Thread: Spring breakers at South Padre avoiding Mexico

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5606168.html

March 10, 2008, 7:55AM
Spring breakers at South Padre avoiding Mexico

CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
Associated Press

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SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Michigan State senior Paul Bonenberger avoided temptation during South Padre Island's season for wild spring break partying by leaving his passport at home.

"I've heard tons of (stuff) about the border," said Bonenberger, 21, two beers in hand and surrounded by hundreds of Midwestern spring breakers on the beach. "I've heard it's unsafe. I'm not about the border anymore, it's not worth the risk."

Once, most South Padre spring breakers visited nearby Matamoros, Mexico, for the touted "Two Nation Vacation."

But news of gun battles between soldiers and drug cartels in Mexican border cities this winter appears to have reached even the frigid campuses of the upper Midwest. Tourists have not been targeted, but students and tourism officials on both sides of the border say spring breakers are keeping their toes in U.S. sand this year.

The young, tan masses have not been surveyed lately, but Dan Quandt, executive director of the island's convention and visitors' bureau, said "we have noticed over the past few years a decline in the number of students going to Matamoros."

Debra Fassold, who manages a cross-border shuttle service, said she used to ferry several hundred spring breakers daily and now gets only a few dozen. She has canceled night trips.

"I've had no reason to schedule them this year," Fassold said, adding that no one has even asked for the once-popular excursion.

Those partying on South Padre Island said they opted to stay domestic this year not just because of safety concerns, but also because of tighter identification requirements for returning to the U.S.

Rachel Padgett, of Austin, has been coming to South Padre Island for more than half her life. It was traditional to go over to Matamoros for a haircut and to shop for jewelry, but not this year, said the 21-year-old Michigan State student.

"Not right now, there's a drug war," Padgett said.

Students from the University of Texas and Texas A&M descend on South Padre this week, the apex of spring break on the dune-covered island off the coast of South Texas.

Matamoros and other border cities in Mexico are now patrolled by Mexican soldiers sent to the border to quell drug cartel violence. Their armored personnel carriers and machine guns are far from inviting.

Arturo Morales, tourism promotion director for Matamoros, said the military is there to protect residents and tourists.

Morales said fewer spring breakers were visiting the city across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, but said spring breakers need to learn more about the military's security role. Morales noted Winter Texans — northerners who spend the winter in Texas and then return home in the spring — have become accustomed to the military presence and continue visiting border cities.

Some students have crossed the border without worry. Joseph Cook and Ariela Ruiz, students at Evangel University in Missouri, enjoyed a day of shopping and sight-seeing on the recommendation of the concierge at their hotel.

They drove to Brownsville, walked across the bridge and took a taxi to Matamoros' main market area. They saw federal soldiers stopping and checking cars, but had no problems.

Asked if anyone had warned them about going to Mexico, Cook said: "Just my parents. They said 'be careful.'"

Arturo Morales, tourism promotion director for Matamoros, said the military is there to protect residents and tourists.

From what?

BOYCOTT MEXICO until the wall is built and the illegals start going home en masse. This means no vacations to Mexico, don't patronize Mexican restaurants of any kind and don't patronize any bars that celebrate "Cinco de Mayo". Ask them to celebrate FLAG DAY (AMERICAN, that is) instead.

rick roberts on san diego's KFMB is calling for adults not to let their teenage kids go to tijuana and baja because of the crime and violence against americans

Originally Posted by legalatina

BOYCOTT MEXICO until the wall is built and the illegals start going home en masse. This means no vacations to Mexico, don't patronize Mexican restaurants of any kind and don't patronize any bars that celebrate "Cinco de Mayo". Ask them to celebrate FLAG DAY (AMERICAN, that is) instead.

Don't buy any Mexican made products either. If you shop at dollar stores, check the labels, alot of the packaged food comes from Mexico, including the candy which may have lead in it.

Let them know we've had it with their interference in our country!

Gee, we need some savvy tour operators and promoters to start marketing U.S. destinations for spring break...don't let your kids or take your family to MEXICO. The Hawaiian, U.S. V.I. and Florida destinations stand to win big if they start aggressively marketing their safe, beautiful destinations for spring break for kids.

Tell your local grocers to stock U.S. products instead....and preferably locally-grown produce....NO MEXICAN GOODS.

Gee, we need some savvy tour operators and promoters to start marketing U.S. destinations for spring break...don't let your kids or take your family to MEXICO. The Hawaiian, U.S. V.I. and Florida destinations stand to win big if they start aggressively marketing their safe, beautiful destinations for spring break for kids.

Tell your local grocers to stock U.S. products instead....and preferably locally-grown produce....NO MEXICAN GOODS.

Cancun is dangerous as well.....don't send your kids their for any reason.

Mexico police seize guns, grenades in Cancun resort

Mon Mar 10, 6:51 PM ET

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican police hunting drug gangs seized a cache of automatic weapons and grenade launchers at a luxury flat in the Caribbean resort of Cancun on Monday, near hotels full of foreign tourists.
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Tipped off by an informant, police found 22 guns, some with laser sights, 14 grenades and some 500 rounds of ammunition in the apartment at an exclusive beachside golf course development on Cancun's hotel strip, a spokesman said.

"We can tell by the number of weapons that this was not just some private gun collector," said police spokesman Javier Ortiz. "These belonged to an important group of drug traffickers."

Police also found police hats at the apartment and car stickers with official police insignia.

Tourist destinations like Cancun, and Acapulco on the Pacific coast, are famous for attracting planeloads of spring breakers but have been sucked into turf wars between Mexico's violent drug gangs over the past year.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed thousands of soldiers and federal police to hotspots across Mexico, where cartel violence has killed more than 300 people this year and left more than 2,500 dead in 2007.

Cancun, best known for its mass of towering hotels crammed along a narrow strip of white beaches, has experienced shooting between drug hitmen and police in recent months.

The city is Gulf Cartel territory, although police did not immediately link the organization to Monday's arms haul.

The find came after the army confiscated more than 90 weapons -- one of the largest arsenals ever found in Mexico -- in the northern border town of Tijuana on Friday.

Separately, the army found over a ton of marijuana on Monday buried at a ranch in the northern state of Sonora, which is controlled by the rival Sinaloa cartel.

(Reporting by Jose Cortazar in Cancun and Mica Rosenberg in Mexico City; Editing by Catherine Bremer and Philip Barbara)

You're right LL. American shore towns are getting the influx of high school seniors and college students back.

Many parents will not let their kids leave the US for spring break or senior weeks, it's not worth it.

Tourism to Mexico has nosedived in the last decade as more and more Americans are refusing to set foot in Mexico. Alot has to do the Mexican peoples hatred of Americans, it shows in their attitude.

miguelina: glad to hear it....with Mexico nothing speaks louder than money or the lack of it. If the illegal aliens weren't sending back the 50 billion a year to Mexico...does anyone really think that we'd have 50 MExican consulates, the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (which only operates in the U.S....no other country has tolerated that many illegal aliens from Mexico), LA RAZA, LULAC and the rest of the Mexican illegal immigration cartel so rabidly defending the "imaginary rights" of their underclass? They don't do so in Mexico....they only do it here b/c of the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.