[dfwgator]

I also posted it to point out the general ignorance most people have about our southern neighbor, and just how bad things have always been there.

[Zhang Fei]

[I also posted it to point out the general ignorance most people have about our southern neighbor, and just how bad things have always been there.]

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Actually, they haven’t always been bad. Political massacres are just part of the political landscape in Latin America. Whereas drug cartel-perpetrated massacres only began a decade ago. People used to cross the border to buy cheap prescription drugs, get cheap dental work done and take in the Mexican experience, by venturing further in. These days, many don’t even cross the border any more, and those who do, don’t stray from the main drag.

McAllen, whose population, at 86% Hispanic, resembles its counterpart across the border, has an extremely low murder rate, about 3 per 100K population. Reynosa, right across the border, has a murder rate exceeding 30 per 100K population. That’s roughly the same as Newark’s, which is not a good place to be. The real danger for gringos crossing the border isn’t so much murder, but kidnapping.