Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

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WTR
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Re: Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

#31

Post by WTR »

I have many friends who spend their vacations in Cancun and various small towns along the beach. Believe me the liquor flows. No one has ever had a complaint.

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Re: Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

#32

Post by rotor »

JustSomeOldGuy wrote:+-$2.50 per car, and I think 60 cents a person for pedestrians. If it was only a dime in the '90's, you must have been on foot......I think I paid about a dollar driving back from Nuevo Progreso about a decade ago.
I wouldn't take a car into Mexico. We were on foot. I would never go back. I remember at that time span a bunch of college kids that went to Matamoros never came home. They eventually found mass graves. You almost can't believe that one footstep takes you into a different world where there essentially are no rules for Americans. Anything can happen. A local couple went to Mexico for their honeymoon, wife was killed in a traffic accident. Husband had to pay a fortune for damage to the car that hit her and another fortune to bring her body back to Texas.
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PUCKER
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Re: Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

#33

Post by PUCKER »

This story specifically (and others like it) are the reasons I do not venture there. I think I've seen this post before. We've been asked by our customers to exapand there but I do not view it as worth the risk for a few (even million) dollars more. Guaranteed that I would be a prime kidnapping suspect. I'd have to hire AndyC (and friends) for 24/7 support.
anygunanywhere wrote:Back in 2007-2008 I was working in the Mexican state of Tabasco which is on the Yucatan peninsula. One evening myself and four co-workers had traveled by taxi into downtown Villahermosa to one of those Argentinian style meat restaurants. Great food, good wine, and good company. After dinner we called for taxis. Three co-workers including the line manager got into the first cab. Myself and a mechanical engineer got in the second cab, I was in front seat. There were two routes back to the Hilton at the airport, a back way, and the freeway through the city. The lead cab exited the parking lot and went right - the back way. Our cab made a left towards the turn that led to the freeway. He passed the turn. I had been there many times so I knew the route. I questioned the driver in my best Spanish where he was going and he just smiled. I told him again to go to the airport Hilton and he ignored me. I turned around and looked at the engineer and he saw the look in my eyes and asked me what was wrong. I told him I thought we were in deep doo and to follow my lead. By this time we were in the dark on a road I had never been on and did not know where we were going.

I reached in my pocket and pulled out my Gerber folder reached over and grabbed the back of the driver's head and shoved my knife in his groin. I asked him politely if he hablas Ingles. He said Si. I told him either he turn around and head to the airport Hilton or else I was going to gut him from his groin to his neck. For emphasis I ran the knife from his groin to his chin.

The cab made an immediate 180 turn. I kept the knife to his throat all the way back until about 1/2 mile to the hotel. He grabbed the microphone on the radio and began a long string of expletives and other speech into the airwaves. When we pulled up in front of the hotel the line manager asked me what was wrong. Her cab was still there and she was listening to the radio, She was fluent in Spanish.

We told her what was happening. She told us to go to our rooms and pack while she made a phone call. Later I learned she called the majority owner of the joint venture, a Senor Franco, who was the brother of the deceased dictator of Spain, Francisco Franco. After the phone call we were driven to the airport and put on the next flight out of Mexico. Evidently Senor Franco had made a few calls.

I did go back after a bit and finish my work there but I never again ventured into town. We had escorted transportation to the site and back.

That was my last time ever in Mexico. I will never go back.
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RoyGBiv
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Re: Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

#34

Post by RoyGBiv »

WTR wrote:I have many friends who spend their vacations in Cancun and various small towns along the beach. Believe me the liquor flows. No one has ever had a complaint.
In the words of an old Poet, "The times they are a'changin."

http://www.businessinsider.com/mexico-n ... eas-2017-8
http://www.newsweek.com/deadly-shooting ... pot-626496
http://www.crimeonline.com/2017/06/13/s ... san-lucas/
I am not a lawyer. This is NOT legal advice.!
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Bitter Clinger
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Re: Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

#35

Post by Bitter Clinger »

RoyGBiv wrote:
WTR wrote:I have many friends who spend their vacations in Cancun and various small towns along the beach. Believe me the liquor flows. No one has ever had a complaint.
In the words of an old Poet, "The times they are a'changin."

http://www.businessinsider.com/mexico-n ... eas-2017-8
http://www.newsweek.com/deadly-shooting ... pot-626496
http://www.crimeonline.com/2017/06/13/s ... san-lucas/
Yep. I have anglo neighbors that own 2nd homes down there and still drive from Dallas down to Monterey and our HOA landscaping supervisor (legally immigrated) vacations down there all the time.

Still, the last time I was there on business (circa 2009-2010) it was tense. We stayed on the US side, crossed over for work in a van with Mexican plates, worked all day in plant, ate lunch in plant, back to US before dark. At least that was the plan...we were late getting back and the border agent (who was all kitted out akin to a Delta operator in Mogadishu) gave us a rash for traveling in an un-armored vehicle (coming from Jaurez).

In any event, I just got asked by another US company to go back down there, but I seem to have lost the request...

Overall, it's just very spotty and unpredictable. We have friends who vacay in Cancun every year and so far no issues. But I also remember the college kids that were murdered as cited by Rotor. In my opinion, it's just not worth the risk. Too bad, cause the people there deserve better. The Mexican engineers I met down there were intelligent, articulate, professional and eager to learn and improve. The maqiladoro plants are brand new, state of the art and have vastly improved the quality of life for the average working stiff. But the government has failed the people, I just hope it's not a preview of what's to come here...
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nightmare69
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Re: Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

#36

Post by nightmare69 »

Safety is a top priority when I travel and I'm always on alert when in another country. I still enjoy myself but know not to venture too far from the main tourist areas. I haven't heard anyone from a cruise having issues in Cozumel yet. If it was that dangerous then the ships wouldn't use it as a port and all their revenue would stop flowing.
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Re: Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

#37

Post by JustSomeOldGuy »

We talk a lot here about maintaining a high Situational Awareness level. AnyGunAnywhere's story was a good example of that. In Mexico, it's also vitally important to maintain the lowest possible "Victimhood level". As many spring breakers have found out, being dead drunk at 3am in a border town is exactly the opposite of what's desirable.

You can lower your victimhood level by not acting/looking like a tourist. You can lower it even farther if you can pass for a Mexican citizen. I've only known two gringo's that can do that.
Guy I've known since the 1980's here on the border is a computer consultant. He did a lot of work south of the border in the 80's and 90's. American father, Mexican mother - his spanish was native level, and he could do a Monterrey, Nuevo Leon accent when he wanted to, along with the body language of a middle class Mexican national. He drove a 6 year old Volkswagon van in the 80's, so he looked like a local on the road down there.
The other guy who can not only pass, but "be more Mexican than a Mexican" is a blond haired blue eyed son of a missionary minister. He spent most of his elementary school years with his parents living in some little town in the interior of Mexico where they had a mission church. He can do that region's rural accent if he wants to (think Mexico's version of Arkansas or Mississippi).

Rotor: if you were referring to the Mark Kilroy/Santeria murders by Sara Aldrete and Adolfo Costanza, that was a couple of deranged serial killers worthy of a "Criminal Minds" episode. It isn't really representative of average risks of opportunistic crime in Mexico, or the risks of spillover Cartel related violence today.

Since about 2000, in the major cities along the border there are now recurring armed clashes between cartel factions (turf wars), and between the cartels and Mexican feds and army. Someone mentioned folks from the US still driving down to Monterrey. The mexican federal police now run regularly scheduled armed escort convoys between Reynosa and Monterey. 130 miles down the federal highway at the speed limit with no stops, armed feds at the front and at the rear. It's sort of like going from the airport to the green zone in Bagdad, but without the ied's.....
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Re: Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

#38

Post by LeonCarr »

"General rule of thumb is that anywhere you cannot legally carry a firearm is not safe to visit. There are a few exceptions, of course."

As far as I am concerned, Soccerdad1995 became the smartest guy in the world when he posted this. With that being said, I can't think of any place I would go unarmed nowadays.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
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RoyGBiv
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Re: Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

#39

Post by RoyGBiv »

LeonCarr wrote:With that being said, I can't think of any place I would go unarmed nowadays.
Hawaii was pretty nice. I did check a folding knife in my luggage, so, not completely unarmed.
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