Is Mexico Safe?

[MikeMike]

TurkeyCreek, I think the numbers reflect the local industry on your side. Cars and minerals/metals are more of a west coast thing except for Puebla and the motor plants around DF.

Arte and Andres, Espero que Steve y yo puedemos llegar manana, viernes, como las 9:30am en La Esperanza pero eso depende de las lluvias o quien sabes que. Todavia no se que el "Mystery Rider" que abuelo por el cuarto vez, va a llegar con nosotros, aye como son los pinche viejos ja,ja!

[Pedro Navaja]

Originally Posted by MikeMike

TurkeyCreek, I think the numbers reflect the local industry on your side. Cars and minerals/metals are more of a west coast thing except for Puebla and the motor plants around DF...

Disagree. Minerals/Metals is a northern Mexico thing. In fact Monclova is a steel town due to local ore and even their baseball team is called the "Steelers." There is a GM and a Benz plant in Saltillo. Cd. Acuna has a Ford plant. Monterrey has always been an auto town as that's one of the ways the Garza Sada family made their money with exclusivity to make Ford parts in Mexico.

[acejones]

There is also a huge GM plant east of Leon.

[Turkeycreek]

Big GM plant in Hermosillo, Ford is in Chihuahua, VW is in Puebla. Nissan is coming, don't know where

[MikeMike]

Ok, I get what you are saying, however the leading steel producer at the moment is located on the west coast in Lazaro Cardenas.
The north, business like and industry heavy, such as Monterrey, has always been an engine of growth that pays the bills in Mexico. Puebla is the same on a slightly smaller scale.
The big problem is that Mexico might boast of nice round growth numbers but the fact remains that little of that reaches the population. Spending power in many locales will take a dip this year due to less remittances from the pochos. Not my speculation, but a fact that is proving true and was forecast earlier this year. Slim, tied tightly to his guru Alvin Toffler, might be the wealthiest man in the world, but there are still over 40% living in poverty and a daily minimum wage of about $10 US is never going to help things. Investments by foreign multinationals brings prosperity on a regional scale. The fact that so much of the infrastructure is so out of date makes for less of a rosy outlook for Mexico. Wait until Pemex has to begin replacing a few pipelines. Slim makes his fortune through monopolies.
I do not begrudge him, in fact, as a figurehead for many powerful Mexican families you have to admire the guy's incredible balancing act and ability to pick some real choice boxed trifecta winners.
What is going to happen is that the PRI will do the usual "we have big plans and your future is so bright you will have to wear sunglasses" BS slinging like they always have. Some big and ambitious projects will start and then peter out into the vicious cycle of corruption. A cycle of corruption that adds as much as 10% to the goods and services in the country and on top of the double digit IVA tax that is already there! Why do things cost more in Mexico? Well, you can add about 25% right off the bat with the federal tax and the cost of corruption.
When all is said and done, the Ford worker living in company housing with his kids in company schools and his health in the hands of company clinics and his recreation time spent in company rec centers and his wages spent in the area, he will benefit and his children will have a future (it is already into the second generation in those areas), but the guy planting beans or picking coffee on the mountain side in a less fortunate region of the country is going to get nothing but the same old same old. He is happy to simply survive and has learned to expect zero from the government. One is well taken care of and very productive, but the other is simply productive.
It's Mexico and that's the way it is and the way it will always be as long as the politicians continue to reap the benefits. Calderon and Fox both failed Mexico in working towards lessening regional disparity. They had the chance and it is a shame they both blew it. The current PAN is not a whole lot different from the PRI and the PRD is nothing more than old Pristas who couldn't ride enough of the gravy train to satisfy their needs. The PAN needs a massive house cleaning and a return to the days and values of Manuel Clouthier. Too many modern day Panistas have forgotten the sacrifice he made.
Hey, wait a minute! Sounds like a few other countries.

And to bring this back full circle, I am personally bien encabronado with Calderon because the damn cuotas have yet to be reduced to half for motos like they were supposed to be!

[tricepilot]

Too long. No pics of Salma. Didn't read.

[MikeMike]

Trice made me cry.
All that work for nothing.

Head over to RTW Paul's ride report and take a look at the chica he snapped on the street in Campeche.

Orale!

[tricepilot]

Now I'm crying since Mike is crying

[MikeMike]

Is Mexico safe in a kinder gentler new age metrosexual sort of way?
Tune in next time.
Get the hook and cue the dancing penguins.
And everyone needs to take a look at that chica in Campeche.

[Turkeycreek]

I see lots of good things happening. Examples are my construction guy has 3 kids. One is in the university and he is planning on sending the other 2. My housekeeper's daughter is studying to be a nurse at the USON as well. She got some scholarship money from the state, from the local mine charity and we help as well.

As a hotel owner, I try very hard not to get embroiled in local politics. I do speak out of civic matters but it is always a fine line. Some of my friends still are not talking to one another after the local elections.

[MikeMike]

It's an illusion, it is very much a case of regional "haves and have nots" here and it always will be.
Chiapas didn't get a decent TV signal until the Olympics in 1968. The decent roads came later. There are too many areas that are forgotten, and you are lucky to live in a state that cares about its people. The dengue measures prove that for sure!
The other thing is that you can operate your business without the constant threat of extortion by drug gangs and thugs.
It ain't like that everywhere!

[Turkeycreek]

Nothing is straight forward here. There are always at least 2 stories, sometimes more. One is simple and logical, the others twist with intrigue, conspiracy and betrayal. It seems that I'm usually the only one who accepts the simple story. El Chapo has this part of the world locked down. Sole proprietorship. Fine by me. I hope Peña Nieto doesn't make things go sour here.

The reason I am not hassled is because I tell people I'm a mafia hit man in the witness protection program. Kinda like this guy


But in the final analysis, the old joke still has a lot of truth; Mexico is poised for greatness and always will be.


(For the record, I am not a mafioso and I'm not in the witness protection program and I only tell gullible gringos that I am.)

[mark883]

[QUOTE=rockymountainoyster;19787207....be cultural ambassadors and not just drunken louts who leer at the women and behave in ways that we never would consider on our home turf. I live in a tourist town and I have to shake my head sometimes at the way people forget their manners when they are "out of town". ...[/QUOTE]

My nieces were recently chastised by their mother for starting at the neighbors carrying on at the lake.

My oldest niece (4yrs) replied: "We're not staring, we're just looking at them a lot."

Sounds like a good philosophy to me.

[jimmex]

^^^When you get tired of propping up Michigan, get on your bike and we'll redux the 2011 trip with some interesting variations.

[Pedro Navaja]

Originally Posted by tricepilot

Too long. No pics of Salma. Didn't read.