[Mb-civic] Forget Cuba. Come to Mexico.

[Cheeseburger]

Forget Cuba.   Come to Mexico.



http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_2100.html

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman

Mexico

April 26, 2005

This Public Announcement is to alert U.S. citizens to the continuing
unsettled public security situation along the Mexican side of the
U.S.-Mexico border.  This Public Announcement supercedes the Public
Announcement of January 26, 2005 to update the information provided.  It
expires on July 29, 2005.

Violent criminal activity fueled by a war between criminal organizations
struggling for control of the lucrative narcotics trade continues along the
U.S.-Mexico border. This has resulted in a wave of violence aimed primarily
at members of drug trafficking organizations, criminal justice officials and
journalists.  However, foreign visitors and residents, including Americans,
have been among the victims of homicides and kidnappings in the border
region.

A power vacuum within criminal organizations resulting from the imprisonment
of several of their leaders along the Mexico-U.S. border continues to
contribute to a deterioration of public safety in the region.  In recent
months, the worst violence has been centered in the city of Nuevo Laredo in
the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, where more than 30 U.S. citizens have been
kidnapped and/or murdered in the past eight months and public shootouts have
occurred during daylight hours near frequented shopping areas and on streets
leading to the international bridges.  One of the shootouts spilled onto the
Mexican side of the bridge itself.  Four police officers have been killed in
Nuevo Laredo since March.

Mexico's police forces suffer from lack of funds and training, and the
judicial system is weak, overworked, and inefficient. Criminals, armed with
an impressive array of weapons, know there is little chance they will be
caught and punished. In some cases, assailants have been wearing full or
partial police uniforms and have used vehicles that resemble police
vehicles, indicating some elements of the police might be involved.

U.S. citizens are urged to be especially aware of safety and security
concerns when visiting the border region.  While the overwhelming majority
of victims of these crimes are Mexican citizens, U.S. citizens nonetheless
should be aware of the risk posed by this uncertain security situation.  The
vast majority of the thousands of U.S. citizens who cross the border each
day do so safely, exercising common-sense precautions such as visiting only
legitimate business and tourist areas of border towns during daylight hours.
It is strongly recommended that red-light districts and neighborhoods where
street drug dealing occurs be avoided.

U.S. citizens who are victims of crime in the border region are urged to
contact the Consular Section of the nearest U.S. consulate for advice and
assistance.  The following is contact information for the five U.S. border
consulates or consulate generals:

The U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana, which covers the states of Baja
California Norte and Baja California Sur, is located at Ave. Tapachula 96,
Colonia Hipódromo. The Consulate General's telephone number is (52)(664)
622-7400, the fax for the office of American Citizen Services is (664)
686-1168, and the Consulate General's web address is
http://www.usembassy-mexico.gov/tijuana/Teacs.htm.

The U.S. Consulate in Nogales, which covers northern Sonora, is located at
Calle San Jose, Fraccionamiento Los Alamos. The Consulate's telephone number
is (52)(631) 313-4820, the fax for the Consulate is (52) (631) 313-46-52,
the e-mail address for the Consulate is nogales7 at prodigy.net.mx and the
Consulate's web address is
http://www.usembassy-mexico.gov/nogales/NE_Introduction.htm.

The U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Juárez, which covers the state of
Chihuahua, is located at Avenida Lopez Mateos 924 Norte. The Consulate
General's telephone number is (52)(656) 611-3000, the fax for the Consulate
General is (656) 616-9056, the e-mail address for the Consulate General's
Office of American Citizen Services is cdjamericancitizens at state.gov, and
the Consulate General's web address is
http://usembassy.state.gov/posts/mx2/wwwhmain.html.

The U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo, which covers northern Coahuila and
northwestern Tamaulipas states, is located at Calle Allende 3330, Colonia
Jardin. The Consulate's telephone number is (52)(867) 714-0512, the e-mail
address for the Consulate's Office of American Citizen Services is
NuevoLaredo-ACS at state.gov, and the Consulate's web address is
http://nuevolaredo.usconsulate.gov/nuevolaredo/index.html.

The U.S. Consulate in Matamoros, which covers eastern and southern
Tamaulipas state, is located at Calle Primera #2002, Colonia Jardin. The
Consulate's telephone number is (52)(868) 812-4402, the fax for the
Consulate is (868) 812-2171, and the Consulate's web address is
http://matamoros.usconsulate.gov/ .

Americans living or traveling in Mexico are encouraged to register with the
nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate through the State Department's travel
registration website, https://travelregistration.state.gov, and to obtain
updated information on travel and security within Mexico. Americans without
Internet access may register directly with the nearest U.S. Embassy or
Consulate. By registering, American citizens make it easier for the Embassy
or Consulate to contact them in case of emergency.

Updated information on travel and security for Mexico may be obtained from
the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 within the U.S., or from
overseas, 1-202-501-4444. U.S. citizens should consult the Consular
Information Sheet for Mexico, the Worldwide Caution Public Announcement, and
the travel publication A Safe Trip Abroad, all of which are available on the
State Department's Internet site at http://travel.state.gov.

==========



CheeseComments:

The above is only part of the story.  Do some more research if you're really
interested in such subjects, especially so close to Home.

Nuevo Laredo is 100 miles south of me.  I haven't gone to Mexico for a long
time, many many years, due to their policies toward some foreigners that
resemble those of any other corrupt country, namely kidnapping, false
arrest, false imprisonment, holding for ransom and murder.  Both within and
without the Government itself.

Their policies have *always* been like that, which when NAFTA came around I
was really surprised.

Other people speak of someone named al-Qaeda and somewhere called The Middle
East.

Some of us here along the southern border of the USA have known of these
policies for, again, forever, and the quality and breadth of their
operations extended into the USA a long time ago as well.

The drug traffickers (as well as those in the Government who foster and
protect them and benefit from their efforts) have been murdering lots of
women down here forever and burying them along the border in black magic
kind of rituals to ensure the safety of their shipments.  That has also been
going on for a long time.  It's rather no secret that even top agencies of
the USA such as the CIA to name one have been involved in drug trafficking
internationally, as well as throughout and from South and Central America
and Mexico, straight up to where I live, and then to all the rest of you
wonderful people.  We just get more dead bodies here it seems, for various
reasons.

It's like living next to some kind of version of some strange country in The
Middle East or somewhere where both the Government and the Criminals are
almost one and the same sometimes it seems.

Again, however, just the tip of the iceberg, the inroading seepage into the
USA is almost very impressive, but I'm a hard person to impress, so what
would I know.

It was in the 1980's I believe, I was standing in line at a news stand in
Manhattan waiting to get something when I glanced at some little magazine
called "Time" and they had a cover story about something like "Drugs In
America" or something, I picked it up and thumbed through it as I was
waiting, turned to one of the pages of the story that had a giant color
depiction of south and central America, Mexico, the USA, and Canada.  There
was a giant red line on this "map" that indicated the major flow of all
drugs from these areas, one giant red arrow, it came up and up and up, and,
no, it didn't enter the USA at California or somewhere, it entered at Texas,
then the giant red arrow went slowly up into Texas and stopped on a little
bitty town, I looked at it, it was the name of my little bitty home town, at
that juncture the giant red arrow split into a hundred little bitty red
arrows going east, west, north, Everywhere, designating where I am typing
from now as the Major distribution point for All those drugs.  I thought
that rather interesting, even if the story was so long ago.  I came down
here from Manhattan one Christmas holidays and told some people what I had
seen in Time and they called me a liar and drunk, they hadn't read it, and
that was the end of that.

Oh well, just another story.......

And you're worried about someone named al-Qaeda.

Funny as crap.

Forget Cuba.  Cuba likes being evil.

Come to Mexico.  We only make people dead because we have to.






Cheeseburger

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