Mexico: From “Drug-Fueled War Zone” to “Well-Traveled International Tourist Destination” – This video has no official description. It’s a PR firm describing their campaign to reinvigorate Mexican tourism.
Uploaded by HDNetWorldReport on Sep 16, 2011
Many tourists no longer want to visit Mexico because of drug violence. It might be time to cross another nearby country (Guatemala) off the list, because Mexicoapos;s ruthless cartels are going international.
Published on Sep 10, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish
Northern Mexico’s Copper Canyon is considered one of the world’s most spectacular landscapes. But the site also right in the middle of Mexico’s drug-growing heartland, so it is struggling to attract tourists.
Al Jazeera’s Adam Raney travelled to the canyon in the state of Chihuahua to see what it offers for those prepared to make the trip.
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Jul 12, 2011
Mexico’s once buoyant tourism industry is being weighed downby the country’s ongoing drug war. Al Jazeera’s Adam Raney reports from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Uploaded by CBS on Feb 21, 2011
As the deadly drug war in Mexico continues, new violence is spreading towards popular tourist areas. Terry McCarthy reports on conditions in Acapulco, a new battleground between rival drug cartels.
Uploaded by ANewsVanIsland on Jan 20, 2011
OAK BAY – The phones are ringing at Oak Bay’s Athlone Travel – the first few weeks of 2011 have been busy. But bookings to Mexico are down, and clients are asking questions. “They’re Concerned about the violence, if they go to Mexico are they in any danger” says Manager Liz Smith.
And you can see where skittish travellers may be getting that idea.
On Monday, 69-year-old Mike Di Lorenzo of Penticton was hit in the leg by gunfire meant for someone else in Mazatlan. He needed surgery and two blood transfusions, and likely saved his wife’s life by diving on top of her.
Earlier this month, a Montreal police officer got separated from his friends at a bar in Cancun and was severely beaten. A woman from Ontario claims was gang-raped by police in Playa del Carmen on New Year’s eve.
And in November, 33-year-old Nanaimo Realtor, father, and newlywed Malcolm Johnson was killed in a freak gas explosion at the Grand Riviera Hotel along with four other Canadians.
Royal Roads University “Human Security” expert Kenneth Christie just returned from Mexico, where he says a drug war has taken more than 30,000 lives over the past four years. But most of the violence is taking place far from your favourite all-inclusive resort. “I think tourists should be careful when they go to Mexico, stay away obviously from where the drug war is taking place, but in most of the resorts they’re pretty safe” says Christie.
He says the BC man injured this week was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Mazatlan’s been a very safe place for Canadian tourists to go.”
Liz Smith at Athlone Travel agrees, suggesting you stick to the familiar resort destinations to stay safe. “It’s like all the people that go on airplanes every day, millions of people around the world travel by air, and when there’s an accident, everyone stops to think about it, and I think that’s what’s happening here.”
For some Canadians, it appears the issue of whether or not Mexico is safe isn’t an issue at all. One viewer comments online: “Please don’t go to Mexico, way too dangerous. In fact, don’t go anywhere. Just stay home and hide under your bed, where it’s safe.”
He does make a good point – there are risks involved in doing just about anything.
Uploaded by AssociatedPress on Nov 4, 2010
In another grisly turn in Mexico’s drug war, police have recovered 18 bodies from a mass grave announced in a YouTube posting, a video saying the victims were from a tourist group kidnapped in Acapulco a month ago.
Uploaded by PBSNewsHour on Sep 15, 2010
A drop in tourism and manufacturing has left the Mexican state Baja, California, with a struggling economy. Jose Luis Sierra of New America Media reports on how the drug war and recession have played a role.
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Sep 1, 2010
At least eight people have been killed in a fire bomb attack on a bar in the Mexican tourist town of Cancun.
Local reports said the attack was carried out by a drug cartel which was trying to extort protection money from the bar owner.
It has heightened fears that drug-related violence is spreading to tourist towns.
Al Jazeera’s Franc Contreras reports from Cancun.
Uploaded by catoinstitutevideo on May 5, 2010
Juan Carlos Hidalgo of the Cato Institute on how the country’s drug problems are impacting tourism.
Uploaded by worldfocusonline on Mar 5, 2009
In Tijuana, a once-thriving city just across the border from San Diego, the increasingly deadly drug war has touched almost every part of life.
Americans used to flock to the city, but now largely avoid it. In 2005, a banner year for tourism, some four million people visited Tijuana. Last year, the number dropped to around 400,000. Residents, too, are fleeing in fear.
Worldfocus correspondent John Larson, producer Bryan Myers and field producers Megan Thompson and Ivette Feliciano explore Tijuana, beginning in a hospital that not only treats the victims of drug violence, but that operates in fear that its own people will get caught in the battle.
The Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range is one of Mexico’s most precious natural treasures, boasting lush forests with rich biodiversity. It also serves as a vital carbon sink for the country. The corridor, which is under threat, has long been designated a natural reserve. Now, authorities are doubling their efforts to protect the area, teaching local communities and villages, too, how to take responsibility for their land. Reporter Michael Wetzel shows us the region’s rich diversity, from its cloud forests to wetlands to pine groves and arid zones, and he shows us how authorities are educating the locals on the urgency of protecting the nature around them.
Maria Jose Cristerna has become known as Mexico’s Vampire Woman, thanks to her almost total body tattooing and skull implants. Report by Sam Datta-Paulin.
If you thinkin’ about illegal immigration,
Be careful when you’re choosin’ the nation
‘Cause breakin’ the law in some countries is frowned upon.
Imagine that.
Sneak into China and they’ll call you a spy
And ship you to Mongolia till you die.
And in Sudan they’ll hang you and the camel you rode in on.
Yeah, and don’t go ahikin’ and enter Iran,
Or you might never be heard from again.
And in Mexico, you might face a firing squad.
Yeah, and forget all about going to North Korea.
That’s a great example of a bad idea,
So when it comes down to it, there’s only one option you got.
Yeah, come to the USA.
There’s no penalty to pay
Should you get caught illegally immigratin’
Come to the USA.
It will be your lucky day
‘Cause when you get in there’s lots of goodies waitin’
Like health care, welfare, free education,
Help with your voter registration
And drivers license and credit cards
And license plates for your old car.
Lots of jobs for you to do
And employers who’ll turn a blind eye, too.
Come to the USA!
No need to worry about the Constitution.
We’ll help you start a house of prostitution
If that’s the kind of work that you wanna do.
You see, those gringo infidels are crazy.
They’ll give citizenship to your new baby.
So, you see, there’s really only one choice for you.
Come to the USA.
There’s no penalty to pay
Should you get caught illegally immigratin’
I said come to the USA.
It will be your lucky day
‘Cause when you get in there’s lots of goodies waitin’
Yeah, you get public housing and cable TV
And food stamps and even government cheese.
The borders are a swinging door.
Go home for a visit and come back for more.
There’s sanctuary and amnesty.
Bring the whole famn damily eventually.
The border fence that was built to keep illegal immigrants and narcotics out of the United States ends a couple of metres into the Pacific ocean. Captain Dave Myers shows Alastair Good where he has picked up swimmers, surfers, and boats laden with marijuana from Mexico.
“That’s Mexico over there,” says Captain Dave Myers, pointing to the Tijuana bullring 100 yards away from where he is sitting in his patrol car in Imperial Beach, San Diego.
“We used to come up here all the time as kids, go surfing, eat street tacos in Tijuana and then come back across.”
Those days are gone now. Two fences run along the Mexico-US border and video cameras mounted on 20ft poles monitor the barren strip of land 24 hours a day, giving the area the air of a demilitarised zone.
During his first week at Imperial Beach police station, Capt Myers joined a patrol at the border fence during severe fog. “All you could hear was the clink, clink of metal on metal, all around,” he said. “You couldn’t see the hand in front of your face but you could hear this noise everywhere, it was eerie.”
The noise was made by Mexicans putting ladders up to the fence and throwing their cargo and/or themselves over into America.
It is this determination that means law enforcement activity on the border is only likely to lead to the displacement of smuggling, rather than its eradication.
In 1996, Californians voted to pass Proposition 215, a law which paved the way for medical marijuana dispensaries in the state.
On November 2, California will be voting whether to approve Proposition 19, a law that would legalise the drug for personal recreational use.
Smugglers have demonstrated unbounded creativity when it comes to sneaking drugs across the Mexican border. And the U.S. government acknowledges there is only so much it can do to stop the flow. (Oct. 28, 2009)
Drug gangs in Mexico fuel the violent trade in narcotics around the world, affecting populations in West Africa, Europe, Afghanistan and Australia.
The huge revenues from the global operation are used to purchase weapons, ensuring the bloody fighting surrounding the industry continues – leading to further instability in some of the world’s poorest countries.
