【海外の反応】メキシコの「いい所」でもカルテルの心配するの?現地民のリアルな回答が参考になる

As a tourist you don’t have to worry, tourism is huge business for the cartel. And you are generally safe regardless in Mexico. You are generally in more danger just south of the American border.
Just remember safety is something people sell, it doesn’t exist in nature

I’m currently in a rural part of Mexico.

Mexico is generally safe unless you’re involved with the cartels, eg, a customer, competitor, law enforcement not on the take, a member of a US three-letter agency, or a journalist reporting on the narcotrafficking.

A few months ago, the government captured the leader of JNGC (a big cartel), and there was some violence, but it was contained between the cartel and the government, and property crime (the cartels burned down some stores and blocked some roadways with burning cars). Civilians weren’t targeted or harmed.

Incidentally, I went on vacation recently and saw a few of the Oxxos they burned down.

There’s a cartel presence in the area I’m currently in, but I have no idea who’s a member or affiliated with it. That’s because I’m not nosy and I don’t do meth. A lot of people in the area do, unfortunately. Meth is a big problem, that and alcohol.

Where I am, the cartels punish their own customers who start committing crimes to fund their habits. Thieves, burglars, and cattle rustlers are either disappeared or beaten so badly they’re left permanently hurt. One guy caught stealing cattle in the middle of the night had his hands mangled and burned. One burglar got the same treatment on his feet. A couple of criminals who kidnapped some locals for ransom disappeared and were never seen or heard from again.

The thing is, in small communities, everyone knows everyone's business. The trap house here is called the "anthill" because it's on top of a hill and there's a stream of people coming and going. Everyone knows who's getting high, who steals, who breaks into homes, etc. And the cops are useless.

The cartels have the local police bought off (rural municipal police are poorly trained and not paid very well). But the cartels don’t want the state or federal police forces deciding they need to come in to protect the citizens from crime. So the cartels maintain order out here.

Cartels are a business, and disorder and violence is bad for business, so they avoid it as much as they can.

This is by no means a "nice" part of Mexico. It's out in the country, but it's safe here. That's not to say there's no cartels, and it can't go from safe to very-not-safe easily enough.

I live in Mexico for 4 months a year. I drive down from Oregon (with my husband and our dog). We've been going to Mexico for 30 years….we drive down the Baja and really don't drive much on the mainland. The cartel makes their money off tourists so they go out of their way to protect tourists…they will even punish local robbers or folks who rob or mess with tourists because if the tourists stop coming to Mexico, it hurts their bottom line. Yes, even if you stay legal you still support the cartels….ever to go a pharmacy? buy a knock off purse? go to a higher end restaurant? you don't have to buy drugs to support the cartel's.

That said when Cartel violence happens it is generally when 2 or more Cartels are fighting over an area. Only recently have the police Federales, been involved in fighting with the cartels (for what that's worth, we'll see if it sticks). Unfortunately there are a few violent run ins (between cartels) which will occur where there are innocent people and someone may get involved in that (wrong place wrong time) but they generally try to plan run in's when regular folks are around.

The Baja is particularly safe as there used to only be one cartel in the north and one in the south, now there is some unrest there as another cartel is moving in but no tourist violence I know of.

so….they certainly have no mass shootings, no school shootings, tourist murders are a BIG DEAL so we hear about it in the US (when it happens) but it doesn't happen often (how many tourists are killed in NYC every year???). you rarely see homeless and almost never see drug addicts.

I will say my expertise is only on the Baja, I don't do much traveling to the mainland. Let me know if you have any questions

Regular folks don’t seem to worry about cartels at all. They’re dangerous of course so most people easily steer clear of them and don’t have to worry about being randomly targeted. The main danger of cartels is getting caught up in their wars with each other, so there’s ironically mixed feelings about the government doing too much to disrupt them as it can spark violence.

I’m a white American but have visited a good bit, mostly Mexico City and Oaxaca. There’s some advice that might not be obvious such as avoiding driving between cities late at night, but other than that there’s not much concern from Mexicans nor tourists/ expats.

Of course use your head and if you’re going somewhere without many tourists, double check that it’s safe. Any destination a normal tourist would go is safe and I’d highly recommend Mexico City and Oaxaca. There’s always the resort towns but those are all about the same anywhere. Cancun has beautiful beaches and crazy strip clubs. Wouldn’t recommend touching the sleazier parts of the country as that’s how you begin rubbing shoulders with cartels.

Cartels: only if you are actively engaged in anti cartel activity.

And stuff: just like the London tube strike, a strike can impact any nice part of the city. Also, there are sometimes events (such as the anti Gringo protest in July of last year) that permeate the nicer parts of the country.

Actual mexican here.

Yep, Mexico is generally safe from the cartels for regular people. Most of the people who are hurt directly by them have been because of some direct motive like gang rivalry or political messages. The scenario of being a bystander caught in a shootout is extremely rare and only happens in areas of heavy cartel activity.

Most mexicans suffer the cartel's presence in more abstract ways like 'cobro de piso' / extortion and heavy corruption of government officials.

That being said, in Mexico you do have to worry about common criminals jumping you for your phone and wallet if you walk into the wrong part of town, so don't be stupid. Stick to the touristy places and avoid anywhere sketchy.

I spent 2 weeks traveling through Mexico City, Puebla, and Oaxaca a few years ago. I'm one of the palest humans you'd ever meet and I speak very little Spanish. We walked all around and Ubered way off the regular tourist tracks to go meet up with friends and visit some neat restaurants in Mexico City and never once did I ever feel unsafe. I highly recommend visiting if you ever have the chance.

Yes, but the cartels usually won’t bother tourists. In the nice areas, the police are more of a problem. If they stop you, $20 usually gets the police to go away.