Forty five years ago I went on a tour of Mexico City, Taxco, and Acapulco. I had a wonderful time. All three places were filled with interesting things to see and taste. An acquaintance from Mexico City says those days are gone now. It’s not safe to visit there anymore. The killing of a French tourist at the airport confirms her words.
A favorite place for sightseeing, when visiting San Diego, was Tijuana, Mexico. San Diego has a wonderful light rail trolley system that includes a ride to the Mexican border. You can board the trolley at the Old Town station and ride to the border gate for $2.50. It’s a bargain when you consider there is free parking at the Old Town station. At the border you walk over the boulevard on a pedestrian ramp, through a revolving metal gate and you are in Mexico. An easy 10 minute walk takes you to the main street of Tijuana. We don’t go there now. Many friends have also stopped visiting.
The Los Angeles Times has had too many stories of people being held up, kidnapped, and murdered in Mexico. The perpetrators are gangs. It is not just Tijuana, it is all of Mexico. A couple from Southern California liked motor homing to Rosarito Beach and San Felipe on the Gulf of California. After being held captive and being beaten they finally obtained their release. They have told their story on Los Angeles television. Check tours to Mexico and you will find there are none to Mexico City because the crime against tourists is too high.
Here is a quotation from the U.S, State Department about crime in Mexico
“CRIME: Crime in Mexico continues at high levels, and it is often violent, especially in Mexico City, Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey, Acapulco, and the state of Sinaloa. Other metropolitan areas have lower, but still serious, levels of crime. Low apprehension and conviction rates of criminals contribute to Mexico’s high crime rate. U.S. citizen victims of crime in Mexico are encouraged to report the incident to the nearest police headquarters and to the nearest U.S. consular office.”
How different is Mexico from Somalia where the United States failed to bring any kind of peace? Remember “Blackhawk Down?” Somalia has no organized government. Mexico does. Somalia is the home of pirates that attack on both land and sea. Mexico has drug cartels that kill each other and anyone else who gets in their way. As reported in the Los Angeles Times the U.S. Joint Forces Command recommended that Mexico be monitored alongside Pakistan as a “weak and failing” state that could crumble swiftly under relentless assault by violent drug cartels.
February 3, 2009
The latest news is the unfortunate killing of three people outside of Cancun, Mexico.
Coast Contact 