Mexico is Way More Screwed than You Think

originally posted by: kazike
a reply to: cdesigns
So you went to a desert road in the middle of nowhere and wanted to feel safe?, and because of that you will never be back?

Say I go to east Puerto Rico, Bayamon for example, will I feel pretty safe there?, police would not try to bribe me if I happen to speed?, should I say everybody I know that Puerto Rico sucks because of that?

Puerto Rico is Disney compared to Mexico, both have the good and bad areas, but my experience in Mexico wasn't good........ traveling to resorts and turist areas is fine sometimes but I wasn't traveling to those places. I was going to different parts of Mexico that were not for tourists. We had to fly to a very small airport that was protected by the military and one of our hotels had military people protecting it "Juarez" because of recent american citizen kidnapings.

a reply to: cdesigns

That is not entirely true. Puerto Rico has become much more dangerous over the last 10years+. My friends who are from there can confirm this. San Juan has places that are not safe.

Nothing like Disney....

a reply to: ATODASO

I agree fully. There have been close to 150,000 Mexicans (civilians, cartel, military) killed in mexico since 2006. To put that in perspective, there have been only 6,717 US armed forces deaths in the global war on terror since 2001. The number of people killed in Syria since 2011 has been 108,871. What is going on in Mexico is essentially a civil war: The government against the cartels, the cartels against the cartels, the cartels against the people, and some people vs the government. It is a mess, and the media is refusing to call it what it is: the real "war on drugs". I actually refute my statement about the conflict being a civil war. It is a war of corporations (cartels) against a sovereign nation. Sad.

Jeez, i actually am terrified to even travel there, and i've wanted to visit Mexico for over 10 years now.

But...Do we have any proof on that? That the situation is that serious ?
Yes, sure the Cartel has been cooking their plans for a long time now, but when they are with the government or are the government...

What would be the next steps to help this country?

Sure i'd start sharing information first, but what information? Can we maybe dig into this further? Gather some intel, put together a video showing how there really is ? Who'd have guts to gather info on Cartel and such ?

I sincerely hope all the good to all the good people in mexico...

a reply to: Smexy

The reality is many areas of the US are more dangerous than Mexico. Mexico is not a war zone. The beaches are still beautiful and attract tourist from all over the world.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

It's completely true. I live in an are that is over 80% hispanic, with some people I have met actually having family in the cartel. I have heard stories that completely reinforce this claim. Skepticism is admirable and is why we are all here, but on this subject you are incorrect. I mean, why do you think reporters have military escorts rather than police escorts in Mexico? It's because the cop will take them and kill them, or kidnap them. In 2008 I was going to a continuation school, and all of the other students were hispanic gangsters. They told me if I go to Mexico I'm just an idiot, and basically warned me of being kidnapped. When I laughed and said well it's not like my family has money, they said, "Then they will just kill you." Again, this is hearsay, but coming from multiple sources with no association should give you a hint how real this is. The cartel IS Mexico. They will kill musicians just for mentioning their names, for example, Valentin Elizalde.

a reply to: jrod

Why don't you just talk a nice stroll down to Mexico then. The reason areas in the US may seem more dangerous is because people are actually able to report on them. The cartel does an incredible job of working in the shadows, and killing anybody who leaks information, or opposes them. I think anybody from California to Texas will more than likely understand this situation better than anybody.

a reply to: cdesigns
Well if your stories are true then I have only one thing to say, your company management is very cheap and irresponsible and I strongly recommend you never going back while working for them, putting you in risky hotels, desert roads in the middle of the night, etc. is not a best practice anywhere in the world.

Just for comparison the company where I work put their guests on an hotel located only 1/4 of a mile away from the factory and a company driver is always available to drive them to any place they need, the drivers were sent to Mexico City to be trained and certified in defensive driving, not because there is a lot of risk around here but because is a company policy to put our guests in hands of professionals, all of the company cars have GPS security devices and are tracked 24/7 by our own security personnel. I had been sent to Juarez multiple times in the last years and the same level of care is provided by our factory located there, they even drive you to El Paso Texas malls for shopping if you want to.

I've got to wonder, what with over a million US retirees living in Mexico and spending their Social Security and pensions there, if at least some of the scare tactics are to prevent even more people from vacating the joys of high taxes, high housing costs, and crummy weather north the border and joining them?

I've been researching moving to Mexico and while there are obviously problems there, there's massive problems in the U.S. too, not the least of which is our impending dollar collapse and militarized police departments. For anyone who can see the writing on the wall, it makes Germany in 1939 look like a walk in the park.

I haven't decided yet if I want to take my chances with an increasingly thuggish police state, or a wild west cartel state. I'm not even sure which is which anymore, but central Mexico has perfect weather. The U.S., ... not so much and getting worse.

originally posted by: jrod
a reply to: cdesigns

That is not entirely true. Puerto Rico has become much more dangerous over the last 10years+. My friends who are from there can confirm this. San Juan has places that are not safe.

Nothing like Disney....

Well my family lives there and I go twice a year and like any other place here in the US you have the bad and good places, police corruption is not visible everyday like in mexico. Puerto Rico is much safer than Mexico thats for sure.

originally posted by: kazike
a reply to: cdesigns
Well if your stories are true then I have only one thing to say, your company management is very cheap and irresponsible and I strongly recommend you never going back while working for them, putting you in risky hotels, desert roads in the middle of the night, etc. is not a best practice anywhere in the world.

Just for comparison the company where I work put their guests on an hotel located only 1/4 of a mile away from the factory and a company driver is always available to drive them to any place they need, the drivers were sent to Mexico City to be trained and certified in defensive driving, not because there is a lot of risk around here but because is a company policy to put our guests in hands of professionals, all of the company cars have GPS security devices and are tracked 24/7 by our own security personnel. I had been sent to Juarez multiple times in the last years and the same level of care is provided by our factory located there, they even drive you to El Paso Texas malls for shopping if you want to.

I no longer work for that company but we went there to explore new sales methods and see some factories that uses our products, it was our first trip and more precautions could have been made but we just had to deal with a very tight schedule and traveling at night was necesary........Something I found interesting was the security in all the factories we visited, similar to visiting someone in jail, we need it to register our laptops amd phones, be escorted 24/7, register our passports etc.. All of this factories were technology related so maybe was one of the reasons, but in the US we only sign a visitor sheet and thats it.

a reply to: cdesigns
In technology companies confidentiality and information security is very important, you have to sign non-disclosure agreements, can't use cameras, flash drives, cellphones if they interfere with the frequencies of RF test equipment, can't connect visitor's laptop or smartphones to regular company network, etc. I'm an IT Manager and have to deal with those processes to meet ISO 27001 and other required standards.

originally posted by: kazike
a reply to: cdesigns
In technology companies confidentiality and information security is very important, you have to sign non-disclosure agreements, can't use cameras, flash drives, cellphones if they interfere with the frequencies of RF test equipment, can't connect visitor's laptop or smartphones to regular company network, etc. I'm an IT Manager and have to deal with those processes to meet ISO 27001 and other required standards.

Yeap that must be it, no flash drives etc. They did a better job about security than most factories here in the US lol. The goverment is the one who needs a fresh start to better control the Cartels.

originally posted by: Murgatroid

originally posted by: Ironclad2000
Photo's or it never happened..!! Got any actual proof of all this...

And what if I did?

For some, there is NO amount of proof that will change their beliefs.

Trying to convince those in denial is a complete waste of time.

The bottom line is that there is no proof that will satisfy you so you will continue to believe whatever it is that you believe.

Exactly... There is no proof because there is no Vatican/Mafia/Cartel/CIA conspiracy.

If there were, there would be evidence out there to prove it and in this day and age, that evidence would have been dug up by now.

Besides, what about innocent until "proven", guilty... Works for the rest of us, so I think the Vatican and CIA deserve the same respect. We can safely assume however that the Mafia and Cartels are as guilty as sin, as there has been mountains of evidence to prove it beyond a doubt...lol

Am I in denial...?

No, I am not.

I am just a realist who uses intelligence, logic and reasoning. I live in the real world, as opposed to many conspiracy theorists who live within their own fantastical minds and expect everyone to believe everything they say with a grain of salt.

This doesn't mean I feel that every conspiracy theory out there is just the ramblings of some "tinfoil hat wearing nut bag".

I believe that Monsanto is the "real life version", of the Umbrella Corporation. I believe that 9/11 was an inside job. I believe that the church are a bunch of bigoted paedophiles. I believe that the JFK assassination was an inside job, as well as many other modern conspiracy theories, most of which do not boast a great deal of evidence.

However, there are many plausible and "realistic", reasons for how and why these things happened that do not involve "secret societies, aliens or anti-Christs", with "secret agendas for world domination, extermination, hybridisation...etc".

a reply to: ATODASO
Organ-snatching stories have been floating around Latin America for a long time now, with nothing to back them up.

a reply to: cdesigns

Not for sure. It all depends where you go. Most coastal resort towns are quite safe in Mexico, safer than many places back in the states.

I would only consider the NW coast of PR 'safe' and the tourist part of San Juan, the rest is quite dangerous especially for non-spanish speakers.

a reply to: pennydrops

Exactly, and our borders are wide open. A sieve blocks more than our southern border. The Cartels operate in the US, but maintain a bit more subtlety in their operations for obvious reasons. Should they gain enough power here in the US....

I can see us, at some point in time in the future, invading Mexico to fight cartels since the Mexican govt is ineffective.

Maybe the solution to the Mexico problem is for the US to annex the country. Then go in, kick ass and take names and clean us. Then make them a territory like Porto Rico. They would then have all the benefits of being a state but still be their own country.

a reply to: ATODASO
...which is why my winter vacations are in Cuba, not Mexico!

Plenty of problems in Mexico right now.

But other parts of Latin America are in an upswing:

www.theglobeandmail.com... e17399633/

It ain't all bad.