Job Discussion Forums

[Dragonlady]

[the peanut gallery]

Dear lord, what has happened to Mexico?

Things have been quite recently where i live so i will just turn a blind eye to the suffering and insecurity that others have to live with.

[AGoodStory]

[the peanut gallery]

DL is a credit to this forum for sure. So many people try to justify the ridiculous rather than risk their pride taking a knock.

[btsmrtfan]

Very sobering article:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/23/bloody-mexican-gangs-make-official-uniforms-insignia/?test=latestnews

[tideout]

I'm back to visit friends after a year and a half break of teaching outside of Mexico. I had the pleasure of seeing Guadalajara as well as some other places that were new to me. Like most or all of you here, I really love Mexico as well as Central America where I lived before.

RE: Security

The Mexico I saw and heard about seems to have changed and it is very concerning. I agree wholeheartedly with those who are seeing the security issues here in a new fashion. It really seems to be more of a checkerboard of security/insecurity rather than a distinct zone or region we are used to seeing. During my visit I talked with folks from Chihuahua, Colima, Guerrero as well as other places.. They were all avoiding travel at night and even in the day some are "triangulating" way around troublespots - certain highways, towns or cities etc.. The new norm I'm afraid.

As of today the Mexican government seems to be balking at the release of new death stats though most newpapers are putting this as probably over 40K deaths. To put that into perpective, more have died in this period in Mexico than US Army personnel died in Vietnam (38,200).


I do hope that we are leaving the very incomplete (cough!) conversations about how Mexican violence should or could be compared to your experience in (insert favorite US city). I suspect a lot of arguments made in this vein are made to avoid devaluing the Mexico they have feelings for or to somehow balance the unfairness or inequity we see people living with in Mexico. I'm sympathetic to that and often felt safer in Mexican cities than in US cities. At the same time I'm not sure our feelings are always make for good risk analysis.

While I don't want to ignore or underestimate the issues of violence in inner city USA, the people who are gang banging in Newark are not shutting down I-95 or the road to Newark International. The guys who are running the crack corners in Baltimore are not getting calls from the Baltimore Sun on what's ok to publish so as not offend them. The drug gangs in LA are not hanging the corpses of rivals under the overpasses so morning commuters get their "message". Really these sound
more like the violence in the Mid-east and I have to agree with a recent poster here who said this might be better equated with terrorism than crime per se.

I corresponded not long ago with a friend of friend who had taught for a week or two in Michoacan at a program there. She wanted my opinion on it as a place to teach. I told her there has been a lot of problems there and she should really be informed about things before making a longer commitment. She speaks no Spanish and has had almost no experience in Mexico.

She emailed back a month later to dismiss any reservations as she had "felt" perfectly safe.

Michoacan. No problems during your two week? Really? Vaya con Dios.

RE: Oaxaca

Problems in the state of Oaxaca are usually political or personal and I agree with the generalization that it is usually safe. Still there are some areas to know about and I wouldn't be careless here. In addition to what's below, almost everyone here says common crime and robbery is up in Oaxaca.

Sierra del Sur is different than Sierra del Norte which is safe and a nice place to go to a forested area. The road south out of Oaxaca into sierra del sur is considered by many to be dangerous and a no-go at night. It is a very isolated and long stretch of highway with limited towns and cell service is non-existant in many places. Friends of mine told me about what amounts to a county road south of Oaxaca where,periodically, a white pickup truck is pulled across the road. A couple of guys are there with smiles informing area residents that today would be a bad day to be driving on that road. Nobody asks any questions as no one needs to.

Mex Route 185 running from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico in Oaxaca state was featured in a documentary out of Europe about illegal Guatemalan immigrants and is apparently referred to as Kidnap Highway by many. Your mileage may vary but I'd certainly avoid that road for a family outing.

It's just my personal feeling and this may change with a new governor but I'd be careful and not underestimate the potential violence around politics in Oaxaca. Brad Will, a US videographer, was killed in Oaxaca during the conflict in 2006 as was an American woman who was killed in the Sierra when she was staying with a family who were witnesses to Will's
shooting. She was apparently raped also. Two other women (one N. European, one US womaen) who were with a group of activists who were supporting a town that was blockaded during a union conflict were also shot to death this last year.

Not to overstate this, but if you get involved in Oaxacan politics it is serious business and you are putting yourself at some risk and are not likely to understand all of the nuances involved in it.

As I've posted before, find out what's going on locally and take the advice seriously. If your cousin got successfully drunk in Mexico city a few years ago and made it back to the hostal ok doesn't mean it's the same deal today in Veracruz etc.. Being politically active in Seattle doesn't mean the same as going to a union standoff at a blocked road in Oaxaca and so on..........

[Isla Guapa]