Down Ole Mexico Way

[jackrobinryan]

Traveled all over the world in the last 30 yrs.

I wouldn't naively go hiking in Iraq near the border w/ Iran and expect international support when I or my companions were arrested, however unjustly.

And I wouldn't drive my expensive motorhome across our border, thru an inarguably dangerous area to get to nice and safe beaches that I could easily fly to or see later. Just ain't worth it.

Not interested in being a story on GMA.

[Orchardhill]

My entire working career was working overseas, Libya, Iran, Saudi,projects in Iraq, Punched holes in this ole earth bout every where. So what. Heres a little quiz, with the exception of one or possibly two responders,, each of you write down how your answer was in any was relevant to the QUESTION, ah ah no peeking. when done read all the replies and the look to
SEE WHAT THE QUESTION WAS.
Forums are for answering questions. or WHEN asked give opinions on a specified subject.maybe need to start a new forum called, ALL good answers to questions not asked.
BTW, yes it is worthy of being cautious these days, maybe even change routes and not go through the most dangerous ones, yes it can be done.
Miss Mexico and you do miss a lot if your a traveler. Can't remember exactly how it goes exactly, better to be quiet and make people wonder how smart you are than open mouth and let them know.

[Elkhartjim]

I certainly hope and pray that those that chose to go to Mexico enjoy the heck out of it. I never thought it that great when it was safer. From what I recall from the op, he/she wanted some first hand information and I'm not sure they ever posted back. I pray they are not another number.

[RustyJC]

Originally Posted by Orchardhill

Tis the time of year we usually go down for our first of several months trips. Usually head to Zacatecas, San Miguell etc way through Columbia near laredo. Anyone been through lately. Encounter any problems security or other wise? Passer by's told us Mex authority only allowed them 1 vehicle, even though both were in respective names, been through many times. Had to leave Toad in rental space in Laredo.
Thanks

Looks to me like the posts have been pretty responsive in light of the above as they addressed current security conditions along the border. Sorry if you don't like the responses.

Rusty

[MickBrennan]

Oh, uh, it is way harder to change dollars for pesos. That's what I meant to say.

[azloafer]

Drug violence, deaths in Mexico have spread to once-safe regions

09:16 AM CDT on Sunday, June 20, 2010

By LAUREN VILLAGRAN / Special Correspondent
MEXICO CITY – Best known for the sleepy beach towns that dot its coastline, Mexico's western state of Nayarit is now facing the kind of brutal drug violence that has plagued the Texas-Mexico border for years.
Nayarit is just north of Puerto Vallarta, a destination point for many Americans, where year-round sunshine nourishes beaches and ample fields of tomatoes, pinto beans and tobacco.
But on Friday, Nayarit Gov. Ney González Sánchez abruptly suspended the school year 15 days early as frantic parents expressed concerns about an unusual spike in violence, including a shootout in a shopping center parking lot.
So far this year, the number of killings in Nayarit has topped 100 – more than in the past four years combined, with 30 in just the past week.
"I really thought the situation would have improved by now," said Phil Williams, an expert on organized crime at the University of Pittsburgh. "The violence remains part of the ongoing realignment" among cartels, which became acute after the federal government took down kingpin Arturo Beltrán Leyva six months ago.
Nationwide, the bloodshed has gone from bad to worse, and regions once considered safe are succumbing to violence. From the western state of Michoacán, where 12 federal agents were killed on Monday, to the tourist town of Taxco, where 55 bodies were uncovered in an abandoned mine, to the embattled northern border, the killings have continued and no end is in sight.
On Friday, officials in the resort city of Cancún said the remains of 12 people had been found in nearby caverns. The dead were believed to be victims of the paramilitary group known as the Zetas.
On Saturday, gunmen struck near the Texas border, killing the mayor of Guadalupe, Jesús Manuel Lara Rodríguez, as he left his home in nearby Ciudad Juárez.
Overall, more than 300 people were killed in the past week, bringing the number of killings nationwide to more than 5,200 in the first six months of 2010, according to the Mexico City newspaper Reforma.
"We're in a situation in which the country is seeing acts of violence not seen in 100 years, not since the revolution," said Juan Francisco Torres Landa, general secretary of the organization Mexicans United Against Delinquency. "It's unacceptable."
President Felipe Calderón's decision to send more than 40,000 soldiers into cities and towns to combat drug cartels has been controversial from the start. Once held up as a national icon, the military has been plagued by complaints of human rights abuses.
Anger over military abuses reached a head recently after Mexico's National Human Rights Commission found that soldiers had killed two boys, ages 5 and 9, in the northern state of Tamaulipas, bordering Texas.
The commission's findings contradicted the military's own inquiry, which concluded that the boys were killed by a grenade during a clash between the military and criminal gangs.

[azloafer]

I am sorry if this article is a duplicate posting. Joe

[MickBrennan]

AzLoafer, your other post was preceded by a link to this article. Lauren Villagran reports on Mexico for GlobalPost and other U.S.-based media.

[Vegasdan]

From AP today:MEXICO CITY —
Gunmen killed 15 people at a car wash Wednesday in a Mexican Pacific coast state where drug-gang violence has risen this year. It was the third massacre in Mexico in less than a week.
The gunmen in three vehicles drove up to the car wash in the city of Tepic and opened fire without provocation, said Fernando Carvajal, public safety secretary of Nayarit state, where the city is located. Fifteen men were killed and three people were injured.
The motive was not immediately clear but investigators suspect it was the work of organized crime, Carvajal told reporters.
He said most of the victims were recovering drug addicts and worked at the car wash. One victim, however, had just driven up to the business in a motorcycle and appeared not to have worked there, and another body was found at a nearby fruit stand.
I rest my case.

[MickBrennan]

Murder rates per 100,000 people.
Mexico 15.3
Houston 18.0

So statistically and by the reasoning so many have promoted here everybody should avoid Texas and not take a chance driving through Houston to get anywhere.

Right?

Sorce

[akadeadeye]

Originally Posted by Vegasdan

Let's hope he's not "carrying" south of the border. They really frown on anyone who tries to bring a weapon down there. "Frown" meaning a long jail sentance.

Frown and Jail Sentence is only the beginning. If your family member is jailed for a weapons or ammunition violation (read.........even one .22 caliber bullet), they go to jail and family members are contacted later for "upgrade" possibilities to the tune of several thousand dollars per month (extortion). The upgrades have to do with a concrete floor versus a dirt floor jail cell.

This has happened to two families I know. It is a really bad situation.

One person spent $39,000 to get out of jail, after extorting his family for 4 months, because of one 20 gauge shotgun shell found in his Suburban. He had no idea it was there. It was a left over from a dove hunting trip.

Don

[UFO Pilot]

Originally Posted by MickBrennan

Murder rates per 100,000 people.
Mexico 15.3
Houston 18.0

So statistically and by the reasoning so many have promoted here everybody should avoid Texas and not take a chance driving through Houston to get anywhere.

Right?

Sorce

I can carry my shotgun in the MH in Texas.

[MickBrennan]

@ Dan, On your travels are you planning to avoid cities with a crime rate higher than Las Vegas or Mexico? They would include, among others; Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Memphis, Baltimore, D.C. Milwaukee, New Orleans, Atlanta, Oakland and Miami.

@ W Thomas, We are originally from NJ. Doesn't everybody have something under the seat?

[UFO Pilot]

You can't carry a shell, let alone a gun into Mexico.