Mexico going from bad to worse

Over the past year I've written on several occasions about the deteriorating security situation in Mexico, most recently on January 14th. On January 26th, the Wall Street Journal warned that 'Drug Gangs Have Mexico On The Ropes'. Yesterday, CNN reported that the newly-appointed 'drug-fighting consultant' for the Cancun area had been abducted, tortured and murdered within 24 hours of his appointment.

A recently retired Mexican army general whose bullet-riddled body was found Tuesday near Cancun had taken over as the area's top antidrug official less than 24 hours earlier, officials said.

Retired Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñonez, his aide and a driver were tortured before being killed, said Quintana Roo state prosecutor Bello Melchor Rodriguez y Carrillo. He said there was no doubt Tello and the others were victims of organized crime.

"The general was the most mistreated," Rodriguez said at a Tuesday night news conference monitored by El Universal newspaper. "He had burns on his skin and bones in his hands and wrists were broken."

An autopsy revealed Tello also suffered broken knees and was shot 11 times, Mexico City's Excelsior newspaper said.

Tello had just been appointed a special drug-fighting consultant for Gregorio Sanchez Martinez, the mayor of the Benito Juarez municipality, which includes the city of Cancun. Tello, who retired from the army in January at the mandatory age of 63, had moved to the resort area three weeks ago.

Read the whole article for more details.

Friends, if this won't convince you that Mexico is the last place in the world you need to be visiting right now (with the possible exceptions of parts of Iraq and Afghanistan), then I don't know what will!

What worries me very greatly is that hundreds of thousands of US students are currently planning their spring break activities. Firms all over the country are advertising get-aways to Cancun (where the latest events occurred) and other Mexican cities, where the risk to our young people will be very high indeed. However, I get the impression that none of our students - or their parents - really gives a damn about it.

Just look at the advertisements for Cancun spring break activities, here, here, here and here - and those are only a few examples. Do an Internet search for 'Cancun spring break' and you'll find dozens more. Replace 'Cancun' with other Mexican tourist destinations and you'll find the same thing.

Dear readers, if you or your friends and family have students who are considering such a trip, please, please, don't let them go! I think the risks have never been higher, and the authorities have made that abundantly clear (see my post of January 14th for the US military's view of the situation, just for a start). Also, if you're a teacher, and can warn your students about the dangers of visiting Mexico, please do so.

Remember that the risks aren't only of violence while they're there. There may be attempts to recruit them to smuggle drugs back into the US, or get them addicted to drugs while they're down there, or even insert drugs into their baggage without their knowledge, in the hope that it will get through US customs inspection. The dangers are legion.

This is no time for you, or anyone you love, to visit Mexico. That time may not recur for several years, until the present insanity dies down.

Peter