Mexico trips

[JohnEd]

Wal,

Don't worry about me.....I ain't going near the place.  Zub is special and talented and he can go where I would leave my life and he would come out unscathed and well fed.  I was uncomfortable down there the few times I went down in the 70's and I gradually swore off completely.   I let the visitors go with the wife alone cause she thought there was absolutely nothing that could happen.....right!

I am with you.  Still, I like to hear about guys that can pull of what I can't.  Don't expect any post cards from me little feller.

John

[happycamperbrat]

Wal you play with snakes but wont go to Mexico? At least you show some sence and value for your well being! If YOU wont go to Mexico, there aint nooooo way I would go and take my family even if diesel was 0.10 gallon!!!

[Rick59-4104]

 I have a friend who crossed over about 8 years ago in the Big Bend Area of SW Texas south of Alpine. This is not a tourist area and is pretty isolated. He was stopped , his pick-up searched and they found an EMPTY 12 Ga. shotgun casing way back under his seat.  He was beaten severely, escorted back to the border and felt very lucky to get out alive. He said it was 6 men wearing military uniforms in 2 trucks that stopped and beat on him for about an hour.

  After he drove back across he spent a couple of weeks in a hospital and still walks with a limp from the beating he took.

About 6 months before this my wife and I were in the same area and wanted to go across, we stopped at a store on the US side and the guy running the store talked us out of going over. Like I said this was more than 8 years ago and I don't think things have gotten better.

I ain't going!

[wal1809]

Your friend was lucky they only beat him.  Normally the Policia Federali will hold their prisoners hostage until the family has exhausted their life savings to get them out of prison.  The last person I read about lost 100,000 US dollars by the time it was all said and done.

Most of y'all know I am the police, it is not a very well kept secret.  I work on US Hwy 59 on the south side of Houston.  We get intel reports all the time.  Officers on this side doing drug interdiction have price tags on their heads.  Gun battles with fully automatic weapons are a daily event.

I was in Vera Cruz last year.  We were diverted there because of a hurricane.  At every corner on the street around the square were trucks with 5 or 6 federal police.  All of them strapped with fully automatic weapons.  All of them had to wear black face masks to bide their identity from cartel employees.  The federal police expected trouble and brought in every available man.

Don't get me wrong I love going to Mexico.  When I stood at the church and promised my family, my wife's family and God that I would take care of her I meant it.  Taking my wife to Mexico knowing what I know now falls short of my promises.

[JohnEd]

Rick,

Sad and valuable story.  I thought they did that if they found so much as a single bullet or gun.  Boy, they sure are strict.

I was told for an infraction such as that they confiscate the vehicle and all contents.  I first pondered the the temptation that a bus must be for them to grab it for any trumped up excuse.  And we haven't even touched on jealousy.

I had friends that spent every day of every vacation down there.  They told stories for hours on end of how extraordinarily well they had been treated by complete strangers in the interior and rural Mex.  I have my own very unbelievable stories from Chile, San Tieago, Conception and Talcheono(sic). 

Thank you and Wal for sharing.

John

[wal1809]

There is no doubt there are some very nice and friendly folks down there.  There is also no doubt it can be, has been and will be again the wild wild west down there.  The violence is not restricted to just the border.  It is everywhere.  We were in Cozumel last year when the bomb in Cancun went off in a local bar there.  Those are both really touristy type of areas.  Never dreamed the cartels would be raging violence in either one of those cities.  WEll they are.

[Rick59-4104]

  I have heard that having any firearms or shells in your vehicle are grounds for a long jail time also. Maybe after the severe beating they gave my friend they did not want to take him to in the higher ups? After all someone was looking at a hospital bill or deposing of a body.

Maybe in the long run the beating he received was the better way out for him?

Remember this was not a beating by Drug Cartel Folks, this was the authorities.

Rick

[wal1809]

Oh I know about the authorities.  It is a different world.  DEfinately long term jailable offense in Mexico for carrying even a spent shell casing.  It is considered part of what it takes to make a bullet.  They want to sieze vehicles and charge your family all they have for fees to get you out.  It is a form of legal kidnapping.

[Singing Land Cruiser]

I would love BOTN's take on this one.  He has toured there quite a bit. M&C

[JohnEd]

I asked BOTN, a couple years ago, about the safety of driving down there.  He answered that if a person has any reservations that they should not go there.  He was being helpful.  BOTN, I think, works down there on building an orphanage....might be another.  I don't know if he is still going down there.  He is a resourceful and savvy gent and the perfect Knut.

John

[Mex-Busnut]

As a second-generation missionary, I have lived in Mexico since I was six months old. (That was 1956, by the way.) For the last 25 years, we are based in San Juan del Río, in the state of Querétaro. 6,800 feet above sea level. 100 miles North West of Mexico City. 600 miles South of the border. And in our work, we travel extensively all over central and southern Mexico.

I have seen a lot of things in this great nation. And this is without a doubt the worst I have ever seen. Over 35,000 have been killed in the last four years of narco violence. In my opinion, President Calderón has shown a lot of valor in being the first president in decades to confront the drug cartels. More drug people have been put in prison during his rule than at any time in history.

What I hear from friends living in northern Mexico is: Never travel Mexico's northern (border) states (Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, Sinaloa, Baja California Norte) after dark.

My wife Blanca is a very well known conference speaker. Over the last 18 months, dozens of her women's conferences (typically 800-2,000 ladies) in northern Mexico have been cancled due to the violence.

I personally have not been north to the U.S. border in almost 2 years.

I feel that President Calderón is on the right track, and he will win this war and make Mexico a safer place.

Several mention Mexico's gun laws. Yes: Don't even think of bringing anything gun-related with you, if you come down. Two to three years in prison.

[Singing Land Cruiser]

BOTN had a trip planned but he is the capt. of his own ship right now. Maybe he can chime in on this one? "O Bob"? M&C 

[Busted Knuckle]

In my opinion, President Calderón has shown a lot of valor in being the first president in decades to confront the drug cartels. More drug people have been put in prison during his rule than at any time in history.

I feel that President Calderón is on the right track, and he will win this war and make Mexico a safer place.

Several mention Mexico's gun laws. Yes: Don't even think of bringing anything gun-related with you, if you come down. Two to three years in prison.

Dr. Steve,
While I do appreciate you sharing your first hand knowledge and experiences with us.
And even agree that President Calderon has a lot of "valor" and ambitions toward stopping the drug trafficking problem.
I think he is making great steps to make Mexico a safer place. But the drug trafficking did not come about over night and it's not going to go away that quick either!

I hope your right about him winning the war, but then again people here in our country thought Obama was an answer for our problems too!

I truly would love to see the drug wars and zars disappear, and in time it may. But it has a lot of opposition and it's going to take a lot of time, $, and lives in order to win the war on drugs and I personally thing that the drug zars have more of all 3 to lose than anyone else!

[Mex-Busnut]

Most honorable Mr. Busted Knuckle:

Thanks for your post.

I am not deceiving myself about ending drug traffic any time soon. But I  certainly do believe this level of unsurpassed violence can be brought under control. Both America and Mexico (and Europe) have a huge drug consumption problem. Besides those who see drugs as just another form of "recreation", multitudes of people are hurting from situations they have lived and suffered. Unequipped to cope with the very pain of living, their anesthesia is many times drugs or alcohol. (Maybe some use bus addiction!  )

Mexico used to be just a drug producer and also a trafficking country. Today it is also becoming a drug-using nation, like America.

I am sure you have seen the news stories about Mexican drug gangs crossing into Arizona and kidnapping ranchers for ransom. America needs to strengthen its borders.

I love America and I love Mexico. We sure look forward to a time when we can travel the Mexican highways safely once again.

[artvonne]

  Ive been saying this for most of my adult life, but the majority just can not see it. As long as drugs are illegal, they will be expensive. The harder people try to irradicate it, the more expensive they will get. The criminal penalties you exact, the more people are made criminals. Once an honest man is made a criminal, they have less to lose. The more expensive something becomes, the more one is willing to risk.

  There is no difference in the war on drugs, than prohibition in the 1920's. All prohibition did was drove honest people into criminial behavior and made them criminals. All prohibition gave us were large government beaurocracies that are virtually as lawless as the criminals they are trying to stop. The more we jack up the effort to stop it, the more expensive it becomes, the more risk people are willing to take to put into peoples hands.

  There will never be an end to this, it will only grow in violence and cost. Were spending $100's of billions a year now, and its never once, not in 50 years, gotten one bit better. Now they are tunneling under the border, building subs, and using the ever increasing amounts of money to better arm themselves. They have hybridised pot and cocain plants to produce higher yields with greater potency, to the point the drugs are much more dangerous than the way the Lord gave them to us.

  We could do a 180. We could completely legalise common drugs like Pot and Coke, and police people for driving under the influence. We could open up prisons to real hard case criminals. We could tax the drugs instead of blowing billions to enforce it. We could knock down FBI and ATF staff and get rid of their fancy aircraft and other equipment, and save more $billions. We could spend more money on education, science, space exploration, and electrical power generation technology.

  With legal drugs, the cartels will disappear, drugs lords will go away, and the drugs themselves will become almost worthless overnight, and the plants will become more natural and less potent. I doubt it will happen, to much money involved now for anyone to see the light. Its just going to continue until there is so much bloodshed and expense no one will know how to stop it, because by then, the war wont be over drugs anymore, it will just be over killing each other. If were not there already.