State Dept. Issues Travel Warning for Mexico

AP ^ | 26 Jan 05 | Associated Press

[Route101]

Why travel to Mexico?....you can see all of the Mexicans you ever wanted to see right here!...get it?

[cyncooper]

I got it the first time, and I made an apt analogy illustrating the absurdity of your comment.

[dalereed]

"Bribery will take you where you need to go in Mexico."

Deal with Spanish and not mexicans and you don't have to bribe anyone.

The only time in all the years that I have spent in Mexico, racing, marlin fishing, doing business, the only time that I had to make a payoff, called a fine that was demanded in cash with no receipt from the commandante in Laretto for landing after dark I got the fat SOB thrown in jail by the Secretary of Transportation.

[OB1kNOb]

Can travel warnings for Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Kalifornicate be far behind? Our government is just whistling through the graveyard, and it is going to cost us dearly.

[cpdiii]

If one takes up a Tally of Mexico's resources you realize what a vastly wealthy country it is. Oil, Gas, Minerals, Metal Ores, vast expanses of land that is suited for farming. Not all of Mexico is dry like the North of Mexico. In the South great stretches of Forests. On a per capita basis there is more wealth in Mexico than the United States. Mexico's problem is corruption and narco violence corruption. Until this is solved it will be a hell hole for its citizens.

I would like to take issue with some of the comments on this thread. The majority of the Mexicans are good people and hard working.

My wife is from Mexico and we are both fluent. We do not go there anymore. It is too dangerous. A trip to Cozumel or Cancun would be very safe but I have no desire to hang around with a bunch of tourists. Years ago I would drive around Mexico. I would not even consider that today.

[Reba703]

"Unless there are some compelling business reasons, I'm not sure why Americans visit Mexico, and I say this as someone who was pressured into visiting last month by my relatives."

Tiajuana...

[mrobison]

This is what we have to look forward to when the Reconquista folks bring Aztlan back north of the border in all its glory.

[rahbert]

Mexico did not have an easy time of it becoming a nation state. For various reasons civil society never developed
to the same extent as in the US.

Of course drug use in the US fosters a skewed value
system in drug producing/trafficing countries and has undermined
their legal systems/sense of justice.

My wife spent years in the interior of Mexico and
urges that the frontera not be taken as representative
of the country as a whole.

[nana4bush]

I just had someone tell me yesterday that they are going for dental work in Mexico next week. A very nice man & his wife . This was the first I ever heard of this. Apparently dental work that costs $6000 could be done for $1000 there. This travel warning does not bode well for their visit.

[ravingnutter]

The president's proposal was critiqued by Representative James Sensenbrenner, who says it lacks detail.

Ummmm...it was supposed to lack detail you dimwit (Sensenbrenner, not you, JAS) he clearly stated in his Jan 07 speech that Congress would hammer out the details. Bush submitted NO legislation on immigration, just a broad outline in that speech and that went over like a lead balloon in Congress, who essentially declared it DOA now and forever (Tancredo referenced lipstick on a pig) . If I hear one more person complain about Bush's "amnesty plan" I am going to lose it...

[Lady Heron]

Intellectually impressive.

[superiorslots]

My wife and I just came back from Cozumel. I was walking down the touristy street where they sell all the jewelry junk and a mexican asked me to buy some stuff. I told him politely I was not interested. He then said "o.k. cheap gringo" I was about to really tell him off but noticed a police officer standing about 30 yards away looking at us...so I did not say anything.

If I was alone with him I would have beat that little sh*t.

I refuse to go to anymore 3rd world countries where the locals bombard/badger you to buy their junk. Same thing happened in out cruise to the Bahamas. Our next cruise will be Alaska or Nova Scotia.

[Spirited]

I repeat, "I hope you are right".

[daybreakcoming]

Oh drats - I was hoping for some insider information. :o) My request to you for facts was sincere btw. We will all hope. There is more riding on her shoulders than meets the eye.

[drdemars]

Yes, dental work is about half what the cost is in the U.S. and I and my wife have had work done. My dentist was German and has now retired. Our last foray to Tiajuana for dental work was our last due to being stopped by a policeman for a illegal left turn. He threatened to have us follow him to the judge and we agreed. He ask us if we were retired and I stated yes with little dinero. He let us go but we were lucky. The dental work is safe but the streets aren't

[TheRatHunter]

Seal the borders tight with all the available military for 6 months. There won't BE a Mexico at the end.

[Hila]

"Why travel to Mexico? You can see all the Mexicans you want right here......." Mexico has wonderful cities and resorts, you just have to go deep enough. The border cities/towns have always been the poorest, most crime-prone zones. And yes, we do see a lot of Mexicans here, but not the ones you can compare to. We see the illiterate, the low class citizens; we don't get to see the Mexicans of illustrious ancestry, those educated in the best Mexican universities, who got their doctorates abroad and those who truly are not only educated, but honorable. Mexico's economic layers are very sharp in contrast and its citizens are very aware of them, the rich are not happy that the "scum" is invading the USA, they know it is a failure of their government. I get my facts from families I know in Mexico City and from the many times my family has happily and safely traveled there. We, however, have never desired to visit the border because we know that is another world - the underworld.

[Hila]

Very truthful statements. The person who claimed that other countries in Central and South America love the USA, is very unrealistic. Why, it is from Central and South America that the big time narco traffic stems from. South Americans for the most part dislike Americans and it is less safe to visit places like Colombia, Brazil,Peru, etc. We are getting from Mexico their law-breakers, their uneducated, because our law enforcers do not wish to punish them. The law of the land is not being enforced, when will this change, will there be a politician who will truly care about the USA?

[chronic_loser]

bullhockey. I HITCHIKED through Mexico and spent almost a month on the road. My experiences were wonderful. Kind, warm, friendly people who insisted on GIVING me things (to eat, places to sleep, rides) even though I was carrying in my backpack more money than many of them made in a year.

Last year I took my 74 year old mother on a cruise. We stopped at Cancun, and for a day, I rented a car and took her out in the Yucatan, away from the tourist spots, just tooling around, visiting some places, and eating in some non-tourist restaurants. They were so kind a respectful to her it was amazing (I speak enough spanish to get by, and they seemed to be more friendly to HER because of this). The attitudes of freepers towards mexicans because of the immigration problems we have (legit problems) is disgusting.

[monday]

"They hate us as much as the muslims do...."

Thats not true. Mexicans don't hate us at all, generally. There are a lot more criminals in Mexico than there were 15 to 20 years ago though. This is primarily due to to all the money to be made in the illegal drug trade and to a slightly lesser extent human smuggling. It has made criminals out of many who would have otherwise led relatively normal lives.

Power and money corrupt, and there is a lot of both in the illegal narcotics trade. What we are seeing is basically the Columbiazation of Mexico. Drug money long ago made Columbia basically ungovernable, it is doing the same to Mexico.

If drugs were made legal and distributed by pharmacy, most of the money financing these criminal gangs would disappear overnight.