Mexpro Mexico Car Insurance Travel Blog

We travel to Rocky Point from Central California and have friends from our area who do the same. We love it there and the wonderful people of Puerto Penasco.We will however, stay away if the violence comes to Rocky Point. We 
 
have our own beaches and they are safe.

Hi I received Mexpro's newsletter for March 2010 and it says "It remains a fact that, to this day, the only people in Mexico who have been impacted by the Drug Cartel violence are those involved in the trade." I would like you to tell that to the 16 innocent children at the birthday massacre in Ciudad Juarez or the thousands of women and children kidnapped each year that will be melted in acid or their heads chopped off if they do not pay the ransom. There are many people that have no connection to drugs that are targeted by sadistic criminals that are allowed to run wild because the corrupt police are too busy shaking down people to line their own pockets. Get real Mexpro and tell us the truth instead of trying to make us think it is not a dangerous place to travel so you can sell more insurance policies.

Ted, where do you get this bunk! 
 
Please substantiate you claims with references to specifics and source.

My question is where did Mexpro get the information to say "It remains a fact that, to this day, the only people in Mexico who have been impacted by the Drug Cartel violence are those involved in the trade." Did the Sonoran official say this because it was not in quotes or did Mexpro say this? Where do I get my information? Have you not read about the birthday party in Ciudad Juarez that was a bloodbath because the narcos thought it was rivals but instead killed innocent children celebrating a football game... and the kidnappings? check google... Children are the most targeted group. Second, tourists and middle- or upper-class Mexicans are at risk for "Kidnapping Express," and lastly wealthy Mexican businessmen are also snatched and held for large ransoms. That was from Solutionsabroad. Check google news for many stories about unsolved kidnappings of Americans too... and the police corruption? That is a well known fact. AFI (the equivalent to the FBI) are thought to be enforces for the Sinaloan cartel (check wikipedia for sources) and the head of Mexico's Interpol was arrested for ties to drug cartels. I have lived in Chiapas for 5 years. Our state does not have as much violence as the northern states but I have seen first hand corpses on the side of the road with their limbs cut off. All police I have dealt with have decided it was better for them to work out a solution with me instead of having to take me to the police station and give a cut to their supervisors. That includes PFP, PEP, AFI, transito.

What to say when your heart is full. Everything said above is correct, what I believe is missing is context. I have traveled Baja, Sonora, and Mexico all the way down to Belize by truck ever since 1958. I remember then the stories told of Mexican bandits, corruption, and drugs (yes, drugs were always common in Mexico). In all that travel I got one ticket, deserved, for making a u-turn in the middle of a residential block of Ensenada. I have yet to find an inhospitable Mexican, or a threatening cop or soldier. Can it happen tomorrow? Certainly! Will it? Possibly! But I never go to bars, look for sex, or use drugs. I avoid crowds and never drive at night. I would no more walk the evening streets of Tijuana or Nogales etc, than those of Phoenix, New York, or Chicago, or Amsterdam. Mexicans are fine people of honor, but they have the new urban thug just as we do. 
Anything can happen anywhere, especially if we do not use common sense. 
Paul G

 
Mexicans are great honorable people. I totally agree I would rather walk the streets of Mexico at night than in the USA. Most of violence is targeted to certain groups of people unlike here where there is so much random violence. Cops are great there. They are usually friendly and are putting their lives at risk and are just trying to get by with such a low wage. I have found that once they see someone is an American they are very inquisitive about our culture and let things slide a lot more than our by the books cops in America. A non corrupt police force is essential for law and order. If they let me pay them 4 dollars when I am committing an offense but take my friend to jail because he can't pay, what are they going to do when the narcos have tons of money and the police make like 250 dollars a month? I just have a problem with Mexpro's newletter saying "It remains a fact that, to this day, the only people in Mexico who have been impacted by the Drug Cartel violence are those involved in the trade." That is simply not true.

Perhaps we could have clarified further “the only people in Mexico” and we will consider this in the future, however please allow me to explain that the truth is being told based on our experience, research and first hand testimonials. 
 
 
Besides Ciudad Juarez and few other isolated cities (i.e. Culiacan Sinaloa) which are terrible and very dangerous place to travel, The Republic of Mexico is still a great, amazing and generally safe place to travel when you exercise normal prudence (as you would in any major US city like Phoenix, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York etc).  
 
 
History does show that the cartels and criminals actually do not target innocent folks “people that have no with no connection to the drug trade” – unfortunately due to mistaken (birthday massacre), or non-targeted cross fire there are some innocent people that have perished but this has not been targeted. The women and children that are kidnapped in Juarez have been happening for many years and are not specifically related to the “new” Mexico violence from the Cartel rivalry wars of 2009-2010. 
 
 
We know there are thousands of Canadians/Americans who currently enjoy the beauty, great culture of Mexico everyday…let’s not let isolated, psychotic antics of the drug lords ruin the entire view of Mexico travel. The truth is there are many states like Sonora, Jalisco, Baja South, Nayarit, Queretaro that very safe to travel. 
 
 
I personally love Mexico, its people and its culture (I have lived in Sinaloa and even Culiacan one of the most dangerous cities down there) and it is unfortunate that the drug trade & violence is deterring many, many people from enjoying its beauty like they used to…on a percentage basis I would still say that 95% of Mexico is still safe when you exercise normal prudence. I am sure you will agree that the US media generally only portrays the bad about Mexico and the violence (i.e. Juarez), and via our newsletter we are only trying to show some of the other “facts” about the good of travelling to Mexico. 
 
 
Gracias, 
The Mexpro.com Team

My wife Brother in law and son drove to Mexico August 1, 2010 
 
thru 13th 2010 We had a great trip  
 
most of the info provided by Mexpro 
 
was helpful we stood on the toll roads we travel in groups and mostly during the day however we did some night driving felt relatively safe. we enter Mexico via Laredo Tx and travel 7 hours to Durango Mx I think Mexico is as safe as anywhere in Us you nust be vigilant every where we never let our guard down and pay attention to details never flash alot money when filling up at a gas station we were verfy specific 300 0R 400 pesos of gas was enough check vechile oil and air evey gas stop very pleasant trip travel from NYC to Mex over 5000miles round trip

You can love a place and its people but still understand that there are serious issues. One does not negate the other. It is naive and even plainly ignorant to believe that the violence problems of Mexico are impacting only those involved in the drug trade. In order to fix this major issue that is impacting the whole nation, we all have to wake up to its true horror.

Clearly our use of the term "impacted" was just plain wrong. We apologize to our friends, clients and partners in Mexico, especially those who must 
spend time in the areas where drug violence occurs frequently. We agree that this problem requires serious binational attention. Our intent was to 
spread the word that tourists are not being targeted by drug violence. Our intent was not to downplay the fact that indeed many people in Mexico are 
negatively impacted by drug violence, especially those living in areas where drug violence is a common occurrence. 
 
Jim Labelle, CEO of Mexpro parent company International Insurance Group, Inc. www.iigins.com)