Saturday, September 6, 2008

Local Crime at Checkpoint

Crime. I have read and heard lots about Mexico Crime recently in news and on other blogs. Protests. Killings. Burglaries. Kidnappings.

I am not educated on the statistics so have no real evidence of how Mexico compares to the USA and other places in the world.

Of course the visibility of law enforcement and firearms is different from USA. Even our kids are getting used to the checkpoints and large rifles we see daily.

We live in a small Mexican coastal town north of a large Mexican vacation spot. Last week, some men decided to shoot a couple of law enforcement officers at the checkpoint instead of stopping. These two officers died. Military policia shut down main road and any access in or out of our town. They went door to door till they found the shooters. Executed.

This is what I heard happened. Feels surreal.

3 comments:

Steve Cotton said...

Mexico has a history of violence -- most of which had disappeared, with the exception of isolated (and brutal) crimes of passion. The drug mafias have changed all that. I suspect the deaths you heard about are related to the drug trade. But it is not simply a Mexico problem. Violent deaths related to The Trade are almost a universal. A sad tale. Then add the tragedy of the kidnapping deaths, and Mexico comes off as a land of death. It is not. Fortunately, most people in the world get to read about these things over breakfast coffee -- never to experience them first hand.

Theresa in Mèrida said...

Well, that was frightening.I'm glad it got taken care of quickly. The checkpoints and big guns are supposed to make people feel protected. Just another cultural difference.
As a general rule I am fearless here. Yucatecans are non-confrontational as a rule. The number one adjective you hear here is tranquilo, Merida es muy tranquilo.
Hopefully, this is an isolated incident.
regards,
Theresa

Anonymous said...

We had an awful incident here in Merida last week with drug related murders, but I truly didn't realize right away how much it shook up the Yucatan. It was apparently by far the most awful thing that has happened here in decades (Time magazine has picked it up, so much for keeping it from my fam in the US!). I think the geography of the Yucatan has protected it from a lot.