Douglas Anthony Cooper: How Not to Get Beheaded in Mexico Here you go Cancun Scorpio. This is the stuff you should pass around. Send this link to the editor when you see an anti-Cancun or anti-Mexico post. To save some reading, people still go to Orlando, where the murder rate is 11.7 per 100,000, 41% MORE than Mexico City. Mexico City is 8.3 per 100,000. Want to talk US scary places, where people still flock to. Try New Orleans at a whopping 58 per 100,000. Not 5.8 but 5 x 10 + 8 = 58. Now that's a scary statistic. You are more than nearly four times more likely to get murdered in Cancun than in the Yucatan Peninsula. 1.85/100,000 vs .5/100,000. I doubt you see those kind of stats in the Canadian fear mongers. Enough of a preview. The article is well written and quite informative, backed up by enough facts to make good sense.
I read this article when it first came out and it's great! As a Canadian married to a Mexican, my husband & I feel as if we spend our lives defending Mexico here in Toronto. Although none of us would ever want to minimize any kind of violence, I try and explain to people that there isn't a gang of Mexicans waiting at the airport picking out a tourist they want to kill! I actually heard them say on Global Television the other night as a warning that Canadians should be careful as they're being targeted. Thanks for sharing and I have a few more months of having people tell me that we shouldn't be coming to Cancun for the month of May if we want to keep on living!!! *grrrrr*
I think Mexico should Sue every News Agency that Slanders it's name. Not reporting facts and just fear-mongoring is disgusting. And I will not read or watch any piece of crap that stoops to that level when it comes to any news story.
To all those who have thanked me for this post or who may thank me later - You are more than welcome. Mexico is a huge country, not without its problems, but it is no more dangerous here than Canada, the U.S. or most any other country. The media tends to sensationalize anything bad that happens in Mexico to foriegners. In fact, New Orleans, LA is 7 times more dangerous per capita than Mexico. Of course, there are places in Mexico where I would not go, and things I would not do. Where - Juarez, aka Cuidad Juarez. More people were killed there than in Iraq adn Afghanistan combined, in the last few years. What - I would not drive anywhere near the Mexico/US border. To much bad stuff is going on there. Likewise there are places in the US I will avoid and things that I would not do. Anyone who postpones or does not schedule a trip to Mexico is just being foolish, as long as you have half a brain, make good decisions and avoid certain known to be bad areas.
I think I've started to slightly annoy people. Every time there's another murder in Toronto (I believe we're at about 7 murders for 2012 so far) I'll say to someone something along the lines of "Oh my god did you hear a CANADIAN was killed?" They'll ask "Where?" and then I respond with "Canada!!!" Ok so I'm being a little annoying trying to prove a point but the fact that a dead woman was found yesterday IN Toronto in an alleyway rolled up in carpet doesn't seem to bother many (even those living in that particular neighborhood) yet they have plenty to say about what's going on elsewhere. I'm disturbed how fast Canadian local news channels brief through local murder stories and how desensitized people are to them.
