Again the US media wants to exagerate the risk of a regular guy traveling to Mexico. Carjackings against visitors to Baja is virtually nil. In the month of March in San Diego right across the border there were 2 "reported" carjackings and a trail going on for a man accused of torturing a Australian tourist.
Lets put this in perspective. Why is the US not issuing travel warnings for San Diego. I heard a news comentator for KFI los Angeles yesterday say that 3 to 4 bodies turn up each day in LA that dont even make the news. Why is there a such a singular effort to put Mexico in the forefront. Yes Mexico has a serious problem with the cartels fueled mainly by US dollars.. Without consumers the money would dry up and the business would disappear. Lets not constantly criticize our neighbor for having to deal with problems that we create. This month over month bashings seems more like politics than news.
Does anyone report good news about the area? Aout the boys and girls club opening this week in Tijuana. With Ana Kourkian being at the grand opening. This was on the 16th of April.
http://www.heybrewer.com/2008/04/16/anna-kournikova-visits-tijuana/ Today Rosarito is having a bike race with over 6500 contestants heading to Ensenada.. What a great story.
Probably wont make the news as it does not scare people.. Remember good news is new too.
Crime Crackdown
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The Juarez department admits it is trying to clean up its act, firing corrupt cops and instituting policies that aim to instill honor--antidrug tests, as well as competitive benefits to outweigh low salaries, for instance. But Torres Valadez admits that overhauling the force is a "process" rather than a "magic trick." "We're trying to change the culture so that they don't fall into corruption," he says. "But even if we pay them $3,000 a day, the mafias will pay $6,000."
With six months left in the Army's mandate to stay in Chihuahua, many Juarez residents are already hesitant about the future. At best, many say, things will go back to normal, with the local police hopefully having learned something. At worst, their concerns echo those of drug-war analysts and a growing number of ordinary Mexicans who believe the military is simply pushing cartels from region to region, capturing several key leaders and cutting off the "hydra's heads," but never making solid ground.
Nadio Rivera, 32, is one such pessimist. His neighborhood, known as Plutarco Elias Calles, has been the subject of several recent military raids for drugs and weapons. Rivera says that most people in his neighborhood are fine with the raids as long as the soldiers maintain some sense of peace and crime stays down. Because if and when they go, he says, "it will be the same." For the residents of crime-ridden Juarez, that's a daunting prospect.
Malcolm Beith is the national-affairs editor at The News in Mexico City
© 2008
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