Is anyone second guessing?

[scubawife]

actually our state dept has issued warnings for several areas, including the area near cancun. a guard in the supermarket was murdered on coz recently.the body of the governor of quintana roo was found rolled up in a rug in a vacant lot next to the scuba club a few years back. i saw newt gingrich talking about this on tv recently. he said there are more violent deaths in mx than iraq. our military is preparing for a possible sudden implosion of mexico's national govt.
we tend to see this as a mexican problem. they want us to see the role drug demand from the north and readily available assault weapons in texas and arizona play. the estimated revenue to mexican druglords smuggling into the usa is $32b us. i would not be surprised if that is far above the govt's ability to spend on anti drug gang efforts there.
does this mean i will stop going? no! but i will not deny the facts. things could unravel very rapidly.

The US government needs to spend more time worrying about our economy not collapsing and doing a better job of sealing up our borders to drug and weapons smuggling. The US is also a big market for the drugs, has been for a long time. Maybe some more time and focus should be spent on how to handle our own problems before we worry so much about what's going on in other countries. If it wasn't so easy to get the drugs into the US then it wouldn't be such big businesses south of the border, would it?

I do follow the Mexican papers online (even if they are more like tabloids...) and I have yet to read anything about a tourist getting killed or attacked in any way due to the drug cartels and their current crime waves. It been limited to officials and those involved in the drug activity. I can think of a dozen places right now in the world that I am not putting on my vacation wish list. Cozumel and the Yucatan are not on that list. When they start running down the streets shooting at each other and innocent bystanders start becoming victims, and/or get random with kidnapping foreigners, then I might reconsider.

Murders and drugs are everywhere. There are other countries that have the US on their travel alert and warning lists for their citizens. Yes, read the warnings and pay attention to the news as it's reported from the places you want to go, but keep it in perspective. And no matter where you go, don't leave your common sense at home.

This is the hot topic on just about every Mexico travel board the past couple weeks. If anyone is that freaked out about being in Mexico because of the drugs and potential of government failure then do yourself and Mexico a favor and stay home or pick another destination. No sense spending your time and money if you're going to be afraid to leave the confines of a resort.

 

[harpua]

Hmm.. maybe instead of staying out of Mexico one should consider staying out of politics/law enforcement/drug trafficing. That sounds like the real problem.

 

[firstdive2005]

I dont have the numbers but I'd bet 90-95% of the drugs that fuel the cartels are sold in the States and Canada. Our laws prohibit illicit drug use and sale. Our laws will not stop the flow of illicit drug into our proximities. I often wonder if legallizing it all is the way to go. Just like booze and perscription only drug use. Seems like the easy way out even though I dont like it. Let those that wish to destroy their lives do it? I guess it creates other industry, drug counselling, etc. What a mess. To some poor Mexican areas the drug cartels are a godsend in that they suppy goods to them. Just like Afghanistan and the poppy plant. The U.S. started paying the farmers not to grow it, but instead start growing food again. Good plan. Where the heck is the egg in this circle. I just think feed the people stop the need.
If we stop visiting Cozumel it will eventually go to pot, to say the least. I live in Edmonton, nice northern Alberta town. Good people ready to reach out. Every day since I came home from Coz Feb 13/09 I have heard either another killing or beating. They are usually crime world related. As a matter of fact, and this is too close to home. My pastor and two others from my Salvation Army church where leaving on a late January night. 3 kids where beating a 4th right outside the door. My pastor yelled at them to stop. The three whipped out knives and started after them. They where incredibly fortunate in the way it ended. Later it was found that they where all high on meth. We try to feed these types of people everyday at our church because if we didnt it would be worse.
My sense is to keep coming back to Coz because I really dont think it is any more violent than home. In fact for some reason I feel safer. We really do. My wife does, thats huge. She will not go to our church at night alone. I believe that when I come to Coz I am stimulating a community with my money. I also make a point of bringing an extra suitcase of humanitarian needs to help that cause also. Maybe the soccer ball I brought to that kid that cant afford one helped one of us not get robbed. At least that is my hope. As well as to bring some fleeting joy to a kid.
I hope the hype does not deter us from the beauty of Coz and some of the best diving of the western world. We, as divers can preserve this place by helping the locals have a good life. Then they would not need the cartel money. jeez did I ever climb onto a box. seeya kev

 

[Nitrox624]

actually our state dept has issued warnings for several areas, including the area near cancun. a guard in the supermarket was murdered on coz recently.the body of the governor of quintana roo was found rolled up in a rug in a vacant lot next to the scuba club a few years back. i saw newt gingrich talking about this on tv recently. he said there are more violent deaths in mx than iraq. our military is preparing for a possible sudden implosion of mexico's national govt.
we tend to see this as a mexican problem. they want us to see the role drug demand from the north and readily available assault weapons in texas and arizona play. the estimated revenue to mexican druglords smuggling into the usa is $32b us. i would not be surprised if that is far above the govt's ability to spend on anti drug gang efforts there.
does this mean i will stop going? no! but i will not deny the facts. things could unravel very rapidly.

I have friends on the island that meet with the local officals reguarly on Marine Park improvements and such and I have never heard this.

 

[Christi]

my information comes from over on the travelnotes cozumel discussion board which is frequented by ex pats who live there at least half time. all of them btw still feel safe.
on the subject of police, they are very positive about the local police (brown uniforms). however, there have been incidents with the federales now on the island (black uniforms). the federales are apparently stopping gringos on minor traffic violations and shaking them down. one incident reported a policeman pointing an automatic weapon at a person for having an unfastened seatbelt. the advice if you get stopped by a federale is to insist on being taken immediately to the police station. the federales have zero authority to enforce traffic violations.
the incident of the murder at a supermarket was reported within the last couple weeks if i remember correctly.
the last 2 times i was on the island, there was a skinny little guy with a motorcycle hawking drugs out of a parking lot across from aldora. my buddy who is in us federal law enforcement and fluent in spanish scared the piss out of the guy.
will try to google up quintana roo governor murdered.

Not sure which "ex-pats" you are referring to on Travelnotes. There are alot of people that like to pretend they live here.

No guard was murdered in the supermrket...it is true that a child was killed in Chedruai from a tragic and accidental electrocution.

It is also true that several months ago there was an isolated and targeted drug related murder well away from the tourism areas on the island.

As far as the body of the Governor of Q. Roo being found rolled up in a rug, that's ridiculous!

Federales doing shakedowns...NO...what they DO is sop and have all authority to search vehicles for drugs and illegal weapons, etc. It may feel like a shakedown to unsuspecting tourists, but this is highly exaggerated.

But hey, I guess if it came from Travelnotes it MUST be true!

 

[Christi]

I have friends on the island that meet with the local officals reguarly on Marine Park improvements and such and I have never heard this.

I'm sorry, but what does this have to do with the Marine park???

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

. . . As far as the body of the Governor of Q. Roo being found rolled up in a rug, that's ridiculous!

Darn! I was really hoping to get a good deal on a used rug!

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

I'm sorry, but what does this have to do with the Marine park???

Now I don't want to be the one to spread rumors, but the grapevine has been reporting an increase in fish-on-fish violence in the Marine Park. How much of it is drug related? Who knows. . .

 

[scubawife]

No guard was murdered in the supermarket..

There was a night guard murdered at the Mercardo (it was in Por Esto, last week I think... ) The story indicated it was likely a retaliation. The guard was beaten and robbed I think in the past and provided info that got the offenders put in jail. They got out recently.

In all seriousness, if anyone looks up murder/drug/crime stats for south Florida and compares that by population to a place like Cozumel, it's a miracle that Disney, Universal and all the other attractions there (FL) are still in businesses.

 

[bhalah]

Now I don't want to be the one to spread rumors, but the grapevine has been reporting an increase in fish-on-fish violence in the Marine Park. How much of it is drug related? Who knows. . .

Come to think of it, I am pretty sure I saw this mentioned in Travelnotes too