You have probably been reading about the upsurge in violence in Mexico, particularly in Acapulco, and you’re wondering “what the hell is going on there?” And I’m wondering the same thing. I’ll give it a try to explain the cause and where it’s going.The first thing to understand is that it is primarily a fight for dominance between the drug cartels. These cartels have become very powerful in some areas, with bribes and threats being utilized to gain control like never before. For the most part, tourists haven’t been affected. Although past-president Fox consistently vowed to address the violence and corruption, he did very little. The cartels stayed away from tourism and they were pretty much left alone. The new president, Calderon, has made it a major priority of his administration to go after the major drug dealers. He has already extradited several of them to the U.S. and he has sent thousands of troops into several areas as a show of force. The good news is that he is doing something, the bad news is that things could get much worse if the cartels fight back to maintain their dominance, which is a good bet. They have become much more violent in their tactics, much like the Colombians and the Jamaican cartels were twenty years ago. There is a huge amount of money at stake as to who controls the drug transportation corridors. If the drug runners (final destination: Main St. U.S.A) decide to play hardball, they could make a statement by disrupting Mexico’s tourist business. I don’t expect this to happen, but anything’s possible. I would guess that an “understanding” will be back-roomed before things spiral out of control.

The bottom line is that Mexico is a huge country with a few serious trouble spots. So far tourism and investment have not been affected. Solutions are being considered and I think one will be found…but it may take a while.