Mexico Violence - Baja next?

[kitenaked]

I have only been to Baja a couple of times and perhaps the Baja Peninsula is isolated from the drug war going on in Mexico....I dont know.

Read the following this morning and it makes me wonder completely about going to a country where this is happening....yes, violence happens everywhere and not just in mexico.

Mexican marines found 72 bodies at a remote ranch near the U.S. border, the navy said on Wednesday, the biggest single haul of bodies in an increasingly violent drug war. More than 28,000 people in Mexico have died in drug violence since Calderon launched his drug fight when he took office in late 2006, worrying investors and Washington.

When will something happen to one of our friends or family that brings this to closer to home?

Baja seems so innocent and free to many of us that go down there for vacation or to live for the winter....I know the boarder from the Gulf to the Pacific and any town along is no place i want to pass through...

Yes, drug users in US and canada share the responsibility for this.

It is sad for the lives lost AND eye opening.

Many (maybe most) of the folks in Baja rely on us for tourism or agriculture... I dont know.

What to do...?

[wind and waves]

Baja California Sur, the souther state of the Baja Peninsula, has not seen any of the Drug War Violence that we are seeing in the Mainland.

Tijuana has always been a bit sketchy even before the latest Drug War issues. If you are driving to La Ventana or other points south, you can bypass Tijuana by using the Tecate crossing. This is a nice option anyways....you get to go through the Baja wine country. There are a bunch of vineyards along the way.

So.....no reason to generate a bunch of concern when its just flat out not there.

Baja California Sur is as chilled and friendly as it has always been. Nothing has changed. Just lots of wind, desert, mountains, and friendly people.

[kitenaked]

28,000 people are dead. This doesnt concern you?

Baja has been chilled and friendly every time i have been there as well...however i do think about these things.

I dont know who was innocent or not but I am guessing a large number were...

[wind and waves]

Drug war violence in Mexico has been isolated to mainland Mexico and Tijuana.

You can drive around Tijuana or fly over it.

In regard to trips to La Ventana and the Baja, drug war related fatalities in Mainland Mexico and Tijuana are not a concern. Avoid Tijuana which is easy to do.

Worrying about the drug war in La Ventana is like worrying about East L.A. gang violence being a problem at Sherman Island. It is just not an issue.

Check the facts.

[stewart]

I am heading down to San Quintin this weekend with Calikites. Hopefully we make it safely through Tijuana. I hope a bus full of kiteboarders does not represent a target....

[friggin old guy]

I don't want to minimize the concern but I'm not sure how much it's specifically related to kiting and how much the kiting community can do about it- unless you want to try to convince other kiters not to smoke a big fatty every once in awhile. Given the fact that there's actually a serious proposal to legalize weed in California, I doubt you'll get much traction there.

On the other hand, I'm not so sure about the issue of Baja Sur being totally safe....I heard that one guy I know actually had to pay $300 to get his chihuahua back after it had been dognapped in La Paz.....and the police were probably in on it, too!

[moblvet]

A surfer friend of mine disappeared in Baja California Sur some years back. After his folks hired private investigators, all they found out was that his Suburban was being driven by the police chief, and the crime or the location of his body was never solved.
We use to go to Baja with booze, dope and guns, many years back. Always felt safe then, things have changed, teenage federales with big guns now demand bribes and more.
Now I always caravan to be safe. Just be aware.
Try not to travel at night, don't camp in isolated areas along the highway.

[Greg]

Tell the three guys that got shot (dead) in La Paz last year that the threat is not real..
Maybe they were "officials" that were on the take, who knows...

What I do know is things have changed ALOT since I was a kid..
The Mexican people are GREAT!! but the poverty and payoff for corruption are hard to overcome...

I worry about our legal system here being effected by the cartell's.....

I'm afraid one day we will see bombing's just like Columbia here is our pretty little world....

For my friends in Baja I caution being high profile.
Drive a cheap car, show little cash, stay away from the flash!
Remember drug cartel members #2 method of making money is by abduction and extortion- meaning kidnapping. This is VERY REAL!!
every business owner in Mexico knows the sting of corruption, only now it's like dealing with the mob as well... Protection or Pain- (the oldest game)
The same is true of all police and most military, some say 80% are "directly on the take" from the cartel's.. But when the offer is "Silver or Lead" how can "good" ever win....

Naw- The only solution is to remove the fuel that feeds the beast, meaning strip them of funding buy winning the war on drugs... We should legalize several differant drugs and make them really good and CHEAP!! Practially give the shit away to our own people.. (those who do drugs will be happy to do it if they wont get in trouble and it will KILL the Black Market)

COME ON NOW- No more funding a war thats unwinnable and putting the Black Market in business, thats friggen stupid!

L.M.G.

[gnukid]

Baja California is bankrupt financially and morally as is California and the USA. Just like in California, service employees in Baja are being given IOUs, cut back hours or are not paid at all, all the while Government is expanding budgets and contractors, so this presents a burden on everyone else as fewer and fewer have any money and fewer seem to understand the purpose of a minimal role of Government in a Republic.

People, and in turn Governments, turn to whatever they can for money to pay bills and eat. Morals are apparently a flexible trait. People passing through are targets for a little money through unfair police stops, rip-offs etc... Drug war violence is something different. In most cases the victims are touched by violence either by being involved or by refusal to be involved which results in their demise-yet everyone is a participant and is affected by their denial or complicity. This is less common in BCS than the SF bay Area where killings are common nearly daily. Yet you see it rarely affects kitesurfers.

In 2008 Bush signed the Merida Initiative or Plan Mexico which provided 1.6 billion over three years to fund cooperative efforts in Mexican drug routes, intervention, training and equipment. The first payment was 400 million in 2009 and payments have continued. Obama recently pledged an additional 600 million to co-opt the National Guard on the border. I understand Government Money is also allocated to News Reporting, Bloggers and border reports... The Merida initiative followed Bush's signing of the SPP agreement and NAFTA.

The result is an increase in shipments, murder and corruption... and lies. Go figure.

If you are reading the news you will have read thousands of reports on Banks involved in funding cartels, money laundering, CIA corruption, DHS corruption and a continuation of the policies that created Iran-Contra which funded CIA dumping of Cocaine and Crack in LA to fund a private militia, those same people are still appointed to office and their crimes were officially forgiven. Yet most people are in denial that these are the policies yet you can read it daily. This is called cognitive dissonance, when something doesn't make sense you may rationalize it, it's okay or a rare accident while obviously the actions are coordinated and well planned and executed. You hear it programmed every day-do not tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories-yet it's obvious that drug war history is a result of coordinated action as opposed to a series of accidental mishaps by random individuals.

Institutional involvement is far more wide spread than many would rationally accept, yet it is reported daily. Why is it that Americans remain so naive, so blind to the USA complicity? The drug war is a highly profitable Institutional circle, - > drug production-money laundering-banking loans based on illicit deposits-military industrial complex-policing-prison system-slave prison labor-cartel power.

Drug routes are published, the only thing that changed is the transport mechanism (does anyone recall reading in elementary school about 'Golden Triangle' China opium routes for thousands of years), opium from Afghanistan is increasing under our oversight, who, what, where, it's all the same and never ending and its a massive economic engine that certainly isn't all fueled by Ricky 'Freeway' Ross in a 70's van.

So, institutionally the entire region from Canada to Cabo is fueled and run by corrupt drug runners from top to bottom. How this affects you depends on whether you happen to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time, it seems that going kiting is the safest place to be, so far.

If you care about it and your future investigate it, educate yourself and speak to the issue in your community.

Here are general links to stories in the news


Terms to search could be BCCI drug money, CIA drug plane, Military train Zeta, CIA Mexico drug, banks launder drug money, CIA funds drug trade, etc... ad infinitum. You would have to be living in a closet to not know about the US Military/Institutional involvement in the mega-trillions of dollars fiasco. Ask about Mena Arkansas, Venice Florida, Afghanistan... US military in Costa Rica... why?

I believe that with an expanding consciousness and awareness of the world around you, individually and collectively, by refusing to be complicit in any supporting actions, we can reduce the negative affect of the circle of drug violence and corruption simply by refusing to support it in any incarnation. Perhaps focus on developing your own interdependent circle of influence, cooperation, home gardens, local credit union banks, local community services etc... each individual is the highest point of the human chain, the Government and institutions are your servants and you control them by your decisions about what you buy and whether you give them power or not.

Baja is safer than most cities in the USA.

Do your own research and make up your own mind. Stay balanced.

[kitenaked]

Hence the whole reason for the first posting with the news article about all the deaths.

Awareness to my friends!