This was posted on chapala.com - anyone know anything about this?

MaryM

Newbie

Group:
Members Posts:
72 Joined:
20-September 09 Posted Today, 08:51 PM

Surprised no one has mentioned the warning put out by the Canadian Gov't today regarding vehicles crossing the Mexico border from the States - 17 people killed yesterday in that area. They are suggesting Canadians do not drive across the border.

D'uh! The border encompasses a very wide area. Were they all called at a certain spot on the border or 1 every 250km?

Even if 50 people were killed in a city, you have to ask yourself who they were. If they were all drug guys then who really cares. If they were all or mostly Canadians then yes you should care.

CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Tuesday Sep. 21, 2010 1:48 PM ET

Ottawa is warning Canadians planning visits to Mexico to avoid that country's border areas with the United States, lest they become caught up in escalating violence associated with drug cartels.

The Department of Foreign Affairs issued an "official warning" on its travel website Tuesday that said Mexico's northern states are to be avoided "due to continuously high levels of violence linked to drug trafficking in those areas."

The warning also said ""Canadians should avoid crossing Mexico's northern border by land, as shootouts, attacks, and illegal roadblocks may occur at any time. Criminals especially target SUVs and full-size pickup trucks for theft and carjacking."

The warning, the second-highest level of travel alert issued by the department, said Canadians should avoid non-essential travel to the Mexican states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guerrero, Michoacán, Morelos, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Sonora, and Sinaloa.

The violence in those border states is not aimed at foreigners or Canadians in particular, but they risk getting caught up in the growing violence sparked by a government crackdown on drug cartels and shooting wars between rival gangs.

"Armed clashes between security forces and drug groups are commonplace in certain areas and can occur at any time without warning," the department warned. "Travellers could get caught in the crossfire."

The warning also applies to parts of Mexico's southern border with Guatemala.

"While Canadians are not specifically targeted, they risk being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Law enforcement and police protection are often lacking."

Ottawa has already advised Canadian travellers to exercise caution when visiting the southwest coast of Mexico, which was hit with flooding and landslides after Hurricane Karl passed through the area.

"It is highly advisable to travel to Mexico by air," the department advised.

Intercasa wrote:Even if 50 people were killed in a city, you have to ask yourself who they were. If they were all drug guys then who really cares. If they were all or mostly Canadians then yes you should care.

Agreed. I haven't heard about any Canadians being killed there lately nor have I heard about any warnings not to drive there (other than what was just posted above). I'll see what's in the paper tomorrow.

Canadians only seem to die when drinking too much and falling off balconies or mixing with unsavory characters. They should issue a warning to Canadians to always take a first floor unit, that would save more lives then their other warning!

Friends returned yesterday from Tucson, AZ via Nogales and Hwy 15 without incident. BTW, they are not Canadian. They did encounter military checkpoints along the way.

There was a small article containing much of the same info as above in the Vancouver newspaper today. I don't believe the warning is based on any one event or death but is more of a broad based "be careful out there" warning which I'm sure we are all aware of by now.

And that's good advice!

Copied this from the WhatsupMaz forum :
The reason I posted about the travel alert and the fine print on my health insurance started to unfold a few weeks back. On another forum there was a topic about the accelerated drug violence. Someone responded that if someone got hurt it wouldn't matter anyway because your health insurance wouldn't be any good anyway. So I took out my policy and read the fine print. I have also read several US govt warden messages and wondered why the govt of Canada never issues similar warnings. I found that with the Cdn govt there are 4 levels of warning. The second level was issued on Feb 27 and the third level was issued Sept 21. When and if the fourth and highest level of alert will be issued is anyone's guess. What I know now after this research is that if the fourth and highest level is reached that we have 10 days to get out of the country. I didn't know this before and I don't think many on this forum did either. After the second level of warning was issued on Feb 27, many people thought then that there was little indication of the likelihood of ever reaching a level three. Now that the level three is here, how far into the future will level four be? Again anybody's guess.

Do the 10 days have to be sequential? Or can you choose?

10 days to get out or what????????

I do not know 10 days or what....I am not Canadian, just posted from another forum. I guess you loose all insurance or something?????

Yeah maybe. I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the heads up.

Loose insurance can be hazardous to your health.

I'm not Canadian, but it's not clear to me why you have 10 days to get out of Mexico after the highest warning is reached? What happens to you if you don't leave?

10 days go by. No one has posted a source for this claim. If it is true it's likely a warning that all hell is about to break loose.

We returned last night. We crossed in Nogales on Wednesday and had no problems driving a pickup laden with stuff. We took Mex15 driving cuotas whenever possible. Said hello at the two military checkpoints we encountered.
While driving through Mazatlan Friday morning we saw headlines in the Mexican newspapers of the Canadian warnings.
This was our third crossing at Nogales in two years. My husband has been using Laredo 2-3 times a year for the last two years to go to the VA. We are Americans and have had no problems in the two years we've been driving.

I couldn't find anything about travel advisories having different "levels". The only advisories with levels are health warnings like when the H1N1 was going around. I don't believe there is anything that would be done to one's "health insurance" based on travel advisories or at least I couldn't find anything on it.

I'm not Canadian, but it's not clear to me why you have 10 days to get out of Mexico after the highest warning is reached? What happens to you if you don't leave?

Expect no help from the goverment, it was done in Nam and, world war II.

espíritu del lago wrote:I'm not Canadian, but it's not clear to me why you have 10 days to get out of Mexico after the highest warning is reached? What happens to you if you don't leave?

Expect no help from the goverment, it was done in Nam and, world war II.

Now what are you mumbling about?

Back to the original topic:

Surprised no one has mentioned the warning put out by the Canadian Gov't today regarding vehicles crossing the Mexico border from the States - 17 people killed yesterday in that area. They are suggesting Canadians do not drive across the border.

I'm not Canadian, but it's not clear to me why you have 10 days to get out of Mexico after the highest warning is reached? What happens to you if you don't leave?

Sounds like more media hysterics to me... "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"
Damn those acorns, anyhow. Peel away all the layers of BS and one finds the truth is a whole lot closer to Spencer's scenario. Lizzy