Originally Posted by
biggestbopper
Even the Mexican born I know in the US are not going to Mexico.
Our Mexican family members and friends have heightened concerns about traveling home but still go. However the biggest change is that those who used to drive or take the bus (i.e. Northern California to Jalisco or Michoacan) are choosing to fly instead.
The previous poster points out that the US and Canada have crime problems too. Of course they do. The big difference today is that the Norteamericano criminals don't have a track record of decapitations, wholesale slaughters at quinceñera and graduation parties, bus hijackings, torture, kidnapping, etc. Northern Mexico has essentially been ceded to the cartels - they own and control it. Why would you even WANT to be a Mexican police officer or city/town politician these days?
Mexican officials can't even go into Falcon Lake on their northern border with the USA without risking their own lives to search for the body of the Texan that was recently shot there. Just the other day a Mexican police chief investigating the murder was kidnapped and decapitated; his head delivered in a suitcase to the local Mexican Army post.
My optimism for the future of Mexico is weakening; the Calderón administration's "surge" isn't working and the situation in Mexico continues to deteriorate. Mexicans are scared, frustrated and angry - at least the ones we know.
The good news for tourists is that most of the problems continue to exclude places on the Mexican coasts and interior that are frequented by tourists.
(Edited to correct name of Pres - I was just talking to somebody about Cardenas and typed it in without looking!)