In Reply To

Put it like this: If you go to Baghdad, stay in the Green Zone; If you go to Detroit, stay in the nicer areas and don't walk around the inner city crime areas; If you go to Mexico, don't hang out with drug gangs or walk around Ciudad Juarez at night in crime areas.

Nowhere do you hit someone who is pointing a gun at you. That goes for anyplace in the world.

Hi all....

Every time a US citizen is killed in Mexico, some of us who live here go crazy with worry, and some tell the story about how dangerous Mexico is becoming.

I'm a warden for the US Embassy. Recently 2 fellow wardens and I met with our contact from the Embassy. His take is that while sometimes US Citizens are hit by accident, that there is zero evidence that they are being targeted as a group. Often folks from the US who are killed are themselves involved in the drug trade, or related criminal activities. They may also do foolish things (like hitting armed gunmen on the head).

When we start getting into all sorts of statistical comparisons, I feel it just muddies the waters. Here's the bottom line: in 2010, per the State Department, 111 US Citizens were killed out of millions of visits by US Citizens. Several US cities can easily top that number.

I hear the numbers will be somewhat higher for 2011, but in my view, this is no cause for concern. Bottom line--US citizen residents or visitors to Mexico are quite safe!

Jim

For example, John made $1 last month, Charles made $100 dollars--100% more. But neither made very much money.

norteno,

Read this and anynumber of other verifiable news reports about killed or murdered (dead is dead) in Germany alone in March of this year, 2011. http://www.dawn.com/2011/03/02/two-shot-dead-on-us-military-bus-at-german-airport.html knowing these reports and facts to be true, why in the world would an intelligent person believe either that State Department Stat or any other stat for that matter and call it "gospel'? Statistics are believed by far too many people, without those same people checking on their own. As one author many years ago wrote in his wonderful book . . . . . "We are indeed a Nation of Sheep" . . . . Herds of both wild animals and mobs start panic exactly for these reasons. So check your facts before posting them or for all you know you may unjustifiably start another useless stampede! (smiling)

I think that the above heavily covered story out of Frankfurt, Germany just shot (pardon the pun) a 50% hole, in your belief of the State Departments stats! That very kind of "preciseness" is what taints all statistics by anyone. As a pervious poster said, in I think post #18 and another said in post #20 in so many words is that it is impossible to rely on statistics, as all statistics can be "massaged' and they usually are.

My 2 pesos worth.

robt65

US highway deaths come in at 11.7 deaths per 100,000 & US Preventable Medical Error Deaths come in at 41.0 deaths per 100,000.
Troubling,
steve
-

Saw a stat recently and I forget the % ....