Bill Conroy: Mexico Seeks to Ramp Up Tourism By Rebranding Drug War Bill Conroy - The Narcosphere
go to original May 22, 2013

Inside Story Americas - Is Mexico's war on drugs close to a real end? (AlJazeeraEnglish)

The Mexican government under recently empowered President Enrique Peña Nieto has gone to great lengths to promote the nation as a rising economic contender while downplaying the disastrous war on drugs — which, to date, has led to more than 125,000 homicides in Mexico since the bloodshed began to escalated in late 2006.

From the vantage point of the Mexican citizens, this public relations campaign must appear a sham, since much of the nation still lives below the poverty line and the carnage in the war on drugs is ongoing.

However, for public officials, lenders and private developers benefiting from the tourism market, the scheme makes economic sense and promises to keep Mexico’s beach-front hotel communities filled with fun-loving US tourists.

But those US tourists might want to have a second look at the stakes for them. Numbers released recently by the US Department of State show that it is actually more likely that a US citizen will meet an untimely death as a result of tourist-related activity in Mexico than due to its drug war — though both contributed to nearly 1,200 US citizen deaths in Mexico between 2007-2012.

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