Tourists shun crime-hit Mexico beaches

[sarcasmo]

Source: AP

IF you have any family traveling to Mexico make sure you warn them what is going on down their.

Snip< Surfers and kayakers are frightened to hit the waters of the northern stretch of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, long popular as a weekend destination for U.S. tourists. Weddings have been canceled. Lobster joints a few steps from the Pacific were almost empty on the usually busy New Year's weekend


Snip< News of harrowing assaults on American tourists has begun to overshadow that appeal in the northern part of the peninsula, home to drug gangs and the seedy border city of Tijuana. The comparatively isolated southern tip, with its tony Los Cabos resort, remains safer and is still popular with Hollywood celebrities, anglers and other foreign tourists.


Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080105/ap_on_bi_ge/mexico_frightened_tourists

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080105/ap_on_bi_ge/mexico_frightened_tourists

[lovuian]

1. this is what happens when a country turns lawless

chaos and all suffer

thats why people want order

[BajaInsider]

4. Far from Lawless yet freedon reigns here more

Oooo I bet your from Texass and and NRA Memeber? Yo really need to travel abroad more and particularly visit Mexico more than 100 miles from the border. Border areas on both sides are cespools, Mexico is a very beautiful, lawful country with stringent environmental laws. I grant there are areas that could use a little more federal intervention and stability (the border area and certain parts of Sinaloa east of Mazatan, which are controlled by cartells) MExico is behind in development, I would compare these areas to Boston and Chicago in the 1930 and NYC in the 1970's and Miami in the 1980s. There are just places Cops (who aren't always the good guys, like the South in the 1950's and 60's) are afraid to go. The animosity between the police and civilians is a problem, which may rear it's head again in the US with the current series of tramplings on the Constitution. Many people see the police as the enemy and in fact it is conjectured that some of the recent attacks were carried out by fired TJ police. Several arrests have been made.

[Zorra]

2. I have a house down there, and I live there much of the time.

Mexico, it seems to me, is in a serious recession. Crime appears to be driven by poverty, the recession, and widespread meth abuse, and has increased steadily and very substantially in the last 2 years.

I love rural Baja because, IMO, it is "wide open" and very free compared to the US - but I worry that these scumbag meth freak criminals are going to ruin this beautiful place, and cause it to turn into a pseudo-authoritarian police state similar to what the US has become under Bu*h.

[BajaInsider]

3. Violence in Mexico is Old News

It's interesting how this 2-4 month old story keeps popping up in the news. Perhaps the suffering SoCal Real Estate mogles are trying to stem the tide of Americans (250 per day) that are moving to Mexico for more affordable medial, lower cost of living and generally safer situtations (without the fear of imaginary terrorists). During the same time period of these 13 attacks in Mexico, 27 similar attacks occured JUST IN CALIFORNIA STATE AND NATIONAL PARKS!!!

Don't be stupid and try to find to most off the beaten path place to camp. One of the most publicized attacks occurred at 1AM while parked waiting to cross the border (too tired to drive) DOWN BY THE TJ Bull ring!!! I won't go there at 1 in the afternoon just like I wouldn't walk down Clark Street in San Diego at 1AM !!! North Americans are usually a bit nieve about these things, I won't camp in an isolated spot in 80% of the countries I've visited, save the US, Canada and England (parts) Folks in the USA pay 33% of their income plus other taxes for this luxury. In Mexico, your income tax is 10% and my property tax on a nice home is $87 PER YEAR. We don't pay for that kinda infrastructure, we are left to our own common sense. Something more than 3/4 of these reports I have read seem to lack in the victims.

Mexico is booming right now, housing price % gains make southern California look like Watts, yet prices are still reasonable. The credit boom ( folks really just got credit nationwide down here) is bring development to the whole of the Baja peninsula at an explosive rate. Luxury Condos over 1 Million USD are not the least bit unusual.

All of these attacks occurred more than three months ago. Police have been replaced and the military is regularly patrolling Hwy 1 from TJ to El Rosario. Going out to look for that isolated place could still land you in trouble. As far as I am aware, there has not been a new attack in more than 45 days

The overwhelming ignorance of some posts is amazing, Mexico is FAR from Lawless and in most repects still honors Freedom and Privacy to a far greater degree than the prodding long arm of the USA.

And Mexico doesn't spend billions killing innocents abroad either...

Besos from Baja California Sur http://www.bajainsider.com for more Mexico travel information

[aikoaiko]

5. can you answer or point me in the right direction to ,,,,

....what are the gun laws for a immigrant resident of mexico?

[douglas9]

6. You are probably out of luck...

Best check with the nearest Mexican Consular Office...

http://www.mexonline.com/consulate.htm