Mexico's drug war doesn't add up as a safety threat to tourists

Tuesday, 31 March 2009 09:20

March 30, 2009

Noted surf angler Jeff Klassen displays a snapper caught on the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula. I recently booked a May round-trip Alaska Airlines flight to and from Cabo San Lucas for a base price of $150.00. The after-tax rate of $249 is perhaps the lowest I've paid for a trip to Land's End in 20 years.

Of course if you've watched the news, you know that Mexico is now ruled entirely by drug lords and crooked cops. I'll have to dodge bullets, inspect shadows for kidnappers and check my fish cooler for human heads.

But sometimes you just have to let caution fly and have some fun....

Seriously, the U.S. media, despite admirable coverage of most aspects of Mexico's high-profile drug war, have frightened thousands into believing they face certain peril if they set foot in Mexico.

In truth, many stand at least as good a chance of becoming a murder victim in or near their own communities.

So implies Frank Koughan, executive editor of the Burro Hall website and a former producer for CBS News' "60 Minutes."

In a recent blog post, Koughan, who for nearly three years has lived in Queretaro on mainland Mexico, repeated a point I've stressed often on Outposts: That the vast majority of the 7,000 or so people murdered in Mexico during the past 16 months were involved in the illicit drug trade or worked for law enforcement agencies fighting the narco war.

Koughan cites U.S. State Department records from January 2005 through 2007. They show that 669 Americans died "non-natural deaths" in Mexico during a period in which Mexico received about 45 million visits by U.S. citizens. "Based on these numbers," Koughan writes, "the survival rate for Americans in Mexico would appear to be 99.9986%."

Many of those deaths were the result of accidents such as car crashes and drownings -- Cabo beaches are notorious for the latter during the hurricane season -- and some were listed as suicides.

As for murders, those State Department figures list 126, which Koughan states is "just slightly less than the 45,000 killed north of the border during the same period.... So while your chances of not dying here may be 99.9986%, your chances of not being murdered here are 99.9997%."

Throw in the fact that many homicide victims -- same with kidnap victims -- were themselves involved in the drug trade, and Mexico appears even safer for tourists. Far safer, at least, than many have been led to believe.

Of course, tourists still must exercise common sense. Stumbling drunk through town at 3 a.m., a common spectacle in Cabo, is an invitation for trouble no matter where you are.

-- Pete Thomas

Top photo: El Arco frames the Cabo San Lucas shoreline. Credit: Geraldine Wilkins / Los Angeles Times. Bottom photo: Noted surf angler Jeff Klassen displays a snapper caught on the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula. Credit: Pete Thomas / Los Angeles Times

Mexico's president rules out joint raids with U.S. in drug war--good or bad?

Mexico News and Opinions

MEXICO.DATA.COM

MexiData.info, P.O. Box 33782,San Diego, CA 92163-3782

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Monday, March 30, 2009

A Rebuttal to Allegations of Misleading U.S. Media Reporting on MexicoLetter to MexiData.info:

As a rebuttal to Mayor Torres' allegations of misleading U.S. media reporting on Mexico (Murder by the Media: What Misleading News Coverage Is Doing to Mexico, by Hugo Torres, MexiData.info, March 23, 2009), he should consider that the Mexican news media shows the same bias towards events in the United States. I would like to show you two different reports of the same incident that occurred March 26 in El Cajon, California. One is as it was reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune, and the other is how the exact same incident was reported by Frontera, the large Tijuana daily newspaper.

First the San Diego Union-Tribune article:

Police shoot and kill man wielding knife

By Kristina Davis and Angelica Martinez
March 27, 2009

MOUNT HELIX – A man armed with a large knife was shot dead at a busy intersection just outside El Cajon Friday afternoon.

Police said they received a call about a man carrying a knife similar to a hunting knife just after 11:50 a.m. near Chase Avenue and Avocado Boulevard in El Cajon.

The man was running around with the knife and waving it around, police Lt. Steven Shakowski said.
The area is near businesses and police had a concern for the public's safety, he said.

Several officers investigating the call followed the man and surrounded him at one point near Avocado Boulevard and Fuerte Drive, just south of the city limits. The intersection is expected to be closed for several hours. Police said they used a Taser on the man and also fired four bean bags to get him to comply. They eventually fired their weapons at least six times, fatally wounding the man, Shakowski said.
The reason why the man was armed and waving the knife is not known, police said.

Henry Martinez, a witness who was stopped at a red light at Avocado and Fuerte, said the man appeared tired and was almost stumbling.

Martinez said he didn't personally feel that the man posed an immediate threat to officers.

He said he heard multiple shots fired.

Police said all the officers involved in the shooting are seasoned veterans of the department.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/27/bn27ois133230/?zIndex=73688

And now for the same incident reported in Frontera (translated by me):

Citizen dies at the hands of the police in SDEl Cajon, California (PH), March 27, 2009

A subject who committed a traffic violation and would be fined died after being shot by police officers in the city of El Cajon, in eastern San Diego County.

The subject, who is unidentified, was driving around 12:00 pm today, Thursday, on Avocado Boulevard near the corner of Fuerte Drive when he committed a traffic violation which would cause him to be ticketed by the police, but according to preliminary reports he became involved in a heated discussion with the city police.

The incident escalated to the point where the officers opened fire, killing the subject, fortunately there were no others injured.

Members of the Sheriff's Department are also involved in the investigation of this incident.

http://www.frontera.info/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Noticias/27032009/365708.aspx

Well, Mayor Torres, just who is distorting the news?

Tomás García

March 27, 2009

Mr. García lives in the North County area of San Diego, California

——————————

MexiData.info note: In response to Mr. García's "rebuttal," Ron Raposa, the International Public Relations representative for Rosarito Beach, responded as follows:

Mr. Garcia's e-mail touches on several issues, not just distortion.

The Frontera report as translated by Mr. Garcia leaves out some key pieces of information (including the knife) that should have been in the story. I cannot tell if this is bad reporting, bad editing, bad translating or a combination. I doubt that Frontera actually had a reporter covering the story. Media are full of such mistakes and will be more so as their budgets shrink.

Could Frontera have a bias against U.S. police? Maybe, but I'd have to see more examples to conclude that.

What we are criticizing in much of the U.S. media is an ongoing tendency to distorted, unfair, incomplete and imbalanced reporting. It continues to link violence and crime against visitors to the drug war, without supporting evidence -- in fact with ample evidence to the contrary.

Part of this is due to lack of analysis on the part of media, part because some are blindly following an established (and incorrect) story line, part because a sensationalized and inaccurate story can get more attention than a fair and accurate one, part because of anti-Mexico bias.

Whatever the reasons, it is wrong and is being done by major U.S. media outlets that have the resources and should have the responsibility to do better. Mistakes are unavoidable in journalism, because it is so fast-paced and so much information is processed. Trends of biased reporting (on either side of the border) are avoidable and unacceptable. They and the huge damage they cause are what we are complaining about.

Ron Raposa

March 28, 2009

Playas de Rosarito, Baja California


		Mexico City