12 ms·

It's surprising to hear that this happened in Playa del Carmen (which has always been a popular area for tourists).

by egusa 7y ago

hombre_fatal 7y ago
The cartels don't generally care about tourists. Meanwhile, the journalist in the article had just published about their extortion racket. I've lived in Mexico for a long time and I'm about to book a ticket across the country to visit a friend in Playa del Carmen soon. It's just not something that affects me. I'm more worried about getting maimed by a car hopping a curb in the scheme of life, and I still walk with my back to cars.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 7y ago
  Reminds me of the sad story of the teacher who was just traveling through mid-northern Mexico a year or two ago and went to a bar and started asking the wrong kind of questions. Cartel caught wind of it and killed him, likely because they thought he was DEA
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 7y ago
    Poked into my memory a bit more and it was this guy: https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/International/missing-north-carolina-teacher-found-shot-death-dirt/story%3fid=59322566 https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Internationa...
  - gruez 7y ago
    >Cartel caught wind of it and killed him, likely because they thought he was DEA I thought cartel didn't kill DEA? Source: Narcos
    - lightbyte 7y ago
      Finish the season of Narcos: Mexico first
- jeromegv 7y ago
  So what you’re saying is that if the journalist wouldn’t ask questions and let things go (like you do), everything would be fine.
  - hombre_fatal 7y ago
    Yes, the tourists don't do that and they are fine. If you want to visit Mexico and don't plan on trying to unearth and publish cartel activity, you'll likely have a great time as well. Snark isn't very effective rhetoric.
    - Insanity 7y ago
      I visit Mexico yearly (Married to a Mexican, from Monterrey) for a couple of weeks to a month. I never felt unsafe and greatly enjoy being there. When my in-laws visit us (Europe) they were more worried about a terrorist attack than I am about cartels. Mexico has a lot of violence in those cartel communities. But it mostly stays within those communities.
      - serial_dev 7y ago
        This demonstrates how much media controls our fears. Terrorist attacks in Europe happen rarely when they do happen they are in the news for weeks. While Mexico is being one of the most dangerous countries, people get kidnapped, killed, buried on a daily basis and they barely report the number of people killed properly in local newspapers, it doesn't even make it to national news.
        Insanity 7y ago
        Yup Indeed. Both sides (EU) and Mexico are pretty safe for the average person though.
    - NotSammyHagar 7y ago
      So what do you suggest people do who hate violence, murdering, everything about the cartels? The world is complicated, maybe it could be that by doing certain tourist activities or traveling to certain places that I'm supporting them.
reasonablemann 7y ago
Between the spike in homicides and frequent drugging of women within resorts I'm amazed people still go down there.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- godzillabrennus 7y ago
  Largest hackathon in the world is in Guadalajara Mexico.
  - sbarker 7y ago
    *Saudi’s Hajj Hackathon
  - lostmsu 7y ago
    Which one is it?
    - hombre_fatal 7y ago
      Probably Campus Party. Cool event.
  - JED3 7y ago
    What's the name of the event?
  - tdfx 7y ago
    There's also a very active community called "HF Guadalajara" ("Hackers & Founders") which holds regular events.
- reidjs 7y ago
  Many people are smart enough not to be swayed by fear based news. You’re 100x more likely to die in a car accident on your commute tomorrow than by a cartel member in Mexico as a tourist.
tw04 7y ago
I would say they likely avoid them altogether. Start killing enough Americans and there's likely to be an invasion.
pier25 7y ago
Murder and crime have been growing fast in Quintana Roo since the new state government started in late 2016 or so. I lived there in 2017-2018. Cancun now has a murder rate above the national average. There are shootings weekly, even in the zona hotelera. A couple of months ago someone threw a grenade into a bar. It’s getting ugly.

It's surprising to hear that this happened in Playa del Carmen (which has always been a popular area for tourists).

by egusa 7y ago

It's surprising to hear that this happened in Playa del Carmen (which has always been a popular area for tourists).

The cartels don't generally care about tourists. Meanwhile, the journalist in the article had just published about their extortion racket. I've lived in Mexico for a long time and I'm about to book a ticket across the country to visit a friend in Playa del Carmen soon. It's just not something that affects me. I'm more worried about getting maimed by a car hopping a curb in the scheme of life, and I still walk with my back to cars.

SOLAR_FIELDS 7y ago
Reminds me of the sad story of the teacher who was just traveling through mid-northern Mexico a year or two ago and went to a bar and started asking the wrong kind of questions. Cartel caught wind of it and killed him, likely because they thought he was DEA
- SOLAR_FIELDS 7y ago
  Poked into my memory a bit more and it was this guy: https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/International/missing-north-carolina-teacher-found-shot-death-dirt/story%3fid=59322566 https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Internationa...
- gruez 7y ago
  >Cartel caught wind of it and killed him, likely because they thought he was DEA I thought cartel didn't kill DEA? Source: Narcos
  - lightbyte 7y ago
    Finish the season of Narcos: Mexico first
jeromegv 7y ago
So what you’re saying is that if the journalist wouldn’t ask questions and let things go (like you do), everything would be fine.
- hombre_fatal 7y ago
  Yes, the tourists don't do that and they are fine. If you want to visit Mexico and don't plan on trying to unearth and publish cartel activity, you'll likely have a great time as well. Snark isn't very effective rhetoric.
  - Insanity 7y ago
    I visit Mexico yearly (Married to a Mexican, from Monterrey) for a couple of weeks to a month. I never felt unsafe and greatly enjoy being there. When my in-laws visit us (Europe) they were more worried about a terrorist attack than I am about cartels. Mexico has a lot of violence in those cartel communities. But it mostly stays within those communities.
    - serial_dev 7y ago
      This demonstrates how much media controls our fears. Terrorist attacks in Europe happen rarely when they do happen they are in the news for weeks. While Mexico is being one of the most dangerous countries, people get kidnapped, killed, buried on a daily basis and they barely report the number of people killed properly in local newspapers, it doesn't even make it to national news.
      - Insanity 7y ago
        Yup Indeed. Both sides (EU) and Mexico are pretty safe for the average person though.
  - NotSammyHagar 7y ago
    So what do you suggest people do who hate violence, murdering, everything about the cartels? The world is complicated, maybe it could be that by doing certain tourist activities or traveling to certain places that I'm supporting them.

reasonablemann 7y ago

Between the spike in homicides and frequent drugging of women within resorts I'm amazed people still go down there.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
godzillabrennus 7y ago
Largest hackathon in the world is in Guadalajara Mexico.
- sbarker 7y ago
  *Saudi’s Hajj Hackathon
- lostmsu 7y ago
  Which one is it?
  - hombre_fatal 7y ago
    Probably Campus Party. Cool event.
- JED3 7y ago
  What's the name of the event?
- tdfx 7y ago
  There's also a very active community called "HF Guadalajara" ("Hackers & Founders") which holds regular events.
reidjs 7y ago
Many people are smart enough not to be swayed by fear based news. You’re 100x more likely to die in a car accident on your commute tomorrow than by a cartel member in Mexico as a tourist.

tw04 7y ago

I would say they likely avoid them altogether. Start killing enough Americans and there's likely to be an invasion.

pier25 7y ago

Murder and crime have been growing fast in Quintana Roo since the new state government started in late 2016 or so. I lived there in 2017-2018. Cancun now has a murder rate above the national average. There are shootings weekly, even in the zona hotelera. A couple of months ago someone threw a grenade into a bar. It’s getting ugly.