BajaNomad - Universities: Spring breaks south of border to be avoided

Universities: Spring breaks south of border to be avoided

Woooosh - 2-23-2009 at 07:43 PM

Only Arizona Universities so far, but it looks like the students aren't buying it.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2009/02/23...

Going to Mexico for spring break is practically a rite of passage for college students in Arizona, but the state's three public universities want to warn young revelers about stepped-up violence south of the border.

The University of Arizona in Tucson has issued a travel advisory urging students not to go to Mexico, and officials at Arizona State University in Tempe and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff said they have similar plans to warn students. The schools' spring breaks fall on the second or third weeks of March.

In its notice to students, UA cited a travel alert issued by the U.S. Department of State in October warning travelers that crime rates have increased sharply in Tijuana, Juarez and Nogales - all Mexican cities that have experienced public shootouts during the daytime in shopping centers and other public places. The department warned that criminals have followed and harassed Americans driving in border areas.

Universities that warn students of violence in Mexico are providing "sage advice," said Special Agent Tom Mangan, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"We have had documented violence, attacks, killings, shootouts with the drug cartels involving not only the military but law-enforcement personnel," he said. "It is indiscriminate violence, and certainly innocent people have been caught up in that collateral damage."

Mexico's drug cartels are waging a bloody fight for smuggling routes and against government forces, dumping beheaded bodies onto streets, carrying out massacres and even tossing grenades into a crowd of Independence Day revelers - an attack that killed eight people in September.

Mangan said most of the violence is taking place in border towns and along roads at night, not at most popular tourist destinations.

More than 100,000 American teens and people in their early 20s travel to resort areas throughout Mexico during spring break every year, according to the State Department.

Becca Hull, a senior at UA, said she and her friends are going to Las Vegas for spring break because of the weather and good deals they found.

She said they thought about going to Mexico but didn't want to spend the money on plane tickets or risk taking their cars there - not because they were worried about violence.

"When I think of Mexico I don't really think of the violence issue because usually when you're in a resort area or one of the hotels it's all tourists," said Hull, 22. "In my mind it never would have been a factor."

Violence also isn't a factor for UA sophomore Daniel Wallace.

He is driving with seven friends and his father four hours from Tucson to the resort town of Puerto Peñasco, also known as Rocky Point, and will spend his entire spring break there.

"I feel most of the violence is in Texas, even in Nogales, but less so on the road to Rocky Point and in Rocky Point itself," the 19-year-old said.

[Edited on 2-24-2009 by Woooosh]

Bajahowodd - 2-24-2009 at 12:31 AM

Geez. I really don't think college students from Phoenix or Tucson are very much worried about trouble in Rocky Point. Can't blame them. Would not see any reason for the narco guys to be hanging around there.

CaboRon - 2-24-2009 at 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd
Geez. I really don't think college students from Phoenix or Tucson are very much worried about trouble in Rocky Point. Can't blame them. Would not see any reason for the narco guys to be hanging around there.

C H I C K S

Hook - 2-24-2009 at 07:06 AM

The risk is no greater than it has been in past years. The number one danger is the same: getting shook down by the cops after drinking too much and doing something stupid.

Antibiotics can handle everything else.

Woooosh - 2-24-2009 at 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hook
The risk is no greater than it has been in past years. The number one danger is the same: getting shook down by the cops after drinking too much and doing something stupid.

Antibiotics can handle everything else.

antibiotics can handle everything else? Boy, those were the good ole days.

Cyanide41 - 2-24-2009 at 10:44 AM

Of course Universities are going to say that. If the state department lists it as a dangerous place. Would you urge your students to go there? Even if you thought it was safe? It is a lot easier for the school to say 'i told you so" rather than "oops we were wrong"

Iraq for Spring Break ?

MrBillM - 2-24-2009 at 11:22 AM

I just watched a Cable-News segment on the Arizona warnings. The News Guy said that travelling to Mexico for spring break would be just like going to Fallujah at the height of the war.

Now, that's Hyperbole at its Hottest.

Woooosh - 2-24-2009 at 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrBillM
I just watched a Cable-News segment on the Arizona warnings. The News Guy said that travelling to Mexico for spring break would be just like going to Fallujah at the height of the war.

Now, that's Hyperbole at its Hottest.

They will convince the parents not to allow their kids to go to Mexico for spring break. Same as that Holloway girl who was presumably killed in Aruba during spring break a few years back.

ArroyoTaxi - 2-24-2009 at 06:38 PM

I just read somewhere that more people were robbed and/or harmed in US National Parks than Americans visiting Mexico last year....

fishbuck - 2-24-2009 at 06:42 PM

Where is it that they told the young college girls not to go to?
Because that is exactly where they will go now. And I'm guessing they will drink too much and take there clothes off too.

ArroyoTaxi - 2-24-2009 at 06:44 PM

I think they were told not to go to your casa. have fun!

BajaGringo - 2-24-2009 at 06:47 PM

fishbuck is already packing...

:biggrin:

bajacowboy - 2-24-2009 at 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by fishbuck
Where is it that they told the young college girls not to go to?
Because that is exactly where they will go now. And I'm guessing they will drink too much and take there clothes off too.

And they will all be laughing and pointing fingers at you. Todays youth has no respect for the handicapped.

fishbuck - 2-24-2009 at 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajacowboy

Quote:

And they will all be laughing and pointing fingers at you. Todays youth has no respect for the handicapped.

Don't worry! I don't have that handicap anymore. The doctor gave me some pills. Blue ones. They work great. I've tested them many time in TJ.
Spring break here I come!

robrt8 - 2-24-2009 at 07:51 PM

Fox News carried this story --of course.
They showed an interview with a Phoenix cop talking about how people are "being kidnapped and held for $50-100k ransom".
But he was talking about the Phoenix area.

Woooosh - 2-25-2009 at 10:45 AM

Sand, Beer and Firefights...

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Sand-Beer-and-Firefigh...

The U.S. government warns that Mexico’s bloody drug war is a growing threat to tourists.

As college students start planning spring break trips, the U.S. State Department has a new warning about traveling to Mexico.

"I would avoid going to Mexico most likely because of that. I wouldn't want to be caught up in that. There is a lot of violence going on," said college student Julie Harrison.

In border cities just this past week one police chief quit after drug gangs started killing police officers, gunmen opened fire on a governor’s convoy killing a bodyguard, and ten people died in a 4-hour shootout involving grenades and bazookas.

In a travel advisory issued last week, the U.S. State Department warns “Large firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico. During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped.”

Tijuana is listed as one of the cities that have recently "experienced public shootouts during daylight hours in shopping centers and other public venues," according to the advisory.

But travel agents say most tourist towns like Cancun are still popular. Some even suggest places like Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta are safe for tourists.

If you are interested in traveling to Mexico, visit the State Department website for information on staying safe.

David K - 2-25-2009 at 11:12 AM

Woooosh, what do YOU think? You are in Rosarito, afterall!

Imported Mexican Entrepreneurs

MrBillM - 2-25-2009 at 02:36 PM

Phoenix is now second worldwide to Mexico City for kidnappings thanks to the Mexican Drug lords finding out what a richly-rewarding venture Kidnapping is.

According to the Phoenix P.D., the vast majority of all their kidnappings are related to the immigrants and the drug trade.

Sort of a dark "Hands across the Border" cultural exchange enriching our lives.

Was it the mayor of Nogales or Juarez that's moving to Arizona ? Better that than dead.

bajacowboy - 2-25-2009 at 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrBillM
Phoenix is now second worldwide to Mexico City for kidnappings thanks to the Mexican Drug lords finding out what a richly-rewarding venture Kidnapping is.

According to the Phoenix P.D., the vast majority of all their kidnappings are related to the immigrants and the drug trade.

Sort of a dark "Hands across the Border" cultural exchange enriching our lives.

That will change now that dangerous sir Charles Barkley is jailed in his pink undies.

Woooosh - 2-25-2009 at 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
Woooosh, what do YOU think? You are in Rosarito, afterall!

Honestly? I think the last two years were very bad for us in Rosarito Beach because narco crimes were happening all around us- but everyone was in denial or blamed the media. Now that people have taken their heads out of the sand- there isn't that much to see right now. It's been quiet for a few months. It was a wave of violence that passed through and then either moved on or changed into something else. Maybe it moved north of the border. Maybe the narcos decided they could make more money by doing business direcetly in the USA without the middle men.

The lasting damage to Rosarito has been a flood of business closings and job losses from lack of tourists. Many business owners from here are still hiding out stateside- wher in Juarez they are just starting to go to the USA. There is no one to yell "all ye all ye oxen free!" here, so no one is coming out of their homes yet to look around. I know I haven't. It's been eerily quiet both from a local and narco perspective. It's either the calm before the next big storm or the bad guys moved somewhere else for the time being. The economic squeeze here of inflation, unemployment and the peso devaluations will contort everything next. JMHO though.

Woooosh - 2-25-2009 at 05:12 PM

Quote:

Many illegals can't pay their COD coyote bill in full once they arrive stateside. Until two yeas ago people had to pay in advance of their travel, now they have to pay more to the coyote but they can pay stateside- giving their relatives time to gather the funds. The coyotes make more money and people only pay if they make it across. But not everyone had the money ready and the coyotes created safe house to hold people in until their families paid the coyote fees in full. I think it was a short step from holding people until they paid- to kidnapping and extortion for profit. They climbed that step, made some money and have the system in place now. I think illegal immigration and these crimes are directly linked.

Brian Williams report on tonights NBC Evening News:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29395594#29395594

JMHO though

[Edited on 2-26-2009 by Woooosh]

[Edited on 2-26-2009 by Woooosh]

Martyman - 2-26-2009 at 10:43 PM

Spring Break
Lets see...
Tequila-check
Cervesa-check
fishing gear-check
teenage ruffians-check

Let's go-Can't wait

Bajahowodd - 2-27-2009 at 12:39 AM

I'm wondering if the huge increase in kidnappings being among the immigrants, legal or not, is not being taken seriously by the local population because it's them and not us.