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According to allaboutcabo.com, there are three reasons why gringos should holiday in Cabo San Lucas: the resort area boasts 360 days of sunny weather; it’s a short flight from the United States or Canada; and Cabo is “one of the safest destinations in Mexico.” Yes, well, full marks to the copy writer. Cabo is safer than, say, Ciudad Juárez (home of the world’s highest murder rate). But, as the above video illustrates, Cabo is not immune to the narco-terrorist conflagration that is destroying Mexico. borderlandbeat.com reports that the “resort city was the scene of a confrontation between gunmen and authorities during the afternoon hours of Saturday. This Saturday evening the Milenio news agency reported that 12 gunmen armed with assault weapons had barricaded themselves in the Soriana big box store located in the mall . . .

The gunmen were being pursued by municipal police at the time and had entered the mall to avoid capture.

According to Milenio there were approximately 600 shoppers inside the store at the time and that up to 200 remained hostage after 6 of the gunmen had been captured.

In a later report Sedena, Mexico’s Defense Ministry, denied that any hostages were being held and that no injuries or deaths had occurred at the Plaza Sendero . . .

The State Attorney General’s office reported no hostages taken and 3 gunmen arrested.

TTAG has been repeating the rabbi’s mantra for years: avoid stupid people in stupid places doing stupid thing. Avoid Mexico.

No place in Mexico is safe, what with the well-armed, endlessly financed drug cartels fighting each other and the government (which plays favorites) for complete control over Mexico’s journalists, judges, politicians, police, army and, increasingly, banks and businesses.

It’s also a country where tourists can’t arm themselves. ‘Nuff said?

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18 COMMENTS

  1. I venture into Mexico about once a year and I vacation in Mexico about once every 5 years. If you go to places like Cabo, Progresso, and Cozumel you are pretty well insulated from the Mexican underworld. Most of the time the cabbies and the shop owners will go out of their way to make sure your vacation is enjoyable, you stayed intoxicated, you remained safe and donated heaps to the local economy. I generally stay in some nice resorts but I don’t book any of my outings or day trips through them. When I want to go snorkeling or drinking all day on a beautiful beach I go the front of the hotel and hand the nearest cab driver a $10 to take me to the best beach in town that has food and beer. They then take me to some random beach resort where I can drink all day, eat the best Nachos in the known world and snorkel for around $30. These resorts pay the cabbies to “recommend them” and in return they keep you safe. Last year me and my wife went to Cozumel and we went to Playa Uva 3 out of 5 days we were there. Playa Uva is about 5 miles away from Playa del Carmen and is was almost deserted most days. $30 is a hell of a deal for a never ending supply of Margaritas, Sol beers and Tequila shots for 8 hours. I have never had a problem, I do follow one simple rule though, go as far into town as the bathrooms remain free. When the banjos start to cost money you have gone to far, turn around, buy more cohibas and fake jewelry and hail a cab back to the resort or to Senor Frogs.

    • You missed the point of the article. You can go there, but why would you risk your life to enjoy vacation that is just more dangerous cheaper than a stay in Texas, Florida or any other southern state in the union?My company has a manufacturing site near Hermosillo… Mexico’s beef country, what used to be a ‘safe’ area is now littered with drug trafficking homicides. I would never recommend anybody to voluntarily visit that hell hole of a country just to save a few bucks. Been there, done that (Cancun / La Playa Del Carmen) and it isn’t worth it anymore.I dread all my work visits and wish I could carry a AR15 when I’m going to work. That’s no way to live your life. Ignorance isn’t bliss.

      • I live in Texas, I grew up in Texas, I learn to surf and scuba in Texas and the beaches in Texas cannot even begin to compare to the beaches in the Caribbean. I have surfed in California, have have been to most of the beaches in TX and the gulf and have on occasion gone fishing and scuba diving off the coast of Florida, and very few places are as beautiful as the Caribbean on a bad day. Mexico can be dangerous, I don’t go to the border as often as I had in my youth and college years because it has become dangerous, however the tourist locations are not like the skeezy border towns on the other side of the river from Brownsville. These resort towns exist purely on tourism and take great measures to make sure that tourists continue to go to the resorts and beaches. Unless you are looking for trouble, you won’t find it. The cruise lines and resorts have way to much invested in these areas to let them become like Neuvo Laredo.

        • Back in the 80’s, would drive down to Ensenada fishing.

          Went with a Mexican/American friend who knew, if need be, how to negoatate a bribe. Never had a problem.

          Trying to make this story short, why did I go where I had to haggle with the local cop over his bribe?

          Had a few good trips, but never again.

          Maybe if I had the bucks to go to a first place resort, like Cabos, and the bribe is built in to the trip ticket I would go back to that sink hole again.

          NOT

  2. Do not reward the Mexican economy with tourist dollars until they cleanup their act.
    Same goes for California.

    Pack your gun and come to Texas. Our beaches are kinda lame, but hey, you can drive on them! Or heck, go to Florida.

  3. I’ll go enjoy some Canadian beaches this year. I’ll look like a tanned golden god compared to the pasty locals.

  4. Cancun has had some narco violence, and Acupulco has had a lot of mass murders and kidnappings over the last few years including mass murder of tourists.

  5. This country is becoming one big headache for the US. We should give them a time line to clean up their country or we will ANNEX them into the United States. You know, absorb… conquer… use whatever word you want. Once they come under our laws and economic regime they’ll see that bribery and crime are not the way to run a country and that hard work and honesty does pay off. Every time I went to Mexico someone tried to rob or cheat me. Making them the fifty-first state would end LOT of problems. I know what you’re thinking: whose going to pay for all those new prisons…

    • The real question Grouchy is who’d assimilate whom? I’m not so sure that it would go at all as you’d envisioned, instead of us pulling them up I think they’d pull us down!

  6. I thought about it. Now, since the country has a scenario much like a true crime shooting game, I have concluded I can go sit in New Mexico. I can find some Spanish locals and listen intently picking up bits of Spanish without the chance of being hit by stray gunfire from todays narcotic ‘dispute’.

  7. Even in the early 80’s it was common for people to have only a few dollars in their wallet to pay off the cops in town and federales on the road to avoid bullshit arrest with anything else hidden.
    Never felt comfortable in Mexico.
    I’ll stay north of the border and spend a few dollars more for beer.

  8. I used to visit Cozumel a half-dozen times a year. The people were great, Carlos & Charley’s was cool, and the diving was beyond compare. Nowadays, diving at Cozumel has less to do with water and more to do with ducking under a table when you hear gunfire. Personally, I ain’t goin’ back no mo’.

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