Despite Warnings, Mexico Still Draws Americans

FALCON LAKE, Texas (AP) — Despite a bloody drug war raging just across the border, some Americans living near Mexico act as if it’s still a backyard playground.

In the last two weeks alone, two American tourists have been killed in Mexico in vicious attacks — one while riding a Jet Ski and another when his bus was hijacked. And a Mexican police commander investigating one of those deaths was killed this week, his severed head delivered in a suitcase to a local Army post.

But Texas officials keep encouraging boaters to enjoy the bass fishing on a border lake. And Gov. Rick Perry has not urged people to take any special precautions.

Tiffany and David Hartley decided to take Jet Skis across Falcon Lake, which is divided by the border, to photograph a historic church. They were on their way home when pirates opened fire, killing David Hartley, according to his wife.

Just days later, a student from the University of Texas-Brownsville was shot and killed in Mexico. Jonathan William Torres, 19, was one of two people killed when his bus was hijacked in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville.

The State Department has issued repeated travel warnings to Americans traveling to or living in Mexico, with a particular focus on the area just south of the border. The warnings say that kidnappings are occurring at “alarming rates” with U.S. citizens often the target.

See the link to Mexico Vacation Awareness on the right of this screen.