Travel Warning for MX

[Themerrydiver]

Fentanyl is very powerful and sometimes prescribed in large doses in the US. My deceased husband had it prescribed and the first day he almost fell off a stool he was so out of it. The visiting nurse said he should have had only half of what was prescribed . It's very easy to overdose on it. There's also a lot of cocaine and speed coming into California -it apparently remains popular here and is very addicting. Just had a couple busts recently on folks bringing it in to the country. There are drug gangs in CA particularly in the LA, and the Inland Empire area and plenty of the crimes that go with it. I definitely feel at least as safe in Coz as I do in areas of CA or other big cities in the US. Every city has some rough neighborhoods that should be avoided.

 

[lionfish-eater]

This article is about Acapulco, but gives some insight into the crime problem in Mexico in general.

How Acapulco became Mexico’s murder capital

 

[JamesBon92007]

When I was in Puerto Vallarta in 2013 the general understanding among the locals was that Vallarta was a "neutral" town and basically there was a truce there. In a recent travel advisory Jalisco is included and so are the borders of Vallarta, to the East (if I remember correctly). I don't know if the supposed truce is still intact but we didn't experience anything questionable last May. We did a fair amount of wandering around town at night. I did notice that the economy seems to be suffering which might be due to reduced tourism? It was suffering in 2013 but back then the media seemed to think the entire country was dangerous and I only met one American while there. I met many Canadians though. They must have their own news channels I was under the impression that Juarez had the distinction of being the murder capital.

I have noticed many drug and alcohol re-hab centers in Mexico, and I believe I passed several on Cozumel. My only experience with drugs there was a guy offered to sell me some pain pills. But I don't drink or go to night clubs so perhaps I'm missing it all.

 

[ggunn]

That would happen if the US followed countries like Portugal in their "war on drugs".

Do you mean like in the Phillipines where the police have the authority to perform field executions with no due process? That's a case where the cure is worse than the disease.

 

[kelemvor]

Well, regardless of fentanly or heroin or weed use it doesn't change the fact that Q. Roo is now dangerous enough to warrant a travel advisory. It may be more safe than some American cities. However, visitors can't count on being allowed to carry their own firearms to defend themselves like they can in the American city. They apparently can't count on hotel staff to get them to an emergency room in the case of an emergency (several of the articles linked in this thread get into that tidbit of detail).

We all know that the drug trade isn't going to be stopped, so pointing to solving that as the solution is really no solution at all.

All Mexico or Q. Roo would really would need to do is enforce their existing laws a little better. I think I read they busted some of the folks who were making the bad booze but didn't read a word about major fines or shutdowns of the resorts that were involved. I haven't read about any kind of effort to do anything to improve the situation. No increased police presence, no agency is going around doing surprise tests of the liquor on the shelves at resorts. Grand Oasis, Iberostar, and Secrets were all involved. I haven't seen any of them shut down even temporarily and there's no news articles about any of their staff being prosecuted... Iberostar is the one that frightens me the most because they do have a hotel on the island.

My perspective is that of a tourist who likes Cozumel. I've been before, and I have a trip booked to return. To me, it seems like the authorities are blowing the whole problem off and treating it like it's no big deal. Maybe it isn't a big deal compared to some of their other problems but if they want to convince travelers that it's a safe enough place to go then they've got to do something new.

 

[boulderjohn]

That would happen if the US followed countries like Portugal in their "war on drugs".

Do you mean like in the Phillipines where the police have the authority to perform field executions with no due process? That's a case where the cure is worse than the disease.

I don't understand this. It is hard to find two countries with more opposite situations than Portugal and the Philippines. How are the two similar?

 

[scubadada]

Much of this has to do with perception. Quintana Roo, including Cozumel, now has a travel warning. Stories concerning the warning, violence, and tainted alcohol, have appeared almost daily in the press. Tourists/divers have many choices regarding where they choose to go. Other destinations may be perceived as being safer. I hope the conditions in Mexico improve.

 

[bamafan]

Armed robbers assault jewelry store in heart of PDC tourist zone

 

[lionfish-eater]

The shooting at the BPM festival last Jan was the event that got international coverage. It was gang on gang, Zetas vs Pelones. Most if not all of the shootings have not been directed at tourists.

Coz has seen an increase in criminal activity. One of the local police cars and one of their shacks were set on fire. The increase mostly involves break in burglaries to businesses, an increase in home break ins, and an increase in purse snatching of locals. None are directed at tourists.

 

[lionfish-eater]

With regards to enforcement, this article appeared today:
Poor translation.

Blue Parrot Case, without further advancement




PLAYA DEL CARMEN, SOLIDARITY, August 24 .- The technical deficiencies of the State Attorney General's Office have prevented the prosecution of the "killing" of six people and 15 injured in the disappeared Blue Parrot where the electronic music festival was held BPM, on the morning of January 16, 2017, between security guards and assistants, since in requesting the collaboration of PGR experts so far they do not deliver results, he recognized an elusive and annoying prosecutor, Miguel Ángel Pech Cen .
Indignant because the reporters always ask the same thing, especially in matters of organized crime, executions and execution attempts, and that his answer will always be the same, forgetting that this problem is already common because daily is presented mainly in the north of the state, the attorney general had to answer for the umpteenth time.
The public official, attending the presentation meeting for the creation of the Coparmex Riviera Maya, made this morning in a well-known hotel, said that in the case of the Blue Parrot, located in the tourist heart of Playa del Carmen, has resolved is because they have not had all the information they wanted with collaboration with the PGR, since everything advanced is stopped.
He explained that they do not have the technical capacity to carry out expert assessments of this case, as there are also in others, since they do not have specialized experts, but once they deliver the results by the PGR proceed to carry out the corresponding judicialization, but insisting on that do not have the magic formulas to solve this and many other facts.
He even indicated that in the tourist area, including Fifth Avenue, as Prosecutor's Office remain operative in the wake of executions and attempted murders of people. That in relation to the fact last night, "despite the active filters the person -responsible- ran out and was not arrested, there is a person made available by the State Police should only be discarded, if we see the various videos, whether or not it is the same that performed this execution, "he said.
Questioned about the progress or results of investigations of the 37 executions and a further significant number of execution attempts, the first attorney in the state noted that timely arrest warrants had been issued, not necessarily high impact.
Finally, Miguel Ángel Pech Cen reiterated that it is unfortunate that the control of the places of the narcomenudeo has increased the homicides, to the degree to insist that it is an inheritance that received the police and the prosecution of the actions that realized the delegations and subdelegations of the PGR at the moment of dividing the General Law of Health for the differences of narcotraffic and narcomenudeo.