TC

If you want to know where you will be safe in Mexico, have a look at this map from Stanford on the 2010 homocide statistics. Pretty easy to see where there is trouble and where<u> there isn't.</u>

http://stanford.edu/~dkronick/mexico_crime/

KVR

Good information. Thanks for posting. Maybe it will help alleviate questions regarding safety in the tourist areas of Mexico.

I would love to find a map such as that one that shows how much crime is actually in the USA for comparison. People would be surprised that their is more crime in their own backyard than in many parts of Mexico. But, that's not worthy reportable news info to the media.

glenmd

Holy crap. I honestly had no idea just how horrific the volume of homicides were. The Drug War would indeed be an apt name for it. Juarez alone had more deaths in the last year than the US has had in 11 years in Afghanistan.

suze

I would think the thing that would matter more to foreign visitors would be *tourist* death statistics, not necessarily that of criminals killing each other in Mexico.

TC

Suze: This map reports ALL homicides -- <u>anyone</u> killing <u>anyone</u>. They don't hold out the "tourist" homicides and not report them. That's the point....<u>they aren't killing tourists</u>. It is drug gangs killing each other. If you aren't mixed up in the drug trade, you're safer than you are in the U.S.

If you look at the locations, there are huge areas without ONE single homicide -- of ANY kind. Like KVR, I doubt you could find that in the U.S.

Here is the link to an article with a few more facts on safety in Mexico which states in part:

<i>"....from the <b>UN Office of Drugs and Crime</b>:

In <u>drug offenses</u>, Mexico recently ranked 12th in the world, and the US ranked 4th. When it came to <u>homocides with firearms, the US ranked 7th and Mexico 17th</u>, (39.56 per 100,000 vs. Mexico’s 20.6). Yes, that means the <u>US has 92% more homicides with guns than Mexico."</u>

"Recent FBI statistics show the murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants in Baltimore is 43.3, Washington D.C. is 29.1 and Detroit is 47. Mexico, however, which suffered an especially violent year in 2008, recorded a murder rate of about 10 per 100,000."

"The US government advises against visiting <u>very specific places</u> where drug cartels are warring over the billions of dollars made yearly trading illegal substances to the United States"

Mexico is roughly the size of Western Europe. Of Mexico’s 2,500 municipalities, only 18 have been considered to be a security problem.......that leaves 2482 very safe options if you want to travel to Mexico......the <u>majority of Mexico’s organized-crime killings last year took place in a mere three of Mexico’s 31 states: Chihuahua, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon."</u>

http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2012/...st-media-hype/

suze

hey you don't have to convince me. i already know this.

TC

The link below takes another view point. In part, stating:

<i>"Of the 107 American deaths in 2011, ......many of them were Mexican-Americans (with dual citizenship) involved in the drug trade.......80 percent of them were killed in border states where narcotics violence is worst - 39 alone in Ciudad Juarez"</i>

http://www.mexicomike.com/safety/saf...epartment.html

KVR

I live 3 hours away from El Paso, Texas/Juarez, Mexico. You will never find me anywhere near either. If you look up criminal statisics in the cities of West Texas you will find way more issues than anything reported in the tourist areas of Mexico. What is sad, it that statiscally it is safer for me to visit Mexico than to live in my own neighborhood. This is true to for many of US cities/neighborhoods.

The media loves to dramatize the drugs wars in Mexico. It's a scare tactic for the US to not buy or use drugs. Unfortunately, it gets misconstrued to not visit or vacation there.

emd3

I really do not think that the U.S. media dramatizes the drug wars in MX as a scare tactic for the people in the U.S. in order to get them not to buy or use drugs. The media is not, by virtue of reporting on drug gang-related deaths in MX, going to stop people in the U.S. from buying or using drugs, and they know that. It isn't that easy to stop demand for illicit drugs.

The U.S. unfortunately creates a big demand for drugs. It is really a huge demand, esp. since the states in the U.S. have made it so hard in the past few yrs. to purchase pseudoephedrine (key active ingredient in Sudafed) over the counter in the U.S., which is the key pharmaceutical ingredient in the making of methamphetamine. So now, in adition to marijuana and other drugs, Mexico is supplying the USA with 85% of the methamphetamine that used to be manufactured in U.S.

THe media in the U.S. reports on the drug war-related deaths in Mexico for a number of reasons. There is certainly a political agenda. And it is sensational news and sells as such. But the real point is missed. If the U.S. stopped supplying the demand, the supply, as it is now, would not be there.

I usually stay away form these typesof discussions, but this one just begs for more discussion.

TC

emd3....I didn't start this thread as a discussion of the drug trade in either Mexico or the U.S. -- just as a statement of facts regarding the safety for most tourists who travel to Mexico.

We travel to Cozumel every winter and stay a month. We've been doing this for 20 years and the only difference I see (besides some urbanization) is the devastation that this unwarranted negative publicity has done to local businesses because the tourist trade has fallen off so very much.

A major portion of the Mexican economy floats on the tourist trade. In fact, some of the drug cartels are invested in resorts -- so even they, don't want to see the tourist trade wiped out. My point being...drug lords are not driving around the streets of Cancun or the island of Cozumel using tourists as target practice.

Truth be told...I feel safer sitting in a movie theater in Cozumel than I do here in the U.S. This is a whole other debate, but I have never read about some crazy with an AK?? bursting into a mall, theater or school in Mexico and opening fire for no reason. At least I can understand the drug war. It makes sense and I know how to avoid being caught up in it. This other stuff...its so insane that there is no protection.

emd3

I know you did not start thi thread for that reason, but the poster above me went in that direction and made this comment, "The media loves to dramatize the drugs wars in Mexico. It's a scare tactic for the US to not buy or use drugs. Unfortunately, it gets misconstrued to not visit or vacation there."

I was responding to that comment by that poster, not to your original post. You did add info after your first post on the article from YoucatanToday on the US advisories regarding drug cartels in MX. So although the thread started as a statement of facts about tourism safety, it went down the drug road before I posted.

TC

I understood that you meant no offense, emd3. I only replied because I don't want anyone to think that I am trolling for a debate on drugs. I'm not. Nor am I commenting on the media....or what passes for media in the U.S. I would simply like for a little information to float around that has a bit of perspective. I read many boards regarding vacations in Mexico and try my best to answer questions, but the most often remarked is how dangerous it is to go anywhere in Mexico. Its just so sad to miss out on such a beautiful country out of fear, when one could be in equal jeapordy shopping at their local mall.

Pegontheroad

I attended the regular Friday afternoon get-together of Spanish-speaking people at a local restaurant here in town. I was sitting next to a Mexican doctor.

I told him I'd like to visit Mexico, but I was worried that it wasn't safe there.

He said, "It's not dangerous for you in Mexico. Now I lived in Detroit for several years. THAT was dangerous.

Recently I decided that I'd prefer to go to Mexico in November instead of going to Hawaii, where I was bored to death last time I went. I want to go to the Yucatán to see the architecture, the Mayan ruins, and the natural environment.

When I looked at the link, it showed that the areas I want to visit appear to be very safe.

suze

Because it is, Peg.

TC

Go, Peg, Go. You will love it.

suze

My love is the other side, but I've been going to Puerto Vallarta for years (20+ trips to date) and hope to retire at least part time there. I am usually alone, and have never had a bad experience, not once, not ever.

emd3

To be honest, I have had some weird incidents in my 38 yrs of travel in MX, but none that resulted in any harm. And those weird incidents were in the late 70s and early 80s in southern MX, not since then. I am careful to a certain extent, do not cross the borders by foot or car anymore as I used to (I only fly into the country now), and I do not travel to Monterrey as I used to in recent yrs, and do not have any trips planned to the northern border states.

Other than that, I travel freely to central MX, southern MX, Yucatan, Q. Roo, D.F., and I went to Michoacan last yr also. No problema.

KVR

We all have our opinons on this subject and after working in the Texas Criminal Justice Department Prison/County Jail facilites, and drug rehabs for the last 11 years and traveling to Mexico within that same time period, plus living so close to the actual drug issues that is my take on it.

Your right though, I'm not going to debate mine or any else's opinion regarding this subject. I do agree with TC's take on it. I just hope that others who are afraid to travel to Mexico for whatever reason, will change their minds and go. It's a beautiful destination and a shame to miss due to so much inaccurate information out there for whatever reasons or hidden agendas.

suze

I agree with emd3 that I would not seek out many certain specific areas of the country (border towns, Juarez, Monterrey). Any statements I make about my belief in people's general safety has to do with well-traveled mainstream popular tourist destinations.

(emd3 I have a girlfriend with some pretty wild tales of traveling Chiapas area solo back in the 80s as well)

Birdie

Peg, I agree that you should go. I felt safer in Playa than I have in many other places I've visited.