Tourism in Mexico

From what I have read and observed in my loacal news is that Mexico is not the place to go for vacation. 2 Canadians have been killed recently in Mexico and their deaths got very little investigation from the Mexican side and still are unsolved. There is so many cases of missing people, coruption and violence against tourists that I really hope Mexico realizes its shooting itself in the foot!

I know alot of people in my area and they all have said they will never vacation in Mexico ever after what happend to that Canadian kid that was killed very recent. Its been happening for a long time though and compared to other vacation spots Mexico is just to dangerous and their police seem to be in on it!!! When mexico is even more poor then it already is then they can blame all their corupt people for their starvation and poverty because people refuse to go to a country where they are most likely to be robbed,kidnapped or even killed!

Mexico really needs to get its act together!

Originally posted by Slickinfinity
From what I have read and observed in my loacal news is that Mexico is not the place to go for vacation. 2 Canadians have been killed recently in Mexico and their deaths got very little investigation from the Mexican side and still are unsolved.

How many mexicans have been killed in the US without much media coverage?

There is so many cases of missing people, coruption and violence against tourists that I really hope Mexico realizes its shooting itself in the foot!

I think that mexicans are more concerned about the corruption and violence directly affecting them, rather than tourism. There's more in mexico than a place for tourists.

Nygdan, what u say is true but wont their country go further into poverty if they cant fix one of their best moneymakers? I dunno whats goin on but around where I live a few conversations were struck about this subject and from what I hear people are goin elsewhere for vacation when Mexico used to be the place to go. I know their local people suffer greatly at the hands of coruption and its the same corrupt people that kill our citezen tourists. I just want to bring as much attention to the matter as I can and especialy if anyone is going there I would hope they remain aware of their surroundings at all times. In my honest opinion Mexico's police are the most corrupt on the planet and that makes for a dangerous place!

I suppose it depends where exactly in Mexico those guys were killed.
I was in Mexico (Yucatan Peninsula) for 10 days after Christmas and into the New Year. Travelled around a lot and never had any problems anywhere we went.
Mexico city is one place I'd avoid and have been advised to do so by Mexican friends that we stayed with in Cancun. It can be dnagerous in some areas with bandits hijacking cars but that goes for the locals too.

Is it really so dangerous? Maybe, but I could get robbed and shot on some of London's streets just for being a white guy in the wrong place. I could get shot, stabbed, beaten up in many places

The government may wish to save their tourism but they have been bought by others who could care less if every tourist in the country were shot. Ever since the big Colombian cartels went the way of the dinosaurs in the 90s the cartels in Mexico became more powerful to the point where they are the biggest players in the narco world - and they pretty much own the country now. Since the early part of the new century a war has been waged by Osiel Cardenas and his Gulf cartel against El Chapo Guzman and his Sinaloa cartel. Much of the fighting has been over who controls the plaza at the border crossing at Laredo, Texas. Nuevo Laredo is no longer a place you want to get caught in - day or night.

The violence was ratcheted up in the late 90s when Mexico sent underpaid special forces soldiers to the state of Tamaulipas to destroy the Gulf cartel. Many of these GAFES had been trained by Israeli and French special forces - some even rumored to have attended the School of the Americas in Georgia. Osiel Cardenas offered them triple or more what they were being paid as soldiers and ended up buying himself about 30 or so GAFES who were renamed the Zetas. The Zetas not only brought the use of even more exotic weaponry to the game but more importantly they came with a higher degree of discipline and training. The cartels never had more deadly assasins before the Zetas and it forced the Gulf cartel's enemies to acquire their own versions of the Zetas.

Much of the fighting in and around Nuevo Laredo in recent years has been between Heriberto Lazcano's Zetas and El Barbie Valdez's Pelones who work for El Chapo. This war has not stayed on the border though. Acapulco is one plaza where the coc aine is brought in from Colombia and as such has become another front in between the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels. The state of Michoacan is also a battleground - especially the port of Lazaro Cardenas which is another off loading point for coc aine. The violence is only getting started. The Zetas are said to be contracting Guatemalan death squads known as Kaibiles while the Pelones have been hiring Mara Salvatruchas. This explains why it is easier to lose your head in the states of Guerrero and Michoacan recently.

Both cartels also own agents in the PGR, the AFI, and even SIEDO. This is to say nothing of the many local police, judges, mayors, and politicians that are bought and paid for. Some even believe that President Fox may have had a hand in allowing Chapo Guzman to escape from a prison in 2001. President Calderon appears to be making an early effort against the cartels but it is too soon to predict the outcome. He may have already been bought and is being used against an opposing cartel or he may be sincere and just hasn't been purchased, killed, or rendered impotent yet. Time will show all.

The bottom line for tourists is this - if you stay away from plazas - locations where drugs are either brought into Mexico from locations south or locations where drugs cross into the U.S., you have a better chance of staying out of harms way. But understand that flare ups are happening anywhere that Zetas and Pelones cross paths. Any location with money and prestige could become a battlefield at any time - the narcos like to play and have the money to do it. If one cartel is there I would not want to hang around waiting for the other cartel to find them.

It is true, when you find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time it could mean your time is up - no matter where you are. But also consider that no matter how much the department of tourism cries to deny it, those odds stack substantially against your favor when you enter the narco democracy of Mexico.

How could I have forgotten. If you think things aren't spinning crazily out of control down there go do a search for Zeta, Barbie, Chapo, Sinaloa, or Gulfo on YouTube. It's not enough to do battle in the streets with AKs, AR-15s, and RPGs - these guys have become more sophisticated by putting their handiwork for all to see on YouTube. Yes, I did say sophisticated. In doing so they are entrenching themselves deeper into the culture with these PR campaigns - they are becoming legendary. This also ties in with narcocorridos.

Valentin Elizalde was the golden rooster, a popular norteno singer. You notice that I said was. He was killed in November after a performance in Gulf cartel territory where he sang his song A Mis Enemigos (To My Enemies) twice. The golden rooster was known for singing narcocorridos praising El Chapo Guzman as Valentin was also from the state of Sinaloa. This did not help his case but probably did not get him killed. Within the months before his final performance in Reynosa (Gulf territory) a video appeared on YouTube praising El Chapo and showing footage of dead Zetas. The video was set to Valentin's song A Mis Enemigos. It was vowed by the Zetas that the golden rooster would die for this insult. Sure enough they killed him, his manager, and his driver 20 minutes after singing A Mis Enemigos for the second time that night.

Wow Duck I dint know it was that bad and I personaly think countries like Canada and the USA should openly discourage their citizens from touring Mexico until the country cleans up its corruption. Not only is it more dangerous for tourists but the drugs they battle to control end up killing and sending our youth down a very ugly path. If I was a politician I would openly criticize the situation in Mexico and warn about travel there as it seems to just be getting worse.

The Mexicans have something to say about the problem - if you took away all the customers who pay crazy amounts of money to buy the illegal drugs there would be no reason for the cartels to form and exist. It is hard to argue against the case they present - no one is being forced to take drugs at the prices that they sell for. As they say down there: Poor Mexico, so far from heaven, so close to the United States.

Now I'm not being soft on Mexico, they have all kinds of problems that are nobody's fault but their own and corruption in the political system and law enforcement has always been a big one. My point is that with all the problems they have the narcotraficantes are one more huge problem that they don't need. And while it is their problem it will not be for long - sooner or later it WILL spill over onto our side of the border. Although I'm not aware of anyone collecting on the bounty yet the Zetas have offered as much as $50,000 for anyone bringing them the head of a Texas lawman.