With spring break coming up, it is important for students traveling south of the border to understand the risks involved. It is always important to use common sense and stay away from shady areas, but this year drug violence in Mexico has caused the U.S. Department of State as well as many Colleges and Universities to issue warnings and travel alerts. According to Foxnews.com, the five main drug cartels in Mexico are involved in an increasingly violent war with each other and with Mexican military and police personnel over drug smuggling routes near the border. Although tourists have not specifically been targeted, there have been innocent victims caught in the crossfire.
According to the Travel Alert issued by the U.S. State Department, there have been large firefights throughout the country, but mainly in the north closer to the border. Cities of particular concern are Tijuana, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez, which has seen over 1800 drug-related murders since January 2008. However, there has been drug violence in resort towns such as Acapulco and Cancun, both popular vacation spots. Violent warnings have been sent by the cartels such as dumping headless bodies in the streets. Although the State Department has not gone so far as to warn spring-breakers not to travel to Mexico, they are urging people to use common sense. They don't expect Americans to be targeted and it is generally believed that resorts will remain safe.
This clip from CBS News talks about some of the dangers spring break travelers may face this year in Mexco:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXa-BqB79ZQ
Has the current increase in violence in Mexico caused any of you to alter your spring break plans? Are any of you going to Mexico? If so, where, and what precautions will you take to stay safe? How do you think Mexican and American authorities should handle this? Would you let your children go?
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Before listening to the presentation today in class, I hadn't heard a lot about the drug cartels in Mexico. I was aware that the State Department had sent out a emergency warning to college students on the dangers of Mexixo, but that was about it. I know a number of people who had traveled to Mexico just last week and had no problem, but after watching that video I would be nervous to travel across the border. I wanted to learn more about this drud cartel war so I got home from class and googled it. The first article that popped up was quite intresting becuase it talked about the drug cartels and their public recruiting campaign. Also I learned that the reason for this fight is because the president of Mexico sent army troops into drug hot-spots causing a decrease in drug land, and it is this land that the cartels are fighting for. Here is the link to the USA Today article.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-24-mexicocartels_N.htm
I was surprised to hear Dave's current event speech before break. I have heard about the violence in Mexico, but I wasn't aware of how bad it had gotten. Last year I went to Acapulco with a bunch of my friends, and at that time I had not heard anything about it being unsafe. Though the crime seems to have climbed over the past year, I'm curious as to how bad it has really gotten, or if the media is just giving it more attention. Regardless, I know if I had planned to go to Acapulco again this year, my parents would have felt differently about me going and would probably have made me go somewhere else or even stay at home. It's scary to think that all of this crime is going on, and Mexico is a HUGE place for college students to visit over spring break. Since my plans consist of going to Acapulco next year, I hope things clear up over there, or else I'll have to come up with new plans.
ReplyDeleteI had actually heard about this from my mother. She knew I was going on spring break this year and pretty much told me not to go Mexico. I definitely took this drug war into consideration when I was planning my spring break. I did not know how serious it was and that there had been 1,800 drug cartel related murders. Even with all the violence going on in Mexico some of my friends traveled to Acapulco and they returned unharmed with no scary stories. I think that until these drug wars are under control people should avoid traveling to Mexico at all costs.
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