Another Point of View on Safety in Mexico

Is there violence in Mexico? Yes. Could you be a victim of crime in Mexico? Yes. However there is also violence anywhere you travel and the United States does not have a good record in that regard either. Your chance of becoming a victim of violent crime is much higher north of the border than visiting our Mexican friends south of the border. As an example, the State Department issued a travel alert because 16 tourists were victims of violent crime in northern Baja where 60 million come to visit each year. In the same time period 26 tourists were victims of violent crime in California State Parks. So where is the travel alert for California??? Tijuana is portrayed as a dangerous and violent city yet there are many cities in the USA like Los Angeles, New Orleans, Chicago, Philadelphia and Baltimore where you are much more likely to be a victim of violent crime or even killed. I don’t hear anyone in the media warning travelers to any of those or other cities where tourists are attacked on a daily basis. The media has chosen to portray Mexico as a very dangerous and violent place by replaying over and over the pictures and videos of isolated events. Imagine if the media in other foreign countries were to replay over and over the videos of the multiple high school and university shootings and of police beating helpless subjects from events that had happened in the USA over time? We would see a big reduction in foreign tourism to the USA if that happened. Don’t just listen to the yellow journalism in the USA - talk to Gringos who actually travel to Mexico and the thousands who make Mexico their home today. Mexico offers a great climate, lower cost of living and ability to enjoy living in an ocean front community - a luxury out of reach by most in the USA. We need fair and biased reporting by the news media.