Well the government includes tons of people. Its hard to depend on all of them when the cartels can offer them a lot more money than the country can. The fact that it's "not that big of a country" actually works against them, since it would take less people to challenge authority. Really, more than anything, it's that they are in a bad position on the world map.
cancun really isnt all that safe, even by mexico standards - plus its more americanized than america. ive been traveling down in mexico just about every year for the last 10 - seen more of it than i have of my own country. and ive never been in a position where i felt in danger. the border is a dangerous area right now, even into monterrey, which i have been to several times - but the rest of the country is fine, or at least as fine as its ever been. i went to villahermosa, chiapas and guatemala in june and had absolutely zero problems. people there were great - it was totally safe. we were told everywhere we went that they were surprised to see americans - hardly any come down anymore - its mostly europeans and actually met a few israelis too. in palenque we stayed out in the jungle at some cabins owned by a lady whose son lives in brownsville, but helps her out during the summer - he was telling us how its rare to have americans come down anymore. alot of the fear is blown out of proportion by the media, or at least misdirected. it should be focused on the border, not the country as a whole. ive been to mexico city, monterrey, guadalajara, oaxaca, san cristobal de las casas, merida, cancun, puerta vallarta, puerto escondido, zacatecas, aguas calientes, san luis potosi, real de catorce, nuevo laredo and matamoros to name a few and i can still honestly say that the most dangerous city i have ever been to is h-town!
^ Agree. It's mostly the border that's really dangerous. I've been down to Mexico like 10 times this year, mostly San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas, and Monterrey. Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey can be dangerous at night, so I make sure its daytime when I pass through there on bus. Overall, I'd say the only dangerous states so far have been Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Sinaloa. Everywhere else, It's not as bad as mentioned.
I also knew a guy who owned his own bar down in Matehuala, San Luis Potosi. He was kidnapped back in April by a drug gang from Michoacan, then decapitated. They sent his head to his mom! scary!!! I guess he owed them money. He was really cool though.
But you agree with the sentiment that "the most dangerous town I have been to is h-town"? Just checking.
They do that with peeps who don't even own ANYTHING. They study their victims well before they act upon them.
I have family down there that own a Pharmacy. Good decent people that are fairly successful. They get robbed at gun point every single month and there is nothing they can do about it. Mexico is a sad place to live.
Not if it happens every single month at the same spot/location.. The Police will probably patrol that area every once in awhile...
Uhhhh... it's called U.S. immigration, sir. No joke. My family and ancestors are here from way before it "got ugly" recently.
Ron, I also have some cousin that owned a pharmacy in Matamoros. He had to close it down because he was threatened by some gang to give them money or else. There's nothing they can do about it because cops won't do a damn thing. Also, I just came back from a vacation in Mexico. I went to Chiapas, Veracruz, and Cancun, etc. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I never felt like I was in danger, except for that one time we were at Pelenque which we were told was full of Zapatistas. We were the only obvious looking tourists and I just had an uncomftarble feeling while I was there. I felt like everyone was staring at us, waiting for the right time to stab us or something.
