Is anyone second guessing?

[mstevens]

There's an interesting blog post at blah... blah... blah... GINGER!

The most pertinent bit (to me) is:

I'm not from the boondocks of the US, I grew up outside Los Angeles and spent most of my adult life in and around San Francisco. I retired as a Lieutenant in the San Francisco Sheriff's Department. I have a couple of street smarts bouncing around in my head and I would say my danger radar is pretty well honed. I sniff the air a lot and I tend to err on the side of caution. I'm no longer young and I'm no longer armed and I no longer have anything to prove, so I'm never looking for trouble and I've got no qualms about beating feet if I see it coming.

Here's a shocker for you, I've never felt the need to get the hell away from somewhere or someone here in Mexico. It could happen, I'm still looking all the time. But, it hasn't happened and you want to know why that is? Because I don't do drugs, I don't hang out with drug users or dealers, I don't go to sleezy nightclubs, I don't get so wasted that I don't know who I'm talking to or where I am. The same good sense that I use in the US, I use here. *** folks, this isn't rocket science. If you don't know how to behave off the farm then you should stay on it.

Just as an FYI, I didn't write it. I just agree with it.

 

[WOODMAN]

A few years ago we were in Nassau in the Bahamas, and we had the opportunity to ride around the city for awhile on their unique 'bus' system. Everywhere we passed, we saw evidence of massive security measures. Concertina wire stretched out on rooftops, heavy iron gratings over doors, etc.etc. The place struck me as what Beruit must have looked like back in the day. But the people were so friendly and hospitable, and eager to provide any help that one needed. This apparent dichotomy kept bothering me, and on our van ride back to the airport at the end of our trip, I asked the driver about this. He got a pained look on his face, and said that there indeed was a terrible crime problem in the city, but it was almost exclusively Bahamian to Bahamian in nature. He said that tourism was the lifeblood of the Bahamas, and everyone knew not to molest or endanger the tourists. Exceptions did occur, of course, but if you did not go looking for trouble, you would be okay 99% of the time.
I can't help drawing a parallel here between Nassau and Cozumel. Both areas are massively dependent on tourism, and anything that scares visitors away would be economic suicide. One has to exercise reasonable and prudent judgement when visiting, of course, but this is simply a fact of life anywhere in these turbulent times. The world has become an untidy place, but it still has its treasures for those who go in search of them. Exercise caution when you travel, my friends, but please do go. There is so much waiting for you out there. Woody

 

[ScubaTony]

This might be some indication of crime in Cozumel. We have public vending machines selling sodas outside on the street. They are not guarded and have "NO" metal cages around them to protect from vandalism/theft. Last time I was in the US I remembered that. Seemed strange to me to see the big iron cages protecting them there.

 

[1KWIK_69]

It doesn't matter what ya say Tony. The guys that got it in their heads from the news that Cozumel is dangerous rather than listening to those that actually spend time there will never change their opinions. Especially that guy that trolled around trying to stir things up because he couldn't take people not agreeing with him.

I sure am glad he crawled back in his hole.

 

[jorgie]

I tried to read this thread from start to finish but just too much goin on.

My 2cents is this. I just got back from Cozumel, and it was amazing. I was safe everywhere I went, even when visiting back alley cantinas with local divemasters.

In fact I'm now looking into buying property there so my family can vacation there every summer.

Though I will never return to Playa or Cancun.

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

If I had any slight reservations about my safety, they all went away when I rolled out of bed, went out to my balcony and saw this pulling-up to the dock. . . .


Why I now feel even safer!!
















I'm just kidding of course, I see the USCG pull-up to the docks every couple of months. But, if you listen to some in the media-I won't mention any names (FOX news, MSNBC, CNN)-this is just the advanced party for an invasion.

 

[cavew0man]

If you're interested in this topic, Scuba Diver Mexico posted this link earlier in the Mexico forum. It was in the New York Times (yesterday, I believe) and is an English translation of an article written by respected Mexican journalist Enrique Krauze.

Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/opinion/24krauze.html?emc=eta1

This is a well written, eloquent perspective on the Mexican situation, from someone on this side of the border. No histrionics, just a good alternate view of the issues at hand. I would post the text here, but it's a bit lengthy.

It is worth reading - please do.

His last paragraph, for me, encapsulates some of the extremes we have seen in this forum recently:

"...Nor, for that matter, did anyone ever see Al Capone and the criminal gangs of Chicago as representative of the entire country. For Mexico as well, let's leave caricatures where they belong, in the hands of cartoonists."

 

[Christi]

If you're interested in this topic, Scuba Diver Mexico posted this link earlier in the Mexico forum. It was in the New York Times (yesterday, I believe) and is an English translation of an article written by respected Mexican journalist Enrique Krauze.

Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/opinion/24krauze.html?emc=eta1

I also think this paragraph is dead on!

"While we bear responsibility for our problems, the caricature of Mexico being propagated in the United States only increases the despair on both sides of the Rio Grande. It is also profoundly hypocritical. America is the worldÃÔ largest market for illegal narcotics. The United States is the source for the majority of the guns used in MexicoÃÔ drug cartel war, according to law enforcement officials on both sides of the border."

 

[Mawg]

In (for example) New Orleans (where I've been many times as well), I am very careful, because I know for a fact that there are predators afoot in many a dark alley, and a careless tourist can find himself in a world of hurt in a big hurry by simply wandering a block off the beaten track.

but I and my family are far safer on the streets of San Miguel at 1 AM than we would be in the French Quarter, and the effectiveness of the police force or the government has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Nearly learned that one the hard way many years ago. Stumbled out of " The Dungeon " late one night/early one morning and took a wrong turn while heading back to my hotel off Canal street. Cab driver stopped me and INSISTED that I get in. Probably saved my life.

 

[ggunn]

I also think this paragraph is dead on!

"While we bear responsibility for our problems, the caricature of Mexico being propagated in the United States only increases the despair on both sides of the Rio Grande. It is also profoundly hypocritical. America is the worldÃÔ largest market for illegal narcotics. The United States is the source for the majority of the guns used in MexicoÃÔ drug cartel war, according to law enforcement officials on both sides of the border."

It's even worse than that. The US is the largest pusher of tobacco products in the world. We subsidize the cultivation of tobacco and export it to addicts all over the world. Yet we moralize about cannabis and cocaine, and we launch militarist interdiction efforts (i.e., we export violence) within other sovereign countries to try to wipe them out at the source, despite the fact that the illness, death, economic waste, and degree of addiction wrought by the proliferation of tobacco products far exceeds that which is associated with cannabis and cocaine combined.

The only thing that is worse and more widespread about these illicit substances than tobacco is the violence associated with them, and that is because they are illegal; disputes within the market have no legal mediation mechanisms for recourse in place, so the force of arms is the only source of resolution available.

Climbing down off the soapbox...