The U.S. State Department and universities around the country are warning college students headed for Mexico for some spring-break partying of a surge in drug-related murder and mayhem south of the border.I went to Acapulco in August '86 and to Cancun in August '08 (pictures and commentary in the August 2008 archives). Nice places.
"We're not necessarily telling students not to go, but we're going to certainly alert them," said Tom Dougan, vice president for student affairs at the University of Rhode Island. "There have been Americans kidnapped, and if you go you need to be very aware and very alert to this fact."
More than 100,000 high school- and college-age Americans travel to Mexican resort areas during spring break each year. Much of the drug violence is happening in border towns, and tourists have generally not been targeted, though there have been killings in the big spring-break resorts of Acapulco and Cancun, well away from the border.
Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Where To Go On Spring Break?
Some colleges and universities are warning students about going to Mexico because of an upsurge in drug violence there.
Don't go to Mexico. It is dangerous. The travel companies are trying to sugarcoat this situation, but the instability of the drug cartels and the inability of the central Mexican government to guarantee safety on even a marginal level makes it a very BIG risk going to Mexico on vacation. First, if you don't have a passport, it's not happening anyway. Secondly, there have been serious crimes and kidnappings involving Americans in border towns. I am just not all that sure vacation destinations are immune. We just talked our daughter out of going to a destination wedding in on Baja. Sorry, but my daughter's life is worth more than a trip.
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