Posted on 02/24/2009 10:58:06 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY, - The entire local police force in a Mexican beach resort town walked off the job on Monday demanding better pay and benefits to compensate for the rising dangers they face from drug violence.
More than 300 municipal police officers in Zihuatanejo, a town on the Pacific coast north of Acapulco popular with foreign tourists, went on strike after grenades were lobbed at their offices over the weekend.
(snip)
"We are seeing a lot things here that we have never seen before. It is our job to serve the citizens, but we need assurances that our families will be protected if one of us is killed," a member of Zihuatanejo's municipal police told Reuters.
The police want to have direct talks with Calderon to request improved benefits and an increase in their roughly $350 (5,200 pesos) per month salaries before they go back to work.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Mostly 4 door pickups in Reynosa
Balacera en Reynosa - Noticias Cablecom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jag1RMi2E4&feature=related
We cruised the Western coast of Mexico for four years back in the mid ‘90’s and Z town was one of our favorite spots.
Throughout nearly every coastal town (except parts of Mazatlan) we could walk at any time of day or night with confidence and more safety than in Seattle.
The only place we had to be careful about drug runners was a small bay just around the Southern corner of Banderas Bay.
They had high powered pangas to deliver drugs to Cabo San Lucas in Baja.
It was just an overnight anchorage if you didn’t want to do an overnight sail to Chamela, the next stop to the South.
Sometimes cruisers would report gunshots and bullets flying over their boats, an obvious message they should leave immediately, but I don’t remember any kidnappings or robberies taking place.
(One of my cruiser friends was a former power boat racer. He was so curious, he actually asked one of these panga drivers how fast they could make the trip and was astonished to hear that in the right sea conditions, they could average nearly 100 mph. This is OCEAN we’re talking about!)
It’s very sad to hear about the spread of the drug plague.
Mexico will probably collapse in 6 to 12 months
In a bizarre way...this drug violence may actually make it harder to pass illegal alien amnesty....would be harder to liberalize allowing illegals in with all the drug cartels and the like.
Mexico is one big hellhole now
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Among the known or suspected chronic effects of marijuana are:
1. short-term memory impairment and slowness of learning.
2. impaired lung function similar to that found in cigarette smokers. Indications are that more serious effects, such as cancer and other lung disease, follow extended use.
3. decreased sperm count and sperm motility.
4. interference with ovulation and pre-natal development.
5. impaired immune response.
6. possible adverse effects on heart function.
7. by-products of marijuana remaining in body fat for several weeks, with unknown consequences. The storage of these by-products increases the possiblilties for chronic, as well as residual, effects on performance, even after the acute reaction to the drug has worn off. Of special concern are the long-term developmental effects in children and adolescents, who are particularly vulnerable to the drug’s behavioral and psychological effects. The “amotivational syndrome,” characterized by a pattern of energy loss, diminished school performance, harmed parental relationships, and other behavorial disruptions, has been associated with prolonged marijuana use by young persons. Although more research is required, recent national surveys report that 40% of heavy users experience some or all of those symptoms.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001143.htm
Seems to me that it would be a lot easier and quicker for people to simply quit smoking pot if they care as much about the violence as they claim.
Compared to all the wasted years of trying to legalize it have amounted to nothing but simply saying no can be accomplished immediately.
45 posted on 02/15/2009 10:45:19 AM PST by cripplecreek
______________________________________
This is a bust! Keep those hands where we can see them!
We go to Zih about 4x each year. Great place, nice people. The druggies are not local...most come from Michoacan, the state to the north.
We’ll still go, but I’ll stay away from the police station in the future.
Soldiors/sailors with M-16’s on the beach...so what...they’ve been there for the 20-30 years we’ve been going to Mexico. It’s a different society. Get used to it.
Shame is that the entire drug problem is due to US drug policies, and a lot of organized crime on both sides of the border who know how to make a profit from prohibition.
If marijuana was legalized...taxed...sold like booze with similar controls and penalties...the major profit source for the druggies would disappear. Not a perfect solution, but maybe less damage to our society than the current situation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.