Mexico | Ain't Complicated

US State Department Updates Mexico Travel Warning

Security conditions in Sonora and Sinaloa warrant the update

The US Department of State updated its Mexico Travel Warning on Tuesday, August 22, 2017.

The U.S. Department of State warns U.S. citizens about the risk of traveling to certain parts of Mexico due to the activities of criminal organizations in those areas. U.S. citizens have been the victims of violent crimes, including homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery in various Mexican states. This Travel Warning replaces the Travel Warning for Mexico issued December 8, 2016.

For information on security conditions in specific regions of Mexico, see our state-by-state assessments below. U.S. government personnel and their families are prohibited from personal travel to all areas to which the Department recommends “defer non-essential travel” in this Travel Warning. As a result of security precautions that U.S. government personnel must take while traveling to parts of Mexico, our response time to emergencies involving U.S. citizens may be hampered or delayed.

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Convert or Be Gone

When Protestants refuse to convert to Catholicism

I wonder what I would do if this happened to me:

The Protestants were forcibly displaced in early 2010 after village authorities destroyed their church and issued an ultimatum to the Protestants to convert to Catholicism.

I wonder what side of this story is offered by the village authorities.

I wonder what the Protestants did or didn’t do to trigger this action.

I wonder what the Pope’s stance is on this. Read it all

Promoting Peaceful Voting

Voting in a peaceful way.

Voting with all five senses intact.

Great ideas!

Mexico will try to pull off a peaceful, sensible election tomorrow, in part by doing this:Read it all

Mexico: Another Consequential Election

The USA faces a high-stakes, weighty-consequences election in the fall — Obama or Romney. I believe the results will affect me very directly.

But there’s another consequential election close by. And it’s this summer — on July 1. Read it all

Meandering to Mexico

We missed the boat an hour ago. 🙁

For the second time this year already.

At 5:53 this morning, our last two young folks at home left for a visit to our congregation’s mission operation in northwest Mexico.

Chayli and Andy sure wanted us to go along. Had God opened the door, Read it all

Be Careful in Sonora and Sinaloa

I learned a few minutes ago (thanks, Google Alerts!) that, as of yesterday, there’s a new travel warning for Mexico. (Sonora is of particular interest to me partly because I share responsibility for some people there.) Here are some portions of the travel warning, followed by a link to full deal, which includes sections addressing other states:

The Department of State has issued this Travel Warning to inform U.S. citizens traveling to and living in Mexico about the security situation in Mexico.

[…]

Millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year, including more than 150,000 who cross the border every day for study, tourism or business and at least one million U.S. citizens who live in Mexico. The Mexican government makes a considerable effort to protect U.S. citizens and other visitors to major tourist destinations.

[…]

There is no evidence that U.S. tourists have been targeted by criminal elements due to their citizenship. Nonetheless, while in Mexico you should be aware of your surroundings at all times and exercise particular caution in unfamiliar areas.

[…]

Due to ongoing violence and persistent security concerns, you are urged to defer non-essential travel to the states of Tamaulipas and Michoacán, and to parts of the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi and Jalisco. Details on these locations, and other areas in which travelers should exercise caution, are below. Read it all

Sam and Nancy Davis

Nancy Davis

I wasn’t there.

Nancy and Sam Davis were riding along a highway 70 miles south of the border town of Reynosa, Mexico, on Wednesday when they approached an illegal roadblock. Rather than stop, they continued driving and were chased by several gunmen in a black pick-up truck, according Pharr Police Chief Ruben Villescas.

Rather than stop, Sam Davis gunned the engine of their blue 2008 Chevrolet pick-up, a vehicle popular with the dangerous Zetas drug cartel that controls the area. The pursuing gunmen fired at Davis’ truck, and a bullet hit Nancy Davis in the head.

Her husband raced the 70 miles to the Pharr International Bridge, speeding the last part of the way against on-coming traffic to avoid the long lines of northbound cars at the border checkpoint, arriving at 12:25 p.m., according to police reports.

Source: ABC News

I don’t know why Sam didn’t stop at the roadblock.

Neither do I know what I would have done in his shoes.

Unless “in his shoes” means all that it suggests. In that case, I expect I would have done what he did.

Some folks, though, (will) say Sam’s decision to run the roadblock was foolish and/or wrong.

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