” he said. “You have to have your itinerary planned out quite well, consider transportation and stay abreast of latest developments.”

Some travelers who have been to Mexico before are surprised when friends express safety concerns. “Everybody was like, ‘What? You are going to Mexico?’ ” said Tina Youtsey, a dog groomer from Milan, Mich., who went to the Riviera Maya with her teenage daughter last month. “Seriously,” she said, “the drug lords aren’t hanging out at the resort.” Having visited Mexico two times before, she added, “I wasn’t really worried.”

[Nictoshek]

Some Mexican states, such as Baja California Sur, above, remain relatively calm. Across the country, the number of international visitors rose in 2010 despite the drug war


How Mexico's drug war affects tourism

Violence has increased, but some areas are relatively safe and airlines are adding flights.

Christopher Reynolds
December 26, 2010


What can travelers expect from Mexico in 2011? That's at least a $64-million question, given the many Americans who visit the country every year. And the answers seem to point every which way.

Across Mexico, international visitors and drug-war casualties rose in 2010. As the country moves into its third century — and President Felipe Calderon's drug war moves into its fifth year — experts say both trends could well continue.

Airlines are adding Mexican destinations. Several notable new lodgings are opening, including a pair in southern Baja California and two more in artsy, historic San Miguel de Allende.

Gloria Guevara Manzo, Mexico's tourism secretary, has set a 2011 goal of boosting total tourist numbers by 15%.

And yet, "we're probably going to see similar or higher levels of violence next year," said Charles Pope, assistant director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego.

The Mexican government counted 12,456 drug-war deaths in the first 11 months of 2010, nearly twice as many such deaths as it counted in all of 2009. Although the violence has been spreading, about 45% of those deaths occurred in two states: Chihuahua (which includes Juárez, the murder capital) and Sinaloa.

Meanwhile, several other states remain relatively calm, including Baja California Sur, which includes Los Cabos and La Paz. (That state reported six drug-war deaths in the year that ended June 30.) In much-visited Quintana Roo (which includes Cancún and Playa del Carmen), 42 drug-war deaths were counted during that time.

In the state of Baja California, which includes Tijuana and the northern half of the Baja peninsula, the drug-war death tally was 352 for the 12 months that ended June 30. That might seem an alarming number, but it marked a decrease from 589 killings a year earlier.

"It's quite remarkable" to see tourism and violence tallies rising together at the national level, Pope said.

In its most recent Mexico warning, on Sept. 10, the U.S. State Department (www.travel.state.gov) outlined how the drug-war trouble varies by region and recapped its longstanding advice about concealing your jewelry, traveling mostly by daylight, staying in well-trodden tourist areas, avoiding gypsy cabs and other measures.

For more advice and regional specifics, look at the guidance the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (www.fco.gov.uk/) gives to Brits bound for Mexico.

And while you're looking, remember that overall travel to Mexico has been rising. In the first 10 months of 2010, Mexican officials say, the country received 8.2 million international visitors by air, business and leisure combined. That's 17.8% more than during the same period in 2009 and 6.4% more than in 2008. The number of Americans in that group — 4.9 million — was up 13.5% over 2009.

Those numbers don't mean the tourist trade is thriving; the continuing deep discounts on Mexican cruises in 2011 are a clear sign that it takes price-slashing to fill beds. But for many businesses, 2010 marked the beginning of the long crawl back after a disastrous 2009, when the drug wars and a spate of fatal flu cases scared away million of travelers.

Though the weak recovery has kept many Americans and Canadians from traveling abroad, Mexico tourism spokeswoman Elizabeth Tjaden said, many see Mexico as a more affordable option.

In Los Cabos, hotel occupancy in 2010 ran about 5% ahead of that in 2009. As the tentative recovery continues, Gonzalo Franyutti, president of Los Cabos Convention & Visitors Bureau, said in an e-mail that he expected many lodgings to offer "added value" deals in the months ahead, while airlines increase Mexico flights.

Earlier this month, Alaska Airlines launched thrice-weekly flights between San Jose and Los Cabos, four flights weekly between San Jose and Guadalajara and three flights weekly between Sacramento and Guadalajara.

Meanwhile, Virgin America on Dec. 16 started flying between San Francisco and Los Cabos five times a week. On Jan. 19, the carrier will start flying between LAX and Cancún (five times weekly), and on Jan. 20, it will start flying between San Francisco and Cancún (three times weekly).

Though recession has delayed or killed many hotel projects across the country, others have been completed.

[Nictoshek]

14 Decapitated Bodies Found in Mexico Resort City

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

January 8, 2011

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Police found the bodies of 15 slain men, 14 of them headless, on a street outside a shopping center in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco on Saturday.

The victims, all of whom appeared to be in their 20s, were discovered in an area not frequented by tourists.

Handwritten signs left with the bodies were signed by "El Chapo's People" — a reference to the Sinaloa cartel, headed by drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman — said Fernando Monreal Leyva, director of investigative police for Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.

The narco-messages indicated the Sinaloa cartel killed them for trying to intrude on the gang's turf and extort residents.

Mexico's drug cartels have increasingly taken to beheading their victims in a grisly show of force, but Saturday's discovery was the largest single group of decapitation victims found in recent years.

In 2008, a group of 12 decapitated bodies were piled outside the Yucatan state capital of Merida. The same year, 9 headless men were discovered in the Guerrero state capital of Chilpancingo.

Acapulco has been the site of fierce battles between drug gangs, and this weekend got off to a bloody start with 27 people killed there from Friday evening to early Saturday, Leyva said.

The dead included two police officers cut down on a main bayside avenue in front of tourists and locals; six people who were shot dead and stuffed in a taxi, their hands and feet bound; and four others elsewhere in the city.

"We are coordinating with federal forces and local police to reinforce security in Acapulco and investigating to try to establish the motive and perpetrators of these incidents," Monreal said.

At least 30,196 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against cartels in late 2006.

Also Saturday, authorities said a small-town mayor was found dead in northern Mexico.

Saul Vara Rivera, mayor of the municipality of Zaragoza, was reported missing by family members Wednesday, Coahuila state prosecutors said in a statement. His bullet-ridden body was discovered Friday in neighboring Nuevo Leon state.

There were no immediate arrests.

At least a dozen mayors were killed nationwide last year in acts of intimidation attributed to drug gangs.

[karl]

The cartels are a problem as exampled by this late information. There has been for the previous few years a change over in cartels. Prior, it was the Colombians with control of the drug importation using Mexico as the transfer station to their main market of the USA.

With the resources of the cartels, it is very difficult for the various police units to be effective against. It is as if the situation is out of control with no actual end in sight.

For the most part, the cartels appear to be acting in defense of their turf, which is natural in the manner of the disposal of such individuals that pose a threat to their business.

Mexico is little different then that of some areas of the Mid-East. The similar acts of control/administration/internal methodology of control and power.

It is interesting in that the people paid for protection in the area of our office, is the same people of the cartels. It is a simple method of the protection racket. But, it works, the area is quite with occasional police patrols through the area.

The Federal Police have provided several meetings with all the staff for information and guide lines in the spirit of personal safety. It is quite apparent, the Police are quite concerned for our safety and protection from any incidents that may reflect upon them. Non-the-less, the matter of personal safety is still to the beholder of reasonable caution.

Karl

[Nictoshek]

Byron Pitts reports on the murder of the mayor of a Mexican city, where powerful drug gangs seem to be giving authorities a choice of "silver or lead" - join us and we will pay you or don't and we'll kill you:

www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7228446n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

_

[karl]

Jan 10, 2011 6:51:20 GMT -7 Nictoshek said:

Byron Pitts reports on the murder of the mayor of a Mexican city, where powerful drug gangs seem to be giving authorities a choice of "silver or lead" - join us and we will pay you or don't and we'll kill you:

www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7228446n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

_

Silver or lead, an interesting lay of information... With this, is the question for the civilian authorities for decision: What are they willing to pay? And, what are they willing to give?

The stronger the magic, the higher the price. It is to what they are willing to sacrifice for what? and for where?

Nothing is impossible, but, as also, goes the risk. These drug traffickers are people, and as so, possess the weaknesses of people, they fear death. For life is never so precious, until one is to lose it.

To remove rats from the premises, is to catch one, then to burn its butt with a blow torch, not to kill it, but to provide a very much amount of extreme pain, then to release it to run about amongst the remainder of brother rats. This to instill extreme fear amongts the remainder for then to leave for better safer neighbour hoods.

But, this is between the Americans who provide the market for these drugs and the Mexicans that are providing the products of demand.

In as so, the Colombians are keeping quite and still until the thunder quites down.

Then, life will continue as usual.

www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34215.pdf

Karl

[Nictoshek]

A wave of terror has turned Guadalupe Distrito Bravos, near Texas, into a frightened outpost of the drug war. Nearly half of its 9,000 residents have fled.

Bit by Bit, a Mexican Police Force Is Eradicated


By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
January 11, 2011

GUADALUPE DISTRITO BRAVOS, Mexico — Her uncle, the mayor who gave her the job nobody else wanted, warned her to keep a low profile, to not make too much of being the last remaining police officer in a town where the rest of the force had quit or been killed.

But in pictures for local newspapers, Érika Gándara, 28, seemed to relish the role, posing with a semiautomatic rifle and talking openly about the importance of her new job.

“I am the only police in this town, the authority,” she told reporters.

Then, two days before Christmas, a group of armed men took her from her home, residents say, and she has not been seen since.

It was an ominous punctuation mark on the wave of terror that has turned this cotton farming town near Texas into a frightened outpost of the drug war. Nearly half of its 9,000 residents have fled, local officials say, leaving block after block of scorched homes and businesses and, now, not one regular police officer.

Far from big, infamous cities like Ciudad Juárez, one of the most violent places in the Americas, the war with organized crime can batter small towns just as hard, if with less notice.

The cotton towns south of Juárez sit in territory disputed by at least two major drug trafficking groups, according to government and private security reports, leading to deadly power struggles. But the lack of adequately trained police officers, a longstanding crisis that the government has sought to address with little resolution, allows criminal groups to have their way.

“Small cities and towns are really highly impacted,” said Daniel M. Sabet, a visiting professor at Georgetown University who studies policing in Mexico. “They offer strongholds organized crime can hold and control.”

Some towns consider themselves so vulnerable that they have gone out of their way not to antagonize criminals. Believing that those involved in organized crime would be less inclined to harm women — and because fewer men are willing to take the job — local officials have appointed a handful of women in the past year to senior police ranks in small cities and towns here in Chihuahua, the country’s most violent state.

After a spate of violence in a neighboring town, Praxédis Guerrero, local officials selected a 20-year-old college student in November as police chief to run the force of nine women and two men, hoping that criminal networks would see her as less threatening.

Marisol Valles, the young police chief, has made it clear that she leaves major crimes to state and federal authorities to investigate. Really, she said, she just reviews civil infractions issued by other officers and rarely leaves the office. “I am more like an administrator,” said Ms. Valles, who does not carry a gun or wear a uniform.

But the criminals have not discriminated. Hermila García, the woman appointed police chief of Meoqui, a small city in central Chihuahua, was killed on Nov. 30 after only a month in the job.

Guadalupe tried to put a nonthreatening face on law enforcement by appointing Ms. Gándara chief in October. But it appears that she tried — or at least talked about — taking the job more seriously, to the regret of her uncle, Mayor Tomás Archuleta. He had good reason to counsel a low profile: He took office after his predecessor was killed last summer, part of a wave of assassinations of local officials across Mexico.

“I told Érika, ‘Be careful,’ to not make waves,” Mr. Archuleta said, openly frustrated by the picture of her with the rifle. Like Ms. Valles, her role is more to issue citations, leaving serious crimes to state and federal authorities.

Guadalupe has plenty of them to investigate. There are as many abandoned homes and businesses — several of them gutted — as occupied ones. One recent morning, four homes smoldered from an attack and two people had been shot dead with high-powered weapons, the bullets leaving several gaping holes in cinder-block walls.

Few people here leave their homes after 5 p.m., and see soldiers and police officers only briefly after a major crime or when they are guarding the monthly delivery of government pension checks for retirees.

“We lock ourselves in most of the time,” said Eduardo Contreras, 26, as he watched residents douse and pick through the embers of their smoldering homes.

In a voice choked with tears, María Torres, 70, who grew up here, said, “This is so sad what has happened here,” as she carried a sign for a church service.

Mr. Archuleta, the mayor, said the town mainly gets its protection from soldiers based at a recreation center in Praxédis Guerrero. Maybe, Mr. Archuleta suggested, not having local police officers is better. He said local residents had told him that common crimes like burglary had dropped out of fear of drawing the attention of a military patrol.

“There aren’t any” minor crimes, he said, his voice dropping to a near whisper.

But townspeople disputed that, complaining that the soldiers or state and federal police officers were rarely seen except after major violence had occurred.

“There is no police, no fire department, no social services, nothing here,” said the middle-aged matriarch from one burned-out home, declining to give her name for fear of reprisals. “People get away with everything here. Nothing gets investigated, not even murders.”

Not long afterward, a four-truck caravan of federal police officers arrived from another town, hopping down from their vehicles, taking notes and asking her and other family members for a word. The family refused even to open the gate for the police, apparently out of fear of being seen talking to them, and the officers moved on. The officers appeared to be taking stock, driving from crime scene to crime scene and taking notes, but not mounting a forensic investigation.

At the site of the double murder in the morning, one officer dabbed at a pool of blood and body fluid on the driveway with a stick; another picked up a piece of flesh and playfully tossed it at a companion.

Ms. Gándara may not have investigated much deeper. Local police officers in small towns usually play a mostly preventive role, refereeing minor disputes, handling the town drunk and quieting rowdy teenagers, city managers said. Many are not armed.

Mr. Archuleta would say little else about his niece, Ms. Gándara, citing an investigation by the state prosecutor’s office, which would not comment on a motive. But he noted that he had turned to her when nobody else would take the job. She had experience as a security guard and appeared not to be involved in any criminal activity, he said.

“Who knows what people do in their private lives,” he said, “but I did not think she was involved in anything.”

[Nictoshek]

The Royal Carribean Mariner of the Seas cruise ship will be heading from the Los Angeles area to Texas

2 ships moving from Port of Los Angeles as Mexican cruises slump in popularity

Cruise line officials and port officials say the moves stem from the sour economy and continuing drug-related violence in Mexico. Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas is leaving this month and Norwegian Cruise Lines' Norwegian Star is departing in May.

By Hugo Martín, Los Angeles Times

January 13, 2011

With Mexican cruises slumping in popularity, two of the largest ships serving the Port of Los Angeles are pulling up anchor for more lucrative markets elsewhere.

Royal Caribbean said its 3,100-passenger Mariner of the Seas, after a Mexican Rivera voyage that begins Sunday, will leave the Port of L.A. for South America and Europe, ending up in Galveston, Texas. Norwegian Cruise Lines will pull its 2,348-passenger Norwegian Star out of the port in May. The ship will eventually settle in Tampa, Fla.

Cruise line officials and port officials say the moves stem from the sour economy and continuing drug-related violence in Mexico. Just last weekend, Mexican authorities discovered the bodies of at least 30 new victims in the popular tourist port of Acapulco. Fifteen were beheaded.

"We are struggling with our many ships to Mexico," said Chris Chase, marketing director for the Port of Los Angeles. "It's the economy and the news of drug wars down there."

The two departing ships carried nearly half of the Port of Los Angeles' passengers in 2009. So far, no cruise lines have announced plans to abandon the Port of Long Beach, but Carnival Cruise Lines said this week that its Carnival Spirit, which has docked at both Los Angeles and San Diego, will start sailing out of Australia in 2012.

The departures come amid signs that the nation's $40-billion cruise industry is beginning to recover from the economic downturn, particularly in Florida, the industry's No. 1 market.

Overall, the North America cruise business saw a 6% jump in passengers in the first six months of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Growth has been especially strong in the Bahamas and Bermuda trade.

Southern California is going the other direction, however. Combined, the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego served nearly 590,000 passengers in the first six months of 2010, a drop of 3% from 2009 and a 21% plunge from 2008, federal numbers show.

"The market out there has literally crashed," said Stewart Chiron, a cruise industry analyst.

Chiron said tourists' fear of drug violence in Mexico was probably the main reason that the California cruise business was not recovering. Another reason could be a loss of interest in Mexican tourist attractions, he said.

Most of the drug violence has occurred in Mexico's border towns, but in recent months it has seeped into tourist hot spots.

In addition to the violence in Acapulco, the mayor of Cancun was arrested last year on drug-trafficking charges in the middle of his campaign for governor of the state of Quintana Roo.

Mexico tourism officials declined to discuss the drop in cruise numbers. Alfonso Sumano, director of the Americas for the Mexico Tourism Board, said in a statement that the nation's secretary of tourism would soon launch an effort to promote Mexican cruise destinations

"The destinations of the Mexican western coast are a top priority in our plan of action," he said.

Nationally, Mexico attracted about 502,000 cruise passengers from North America in the first six months of 2010, 26% less than the same period in 2008, according to the Transportation Department. Just 187 cruise voyages docked in Mexican ports in the first six months of 2010, compared with 290 voyages in the same period in 2008.

Cruise line executives acknowledge that drug violence has cut into demand, but they stress that the risk of cruise passengers becoming victims is very small.

"We would not head into a region where there is any threat to our guests," said Brian O'Connor, spokesman for Cunard, the luxury cruise line that sails from Los Angeles to ports including Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta.

Terry Thornton, a senior vice president at Carnival Cruise Lines, said in a statement that the perception of Mexico as a vacation destination "is being negatively affected by the highly publicized incidents of violent crime. Fortunately, these incidents have really not been focused at tourists."

The only bright spot in Southern California's bleak cruise picture is the scheduled arrival this month of the Disney Wonder to the Port of Los Angeles. The Wonder is expected to carry nearly 175,000 passengers a year.

But that arrival reflects Southern California's second-tier position as a cruise ship destination. The Wonder is pulling out of Florida to make room for Disney's newest ship, the 14-deck Disney Dream, a behemoth that is about 150 feet longer than the Wonder and can hold almost 1,600 more passengers.

Some industry officials believe that Mexico's decline in popularity as a cruise destination is only temporary and will eventually rebound.

"We are definitely down, but we've been down before," said Rita Wandergaw, a spokeswoman for the Port of San Diego. "For me this is a cyclical change. I'm optimistic it will turn around."

Pat Ford, a cruise agent at Montrose Travel in Montrose, said she still was selling many Mexico cruises and "every once in a while I get the question 'Is it safe to go to Mexico?'" She tells potential passengers that most of the drug crime takes place far from the resort towns, Ford said.

The good news for cruise passengers who are not deterred by news of drug violence is that cruise lines are offering big discounts on trips to Mexico and that the lines at resort-town restaurants and shops are short.

Jan Braunstein, a retired educator and part-time actress from Claremont, took a seven-day cruise to Mexico on Royal Caribbean last year and said she never worried about drug violence while visiting Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.

Instead, Braunstein described having a great time eating and drinking margaritas with three friends.

"There wasn't a line anywhere," she said of her visits to the Mexican resorts. "It felt like off-season."

[Nictoshek]

Tourists entering Playa del Carmen's ferry terminal

Officials investigating alleged rape, assault of Canadians by Mexican police


Postmedia News January 18, 2011

Canadian officials said they are "very concerned" about the allegations of a Canadian couple who said they were violently assaulted and robbed by police while on vacation in Mexico on New Year's Eve.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said Parliamentary Secretary Deepak Obhrai has spoken with Mexico's ambassador to Canada to "discuss" the case of an Ontario couple.

"We welcome the government of Mexico's investigation into these allegations," said Foreign Affairs spokesman Pierre Florea in an email. "We expect a thorough and transparent investigation and a timely resolution to this case."

According to media reports, the woman said she was gang-raped by police, while her fiance said he was beaten and robbed after the couple was arrested by officers in the tourist hot spot of Playa del Carmen. This is the same area where five Canadians were killed in November in a hotel explosion.

Canadian officials said the couple, who are still in Mexico, are receiving consular assistance.

[kaima]

My plan is to head south to Presidio and then along the border to Big Bend National Park. So I will have plenty of exposure to the border region, and plan on 2 or 3 overnights in the Park. Locals have given me some standard cautions, much as you might caution someone about going about a big city. It would be nice if I were packing a pistol, however. Usually it is bears to keep in mind, but they are a lot more predictable!

Kai

[Nictoshek]

Five severed heads found near a Mexico resort of Acapulco may be connected to the country's growing drug violence.


Bag of Severed Heads Left Near Mexican School

Drug crackdown has gangs turning to extortion

By Greg Wilson
| Wednesday, Sep 28, 2011

Five severed heads were left in a bag near a Mexican primary school, the latest example of the ruthless violence plaguing the country.

Police were not able to determine if the grisly find, in an Acapulco neighborhood, was connected to extortion threats against teachers. Some 140 schools have closed their doors in recent weeks due to frightened teachers going on strike, according to The Associated Press.

The men's heads were in a sack inside a wooden crate placed near the school, officers said. Messages threatening three aleged drug traffickers were also found in the bag.

Police had earlier discovered five headless bodies in another part of the city. Drug gangs have waged bloody battles for control of the Pacific Coast resort city. With the government cracking down on the drug trade, gangs are turning to extortion, according to the BBC. Last month, dozens of teachers in Acapulco said gangs had threatened them with violence if they did not hand over half their salaries.

It was unclear who was behind the killings or what the motive was.

[Jaga]

Nictoe, thanks for the update. Very sad story.
If the US would decide to stop helping the poor and develop a full-blown capitalism, these scenes would be happening here also.

[Nictoshek]

Texas for third year warns against spring break Mexico

ReutersBy Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Texas on Tuesday warned residents for the third consecutive year not to travel to Mexico during the upcoming university spring break season, saying drug cartel violence and other criminal activity are a safety threat even in resort areas.

The advisory comes despite pleas from top Mexican officials to target the travel warnings to specific areas where the threat of violence is greatest.

Mexican officials said that popular tourist areas such as Cancun and Cabo San Lucas are safe for American travelers.

Drug violence has claimed an estimated 40,000 lives in Mexico since 2006.

"The Mexican government has made great strides battling the cartels, and we commend their continued commitment to making Mexico a safer place to live and visit," Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said. "However, drug cartel violence and other criminal activity represent a significant safety threat, even in some resort areas."

Last year, Texas officials also warned against visiting any part of Mexico during spring break. In 2010, Texas urged spring breakers to avoid northern Mexican border cities.

The number of Americans murdered in Mexico jumped from 35 in 2007 to 120 last year, McCraw said.

"Many crimes against Americans in Mexico go unpunished," he said.

Some crime in Mexico is directly related to cartel violence, and some is not, but rape is a serious problem in resort areas, said Tom Vinger, a spokesman for the Department.

"Some bars and nightclubs in resort cities like Cancun, Acapulco, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas and Tijuana can be havens for drug dealers and petty criminals," Vinger said.

Mexican officials said they are deeply concerned about Texas' advisory.

"This warning is exceptionally aggressive," said Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, chief operating officer of the Mexico Tourism Board. "To paint Mexico with such a massively broad brush stroke is simply outrageous."

Lopez Negrete met with several Texas state officials and told them that the drug cartel violence is largely confined to isolated areas along the Rio Grande in northern Mexico, including the city of Juarez across from El Paso.

He urged the state to stress that the violence is not widespread, and that of the 22.7 million tourists who visited Mexico last year, almost none were in the vicinity of any type of violence.

"Those pockets where this violence is taking place are very well identified," Lopez Negrete said during his visit to Texas last week. "This is totally unrelated to tourism. This is not about attacking tourists."

Tuesday's announcement is a major blow for Mexico's economy. Tourism is Mexico's second-largest industry. About 60 percent of Mexico's visitors are American, and about one third of them are either Texans or travelers who pass through Texas.

"The bottom line is, we also have to look at the risk to American citizens, and we believe that risk is real, and the violence in Mexico is widespread and has actually grown from last year," Vinger said. "The nature of the violence is completely unpredictable, and I don't think you can say it is not going to happen in any specific place."

(Reporting By Jim Forsyth; Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Greg McCune)

[karl]

J.J.

Also have I heard of this, and was some what surprised with such negative reports. It would so appear, this is a some what tradition of Spring break amongst the University students wishing to burn off accumulation of tension and energy.

But, to use a foreign nation such as Mexico as a play ground to do as they wish, is some what negligent of reality. Rather they be tourist, students on leave or what ever, non-the-less, they are visitors in a foreign country, and needs be to understand their status as visitors, and act accordingly.

mexicanmissions.com/mexico/travel/documents.htm


Karl

[Nictoshek]

Forensic personnel work at the site where five men were killed by gunmen in Monterrey, Mexico, on Nov. 1, 2011.

In Monterrey, Mexico, a culture of fear is evident

The violence spawned by organized crime now dominates the mind-set of Mexico's wealthiest and third-largest city. Many of those who can leave do.

By Daniel Hernandez, Los Angeles Times

April 3, 2012

Reporting from Monterrey, Mexico

Javier Guzman, a 25-year-old industrial engineer, eased his SUV toward the curb on a recent Sunday as a masked state police officer in the middle of the road signaled him to pull over.

Guzman rolled down his window, greeting the officer with a "buenas tardes."

"Do you live here? Where are you coming from?" the officer asked.

"I live here, this car is mine," Guzman replied. He had nothing to hide, yet began coughing nervously.

The officer, dressed in black, from combat boots to ski mask, circled the vehicle. A long automatic assault rifle dangled at his side. After a few more questions, he let Guzman drive on.

Such checkpoints are now part of daily life in Monterrey, a metropolitan region of more than 4 million,Mexico'swealthiest and third-largest city. The brief anxiety that these encounters produce in people is probably the least of residents' worries.

Monterrey, the sleek capital of Nuevo Leon state, is said to be in danger of "falling" to organized crime.

The city is beset by shootouts, armed robberies and "mass panic" incidents over any sign of danger.

More than 400 people have been killed in the state so far this year, compared with 315 in the same period of 2011, one local news report said. Extortion by cartels or petty criminals is believed to be widespread. And, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable from 2009, "all of the region's police forces are controlled by organized crime."

A culture of fear is evident. A shootout near a mall last month forced panicked shoppers to remain inside stores in confusion, a now-familiar scene in the city. In 2010, five people died during a stampede at a concert in the suburb of Guadalupe after shots were heard.

All of this is leading to what some call an exodus from Monterrey, a brain drain that includes businesspeople, artists and young professionals. Most are said to be moving to Mexico City or to nearby Texas.

Guzman, a native of the southern state of Oaxaca, plans to return home this year. Despite a good job with a U.S.-based company, he said, the security situation is forcing him to reconsider his long-term goals involving life in Nuevo Leon.

He moved here in 2006 to enroll at the Monterrey Institute of Technology, one of Mexico's most prestigious universities. The high concentration of top industrial companies in the region nearly guaranteed rich job prospects after graduation, making Monterrey more attractive at the time than crowded Mexico City.

"My parents didn't want me to go to Mexico City because Mexico City was considered crazy and insecure," he said. "And now, it's more insecure here."

Jose Juan Cervantes, a researcher at the Nuevo Leon state university, said efforts by private or public census workers to figure out exactly how many people have left the region have been stymied because residents hesitate to give out information on their whereabouts, and insecurity on roads outside the city prevents investigators from visiting towns that are said to be nearly empty.

"We know people are leaving to the U.S. or other parts of Mexico that are calmer, and not just businesspeople, people of the middle class. But ... we don't have a solid number," Cervantes said. "We don't know yet because it's a line of investigation that we are not really exploiting for the same reason — the war" with the drug cartels.

Monterrey is scarred by the conflict.

Bullet holes mark the green exterior walls of the Cafe Iguana, a music venue in the once-vibrant Barrio Antiguo neighborhood near downtown. Four people were killed in an attack there in May.

The Casino Royale, where 52 people died when suspected drug traffickers set it afire in August, still stands. It is a ghostly structure where mourners were seen recently placing flowers in memory of the victims.

Diana Figueroa, 23, a Monterrey native who studies international relations at the Institute of Technology and also works with the local chapter of Amnesty International, said regios, as locals are nicknamed, are often hesitant to protest the violence or corruption in the city.

"You invite people to a demonstration or something, and they say, 'I don't have time' or 'I think I help out more by doing my job well,'" she said.

Observers say some regions that presumably have pacts with criminal groups are kept "safe," but other areas seemingly live under an unofficial curfew, in fear of kidnappings and attacks on women.

Monterrey "is a good place to live and to study," said Guzman, the industrial engineer, of the adopted city he will soon leave. But "there was more security [before].... I don't know. I think now it's evolving."