[Students] Caution--Travel in Mexico

[Joan Lawrence]

>From the Aggie Hotline:

 

 

Mexican Violence Poses Threat To Spring Breakers 
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Mexico's rising violence and drug-related crimes represent a very
serious security challenge to the United States and students going there
on spring break should take special precautions, says a homeland
security expert at Texas A&M University.

 

Dave McIntyre, who heads the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at
Texas A&M and is an expert on security and terrorism matters, explains
that Mexican drug cartels have established networks in almost every
major U.S. city. "They fight among themselves for the trade routes into
the U.S.," McIntyre says. "In recent years, the Mexican government has
tightened down on the leadership of drug gangs, but the result has been
that the violence has increased dramatically."

 

Because thousands of college students head to numerous Mexican locations
for spring break, McIntyre says there are some do's and don'ts about
traveling there in light of the recent violence.

 

"While tourists do not appear to be specific targets, all visitors
should take heed to the recent State Department warnings concerning
violence in Mexico," he says.

 

"Students should travel only in groups, stay near the habited areas and
avoid any activity that would make them an easy target. They should
especially avoid too much drinking of alcohol that would affect their
awareness and their ability to respond, and they should never flash
large amounts of money."

 

McIntyre notes that the drug cartels are ruthless - they kill to make a
point and to strike fear into anyone that presents a threat to them.
"They not only kill policemen, they kill their entire families,
including children," he adds, noting that the police chief of Cancun
recently came out of military retirement to help and was killed within a
week.

 

"They are lawless and they make their own rules. And they also are
extremely well-armed - many times, the drug gangs have superior
firepower over local police. The sophistication of their weapons has
greatly increased, such as using anti-tank weapons and .50-caliber
sniper rifles as well as foreign-made grenades. You didn't see those
types of weapons in the past, but now they are common."

 

One U.S. agency report estimates that at least 1,000 guns are smuggled
into Mexico every day, with most of them winding up in the hands of the
drug gangs.

 

"The violence along the border towns between the U.S. and Mexico has
steadily increased, but now you are seeing it move farther inland into
the U.S.," McIntyre adds, pointing to the more than 350 kidnappings that
have occurred in Phoenix in the past year.

 

"In Phoenix, gangs crossed the border and were dressed as Phoenix SWAT
members and attacked a home, and that incident was not unique. Uniformed
guards have crossed the U.S. border hundreds of times in the past to
secure drug shipments onto U.S. soil."

 

At least 6,000 people have died in Mexico in the past year because of
the widespread drug violence, "and that estimate may be low," McIntyre
says. "It's a problem that could easily get worse and it's one story
that has probably been under-reported. America's drug problem fuels
these gangs. People here don't realize that every time they use a
recreational drug, they are contributing to thousands of rapes,
kidnappings and murders in Mexico."

 

 

 

Contact: Dave McIntyre at (979) 862-2432 or mcintyredh at tamu.edu or
http://homelandsecurity.tamu.edu <http://homelandsecurity.tamu.edu/>  or
Keith Randall at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall at tamu.edu.

________________________________

Texas A&M University
http://tamunews.tamu.edu/ 

 

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