Great stuff from Gabatcha and Rivergirl, here's my dos centavos on the subject... http://www.cancuncanuck.com/2009/02/tourists-safe-in-cancun.html
Just curious here, and I am not branding Cancun unsafe by any stretch, this will be my fifth trip here and I love it and also feel quite safe taking a cab or a bus from the bars to the resort at 2-3 in the morning. I also feel safe in Toronto or Hamilton after hours, not from a naivete, but I think Canadian cities in general are much safer than their American counterparts, but I digress. My question is, 2 or 3 years ago there was an older couple from North of Toronto (Woodbridge) killed in their hotel rooms via getting their necks slashed in the middle of the night, the day before their daughter's wedding. Initially a warrant was issued for two women from Thunder Bay in Ontario, but that was dismissed soon enough. The prevailing thought around here was that this was quite possibly a mob hit. There was questions about what these people did for a living and some ancillary evidence that seemed to support that the mob was invlved. Has that story disappeared, or is the investigation still ongoing? I know the local government up here attempted to tie this into Mexico being unsafe, but I think that was just a ruse to keep the government turning stones over and not let it wash away. Thanks
Maybe we should all write a blog on this ? Great articles RG, G, and CC All I can say is she's an idiot. It's bothersome because it is an uneducated article - where did she come up with her crap? As far as some ppls responses regarding crime in MX, of course it happens, just like anywhere else. However, I too feel MUCH safer walking alone at night here, than back in Calgary, Canada.Oh well... mess with the wrong ppl anywhere and bad things can happen!!
It's still an open case according to the Canadians but the Mexican authorities have stopped their investigation, stating that it was in the hands of the Canadians to figure it out. Again, this didn't appear to be random, there was no robbery involved, it seems as though it was a hit.
& its worth pointing out that it was one of the VERY few such instances that has occurred in this area, and it seems likely that it involved other tourists or was otherwise not a random event. Sadly, tourists due meet their ends here, be it from natural causes, accidents, drugs, alcohol, or the VERY, VERY, VERY rare murder. The country of Mexico, and it's respective cities, almost always take the blame for tourist's deaths, and are usually accused of wrong doing and declared dangerous almost as soon as the incident hits the news, since the families normally refuse to think that their loved ones could have been at fault or that it was an accident that could have just as easily happened in their hometown. Its always easier to blame the foreign area (the hotel, the city, the country) then it is to accept that the deceased may have been acting irresponsibly or that freak accidents can happen and be nobodies fault.
New Comer- I have been following these forums for a little while now. I will not even click on this awful article as I do not want to contribute to her hits. However, I can tell from the out pour of rage from m any people that I know and respect in the blogging community. I live in a small town south of Cancun and love living here. Would I live anywhere in Mexico? No. I would not. But all places in Mexico are not the same. I lived in San Francisco for many many years and in some areas that were not safe. I have never felt unsafe here. It makes me so angry that people can say anything they want and have no supporting fact. I look forward to when this forum is top page on google search so that this woman does not get mistaken for a journalist.
I don't think total murders is the issue. Its random murders. Having grown up in a border state that is fully immersed in a drug war I can tell you that the innocent are as expendable as the targets. And if you don't think this is a problem in Cancun and the rest of Q Roo then you are lying or naive. The problem with your crusade to whitewash the real goings on in Cancun, PDC and PA for your self serving reasons, is that the public does deserve to know the truth. If you dig deep enough and look hard enough you will find articles about unsolved murders and cover ups, police committing crimes in a pool, and the brazen theft ring going around pdc and pa last year. But where is the factual reporting from you guys? Nope, it isn't self serving so you don't do it. I was close to purchasing a villa in Q Roo, but the more research I do the more I think that the country is sliding and that I need to wait until things are more settled. Among the reporting on the murder and torture of the general was the news that the cun police were in the hip pocket of the zetas. Thats encouraging. Been to Juarez, tj or NL lately? No thank you. So don't waste our time comparing crime rates. Most of the crime in your country is not only covered up by tourism officials and the government, but also by those of you who aren't honest enough with yourselves to tell the truth. It gets old reading about a problem, only to have that article, blog or website disappear in the name of tourism.
I think you've missed the point. Where are the RANDOM MURDERS? Every person that I know of who has been killed in this area in a mafia-related killing has appeared to either be involved with the mafia or involved in fighting the mafia. Those aren't random and they aren't tourists. It doesn't make those murders ok, it doesn't mean they are not scary, but the victims sure don't seem random. Someone close to me has access to death records of foreigners who die here in Quintana Roo. So I hear about how the tourists die from someone reading actual death certificates. Except for a couple of well-reported tourist murders, tourists mostly die from drowning and falls from balconies and heart attacks and car accidents. If you want to put tourists to this area on high alert about a cover up it should be about road safety here! There are lots of horrible car accidents here that kill tourists but don't get reported in the press much because it scares tourists off. The road between Tulum and Cancun is a high speed road that is NOT limited access. Locally we call it the Highway of Death because of it's high accident rate.
