2008 Woodie Awards
Mexico Violence Puts Chill on Spring Breakers' South-of-Border Jaunts
Jo Napolitano, Knight Ridder
Issue date: 3/16/05 Section: News
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SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas- As tens of thousands of students make spring-break visits to south Texas, a resurgence of drug-related violence across the border in northern Mexico is forcing the U.S. and Mexico to consider how to court these and other tourists.
Local officials from the two countries have been meeting for weeks to develop a plan they believe will help keep college students- their visits are an economic boon for both sides of the Rio Grande- out of trouble.
Yet recent bloodshed, including the January slayings of six Mexican prison workers a few miles outside nearby Matamoros, Mexico, has left even local Mexican-Americans fearful of crossing the border.
There also has been a spike in kidnappings of Americans in northern Mexico, although officials say that many of the victims were involved in the drug trade and that tourists are unlikely to be caught up in such violence.
Nonetheless, a January State Department alert to American tourists warning of a "deteriorating security situation" remains in force.
John Naland, U.S. consul for the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, said at a recent conference in Brownsville, Texas, that despite pleas from Mexican officials, "the State Department is not going to amend or drop that advisory before April 25," when it expires.
Kendra Chimera, a 21-year-old college senior from upstate New York enjoying her last spring break before graduation, said she and her friends are considering crossing over to Matamoros before their trip is over.
Like most of the college students trickling into South Padre Island, Texas, this month, she had heard little of the killings that have plagued northern Mexico, only vague warnings from friends about sticking to tourist spots.
"I was told there are only certain places we could go," said Chimera, a student at New York's St. Bonaventure University.
In an effort to combat the bad press, Matamoros officials have begun printing colorful pamphlets with pictures of beaming young people touting Matamoros as the "safest bustling Mexican border city." The brochures will be distributed within days, officials said.
Local officials from the two countries have been meeting for weeks to develop a plan they believe will help keep college students- their visits are an economic boon for both sides of the Rio Grande- out of trouble.
Yet recent bloodshed, including the January slayings of six Mexican prison workers a few miles outside nearby Matamoros, Mexico, has left even local Mexican-Americans fearful of crossing the border.
There also has been a spike in kidnappings of Americans in northern Mexico, although officials say that many of the victims were involved in the drug trade and that tourists are unlikely to be caught up in such violence.
Nonetheless, a January State Department alert to American tourists warning of a "deteriorating security situation" remains in force.
John Naland, U.S. consul for the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, said at a recent conference in Brownsville, Texas, that despite pleas from Mexican officials, "the State Department is not going to amend or drop that advisory before April 25," when it expires.
Kendra Chimera, a 21-year-old college senior from upstate New York enjoying her last spring break before graduation, said she and her friends are considering crossing over to Matamoros before their trip is over.
Like most of the college students trickling into South Padre Island, Texas, this month, she had heard little of the killings that have plagued northern Mexico, only vague warnings from friends about sticking to tourist spots.
"I was told there are only certain places we could go," said Chimera, a student at New York's St. Bonaventure University.
In an effort to combat the bad press, Matamoros officials have begun printing colorful pamphlets with pictures of beaming young people touting Matamoros as the "safest bustling Mexican border city." The brochures will be distributed within days, officials said.