Free Republic

AUSTIN - The Texas Department of Public Safety is advising students on spring break to avoid drug violence-plagued Mexico. A DPS statement Tuesday cited the continued violence and also urged boaters to stay on the U.S. side of Falcon Lake. A U.S. drug agent was shot and killed Feb. 15 in Mexico. The victim was Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime Zapata. DPS Director Steven McCraw says while drug cartel violence is most severe in northern Mexico, it's prominent in other parts of the country, including resort areas such as Cancun and Acapulco.

A Canadian couple held up by more than a dozen armed bandits while travelling through Mexico said the frightening experience was exacerbated by facing days of bureaucratic hurdles. "Two minutes of terrorism and twelve days of legal terrorism," Vander Byl and his wife Michelle were spending their final day in Mexico, driving their pickup truck and trailer on March 26 along a road in Tamaulipas. Vander Byl always assumed they'd be safe. He said there has always been an understanding between the bandits and the government to leave the tourists alone. The vehicles were recovered two days later, but rigid...

Note: The following text is a quote: Travel Warning United States Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Washington, DC 20520 This information is current as of today, Sun Mar 14 2010 15:23:05 GMT-0700 (PDT). MEXICO March 14, 2010 The Department of State has issued this Travel Warning to inform U.S. citizens traveling to and living in Mexico of concerns about the security situation in Mexico, and that it has authorized the departure of the dependents of U.S. government personnel from U.S. consulates in the Northern Mexican border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros until...