Post by peterd on Mar 7, 2013 10:50:15 GMT -8
Spring Break in Mexico 2013: Security Risks and Travel Tips
Every year between January and March, U.S. college administrators remind their students to exercise caution during spring break. These well-meaning guidelines often go unread by their intended recipients, as do travel warnings issued to citizens by the U.S. State Department. As a result, many regular visitors to Mexican resort areas believe they are safe from transnational criminal organizations, more commonly known as cartels. While many people do travel to Mexico safely (approximately 150,000 U.S. citizens travel to the country each year), there is a misconception that cartels want to avoid interfering with the profitable tourism industry, or that they only target Mexican citizens. This simply is not true.
Nothing in the behavior of Mexican cartels indicates that they would consciously keep tourists out of the line of fire or away from the gruesome displays of their murder victims. Violence related to the cartels is spreading, and while tourists may not be directly targeted, they can be caught in the crossfire or otherwise find themselves in situations where their security is compromised. Transnational criminal organizations, it should be remembered, are more than just drug traffickers: They participate in extortion, robbery, rape and carjackings. And where cartels are violently targeting each other, local gangs can take advantage of law enforcement's resulting distraction to commit crimes of their own.
www.stratfor.com/analysis/spring-break-mexico-2013-security-risks-and-travel-tips?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=official&utm_campaign=link
Every year between January and March, U.S. college administrators remind their students to exercise caution during spring break. These well-meaning guidelines often go unread by their intended recipients, as do travel warnings issued to citizens by the U.S. State Department. As a result, many regular visitors to Mexican resort areas believe they are safe from transnational criminal organizations, more commonly known as cartels. While many people do travel to Mexico safely (approximately 150,000 U.S. citizens travel to the country each year), there is a misconception that cartels want to avoid interfering with the profitable tourism industry, or that they only target Mexican citizens. This simply is not true.
Nothing in the behavior of Mexican cartels indicates that they would consciously keep tourists out of the line of fire or away from the gruesome displays of their murder victims. Violence related to the cartels is spreading, and while tourists may not be directly targeted, they can be caught in the crossfire or otherwise find themselves in situations where their security is compromised. Transnational criminal organizations, it should be remembered, are more than just drug traffickers: They participate in extortion, robbery, rape and carjackings. And where cartels are violently targeting each other, local gangs can take advantage of law enforcement's resulting distraction to commit crimes of their own.
www.stratfor.com/analysis/spring-break-mexico-2013-security-risks-and-travel-tips?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=official&utm_campaign=link