Jeep stolen on Michoacan coast

briansue wrote:
I am sorry if some are confused by some of my posts. People post on this forum about crime in Mexico as though there is no crime anywhere else. Someone from the Detroit area says one hijacking in Mexico is reason not to go yet they ignore crime statistics in their own backyard.

I am not saying one is more or less dangerous than another. I have never said there is no crime in Mexico. Where you get that idea I do not know. I have always said we are aware of crime in Mexico. We are aware of cartels etc. And we certainly do not go to places like Juarez or other parts of Mexico where high crime rates are known - anymore than we would go to Detroit or any of the other US cities that are way up there on the crime list.

My whole point - as I have stated many times - is why do you think Mexico is more dangerous than the US or Canada? Because a lot of people have been killed in Juarez? Does that mean we should avoid all of Mexico. If a lot of people are killed in Detroit or Flint (and they certainly are) does that mean we should avoid Michigan or the US. Use your head! There is nowhere that is without crime. It can happen anywhere.

Of course there are odds and some places have more crime than others. Are tourists targeted in Mexico? Do the statistics in Mexico indicate high crime against tourists? Do we know of tourists who have been victimized in Mexico? Well yes we do - and they have posted on this forum. Is it a common everyday occurrence to hear of tourists killed in Mexico? Not to my knowledge.

I am sure there are carjackings in Mexico - just as there are carjackings in the US. But some seem to ignore the fact that you can be a victim just about anywhere.

In our years of experience in Mexico we do not believe the risks are greater in the areas we travel than they are in the areas we travel in the US or Canada - and we have been in all but 4 of the 31 states in Mexico in our most recent motorhome in case you think we haven't experience a good deal of Mexico.

There are not very many towns in North America that have not experienced a murder or two from time to time - all of North America and anywhere in North America. So why should we be at all surprised when we hear of bad things happening anywhere? And that is my whole point. We do our best to avoid trouble but I doubt there is anywhere that can assure anyone's safety. If we decided not to go anywhere there might be trouble we would have nowhere left to go - nowhere I know of.

So that is why I bring up the US on a Mexico forum - so those who think they are safe in the US are not paying attention - or are in denial - or are only kidding themselves. If you do not want to go to Mexico then do not go - but at least try to be at least a little realistic - crime happens everywhere.

Almost 30 years ago I was a truck driver running 48 states all over the US. I had to haul meat from Denver to Detroit and when I got to the meat market in Detroit they told me to make sure my doors were locked and windows rolled up and do not get out of the truck until the security people came to tell me it was OK. Same sort of thing at Hunt's Point Market in NYC. Same in Miami. I had to go to these places to make a living. I do not go to RV. And I do not go to problem areas in Mexico either. Sorry if you get confused by my posts. Sorry if people don't get the reasons for my posts. I try to make sense of all this. I sure wish others would try to make sense of it too.