U.S. warns travelers about Oaxaca City [Mexico]

Houston Chronicle/AP ^ | Aug. 24, 2006

[SwinneySwitch]

WASHINGTON — U.S. citizens were warned Thursday that increasing political violence in Oaxaca City, Mexico, might make the mountain resort too risky to visit.

The State Department said the unrest, which began in May as a strike by a local teachers' union, has grown and spread. It said the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City has reports of robberies and assaults in normally peaceful areas of the city.

Two people have died in the turmoil.

Oaxaca is a historic city in southern Mexico, west of the Yucatan Peninsula, that is popular with tourists. Protesters in the city said Thursday they were willing to enter negotiations to end the monthslong conflict. They insist, however, that the state's governor must step down before the trouble can end.

The department advised U.S. citizens with plans to go to Oaxaca City to consider "carefully the risk of travel at this time due to the recent increase in violence." The announcement remains effective until Sept. 24.

[SwinneySwitch]

Avoid the entire country, if you can.

[RolandBurnam]

the mexicans seem to be good at avoiding mexico. they are all here.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Central America is a much better vacation destination than Mexico anyway. Especially Belize or Costa Rica.

[JimRed]

The State Department said the unrest, which began in May as a strike by a local teachers' union...

Some tough teacher's union they've got down there!

[ECM]

Amen to that. You couldn't pay me to visit that place--I like living and/or keeping my money/freedom.

[Red Badger]

iow, DON'T GO TO OX CACA........

[SwinneySwitch]

Peligro Ping!

[BurbankKarl]

I dont go to Oxnard, California either....

or Mexnard as it is now called.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

I heard Belize was a good vacation place. Also, Mayan ruins are accessible, just across the border in Guatemala.
We visited Cancun and Chizen Itza about 12 years ago and it was great. Is it unsafe to go to Cancun?

[SwinneySwitch]

From Oaxaca's Tourist Guide:

"Statistics show that, for some unknown reason, people get sick on their third day of their visit. In case of a problem, you will find pharmacies well stocked with suitable medicines. Generally, you will always find a hospital or medical clinic close by, unless you travel to remote areas. Before leaving home, check with your insurance company about coverage in Mexico."

Nice!

[ContemptofCourt]

Just went to Costa Rica...was a great trip...I can see how people want to cash in their chips and become expats down there....

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Wife and I flew from Huatulco to Oaxaca some years ago. The airplane was an Air Liberdad DC-3, spotless white with a red lightning bolt down the fuselage. We were the only Gringos on the plane.

[Mount Athos]

I went to Huatulco in southern mexico, I recommend it highly.

The place I most want to go in Mexico is around Guadalajara, where you can experience rich mexican culture. Not some ridiculous tourist trap like Cancun, or some horrific gangwar blight like the border towns.

Acapulco must have been really nice someday but I would never go there again.

[G Larry]

Ya, if you stay away from the drug infested East coast of Costa Rica.
I also seem to recall significant political turmoil in Belize several years ago.

[CFC__VRWC]

Totally missing from this Drive By Media "news story" is any reference at all to how this teacher's union is striking, burning buses and attacking people in support of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leftist Hugo Chavez puppet who is trying to overturn the results of Mexico's July 2 presidential election. This is a major story that has received zero attention in the American media; it really looks like they're intentionally avoiding covering it, to give some cover to AMLO and his insane statements and thug tactics.

[End Times Sentinel]

Avoid the entire country, if you can.

Based on the fact that illiterate folks, who pray to rocks and eat ants will take their own lives in their hands to get out of that country, the idea of paying perfectly good money to go there doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Owl_Eagle

If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.

[wolfcreek]

Is it unsafe to go to Cancun?

Might be about Monday or Tuesday! (Hurricane Ernesto?)


I have relatives and friends who go there about once a year. The big hurricane that hit there last year, tore it up. I heard there was a lot of people out of work so, I'm sure the crime rate is way up.

[wolfcreek]

I always wanted to see Copper Canyon and the mountians around Veracruz.

[bpjam]

Did the State Department warn US citizens that while nearly half of all Mexicans polled wanted to come to America that most of the hate Americans at the same time? Nice. No good deeds go unpunished.

[bpjam]

I stopped going twenty years ago because I didn't find it to be nearly as amusing when the Federal Police would point M-16s into the crowds and laugh while people scrambled for cover. Oh, and the constant demand for bribes on the highways if you were white or drove a foreign car. Yeah, that pretty much sucked.

But, like France, if you can somehow avoid the people living there it is a beautiful country. And like the US, the people in the rural areas are kinder, more gracious and more polite. Its nothing a good change of government couldn't fix after a generation of work.