I will repost this again, as it is a valid question at the moment and I want as many people to see it as possible: Certainly Mexico does have problems at the moment with drug cartels fighting for turf, and police and Govt bodies trying to stop them and then some overlap where corrupt officials switch sides and make the whole thing even more tangled. However, this is largely confined to the North and rarely reaches down here. There was a recent incident where a retired army general and his bodyguard and driver where abducted from a downtown Cancun restaurant, taken away far out of town then tortured and murdered. The general had just been appointed as head of a new anti drug unit and he was 'taken out' by the drug gangs in a targeted hit. A few days later the army took over the Police station and the chief of Police was arrested and questioned on the killing. This was picked up by the media and some uninformed commentators simply read the word "Cancun" and summise that tourists are in dire danger. The truth of the matter is that this is a very insular war between those already wrapped up in it. The drug cartels dont want to hurt the tourism trade because it provides great cover for their activities with thousands of people flowing through the airport every day and also provides opportunities for them to launder money via the businesses that tourists support. Many of you know that I moved here with my then pregnant wife 5 years ago and one of the reasons was because of the safety and crime free environment that is found in Cancun, and that we wanted to bring our now 4yr old daughter up somewhere better than we were. Nothing has happened to change my mind on that. I can pretty much do 90% of my job from anywhere in the World that has an internet connection, you can bet if we didnt feel safe here we'd be on the next plane out. There is no part of downtown I know of that I am afraid to go late at night, unlike my home town in the UK. Of course venturing anywhere you are unfamiliar with you should have your wits about you, but please dont think downtown is some kind of ghetto with murders on every street corner it is not like that at all. Go downtown and enjoy what Real Mexico has to offer. The crime that affects everyday people in other parts of the World such as unprovoked assaults, thefts, anti social behaviour etc just doesnt happen here to the degree it does elsewhere, and the serious crime like that mentioned above only happens between those who are actively wrapped up in it - much like it does in any other place in the World. For more views on the safety in Cancun written by expats who live here, please check out the following blogs of cancuncare board members: http://www.hiddencancun.com/rivergirl/2009/02/09/is-cancun-safe-for-tourists/ http://www.cancuncanuck.com/2009/02/tourists-safe-in-cancun.html
Please also see RG's latest blog post of today which clarifies the issue in respect of Cancun a lot more: http://www.hiddencancun.com/rivergirl/2009/03/02/cancun-mexico-is-safe-for-tourists/
we are glad to hear that thanks Steve. I figured it was o.k. but more of our friends keep warning us not to go back. wont stop us. friends just came back & had a great time. Alice
Re: we are glad to hear that Dont worry Alice....Lou and I will protect you. I hear he is a 5th degree blackbelt.
The west side of Chicago is the hottest/worst place right now in the USA for murders. There is a nasty gang war going on with hispanic and black gangs (Latin Kings vs the Gangster Disciples for those keeping score) fighting over turf and lots of innocents being caught in the crossfire. And in Detroit, and in Compton, and in various spots in NY, and in virtually every other city in the US, there are just a bad things going on. But no one says "oh, the USA is unsafe". Mexico is a big place, folks. Cancun is fine as is the entire west coast of resort cities, as are Tequila and Guadalajara, Mazatlan, and Mexico City. Yes, these areas have places you don't want to go, just like I won't go drive my little german sports car west of the United Center after dark either. But that doesn't mean the entire country is screwed. That said, there are places I would not go right now, and they are the border towns - Tiajuana, Ciudad Juarez, etc - anything along the US border isn't very safe at the moment, and that is widespread in those areas. You are much more likely to be in a crossfire moment at any of those spots. But last I checked, those towns always were dodgy ...
