road from Palenque to San Cristobal accident turned murder...

There is always the notion that tourist roads are safe... well the Chiapas rod from San Cristobal to Palenque is not.

Two separate cyclists one from Poland the other from Germany took that road and died.

The Fiscalia first declared it an accident when all the locals thought "yes sure..."
One was missing his head and foot and all his valuables and the other had not been found but some of his belongings had been found with that of the other cyclist..
It now appears after the brother of the German man came to Ocosingo and talked to Fiscalia, after friends of the Polish man had done the same thing and published it was a murder in facebook despite the assurance of the fiscalia that is was an accident... the wonderful investigators admitted that a bullet in the head of one had killed him and also admitted that the head had not been detached during the fall and that the foot had not been eaten by an animal after the boots were removed but that they two had been robbed and assassinated. rather than having been hit at the same time by a truck at night.. A cab said he passed the 2 around 9 am going up the mountain past Oxchuc and also said that they were not together but 4 km apart..
No need to be an investigator to figure out that someone in Oxchuc or further up the mountain radioed their friends further up and that the two were ambushed to be robbed, they probably resisted so the first one was decapitated with a machete and his food severed and the second one was shot and both bodies were thrown down the cañon..
Scary to think that if the German brother and the Embassy and the two Mexican friends from Tuxtla had not been involved and declared it was a homicide , the whole thing would have been passed as an accident...

Here is an article on this tragic event:

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/round-the-world-cyclists-murdered/ar-AAxaHXp?li=AAggNb9

The really scary part about this is that they were writing it off as an accident if it had not been for the help of two men that the Polish man had spent a few days with at the beach and than had stayed with one In Tuxtla. When he did not answer messages to his family or to the new friend from Tuxtla who happenend to be a reporter, the reporter and a friend of his contacted the police and reported him missing. He was ask to come and ID the body and he and his lawyer friend asked a lot of questions and saw the pictures of the dead man.. realized the foot and head were missing, that the shoe next to him was not his but that of the German who also was missing.. and so on.. also the cab driver told him he had seen the men in the morning riding 4km apart and therefore  could not have been hit at the same time in an accident. They had a lot of points pointing to a robbery and a homicide but the district attorney known for his incompetence and corruption who had been kick out of Tapachula a couple of months ago was insisting it was an accident. The two men published their finding on facebook and the German brother went with him when he arrived last MOnday to talk to the district attorney as well. The government had nowhere to go but to admit it was murder, without the 2 courageous men from Tuxtla , the family and the German embassy the two were written off as victims of accident..

The other sad part is that the criminal will not be found and if found will not pay for their crimes..There is no way the investigative police is going to find out anything. The area is autonomous and the villagers are not going to talk..unless they find the hiking boots being worn by someone in the village or find the missing items, nothing will happen...This is exposing what has been going on in that area for years . Most people know not to resist in that area when they are robbed but attacks happen on a regular basis and get buried not to scare off tourism.. I feel that is there had been warned about the area they may have not resisted and live..

Thanks for this report, Brigitte. It makes me nauseous.

Same kind of story with that adventurous motorcyclist whose mother had to come from Europe to rattle cages and demand a factual investigation in order to find out the truth about what had happened to her son. 

Before that, Ayotzinapa and the disappearance/murder of 41 students. And so so many others. 

Every time this country sinks to a new low in their cesspool of lies, corruption, and impunity I think this will be it. Something will change. International organizations will investigate and change will begin. Well, they have come. They have investigated. And their findings clearly show the criminality with which this country continues to operate. And still nothing changes. They don't even seem to be humiliated on the world stage. They do not care.

How do these politicians sleep at night?

The only hope for change I see is AMLO survives long enough to win, does what he says he's going to do regarding corruption, and lives long enough to put a dent in the culture of corruption and start a trend. Quite a longshot, doncha think.

What I think will happen is they will kill AMLO and or rig the election and Meade will win. If that happens, things will not be the same, they will get worse.

A lovely couple that I know, late 70s/early 80s, live in Rancho del Oro. One recent morning she was having a nap in the bedroom and her husband was downstairs when she awoke to a man standing next to her bed saying - shhhhh. He grabbed her hand and ripped 3 or 4 rings off her arthritic fingers. She yelled for her husband and he came up the stairs and met the perp in the doorway. Perp had a knife. Husband grabbed the perp's knife hand and the perp kicked the feet out from under the husband causing him to fall hard and injure his hips. Perp ran out and scaled a 3 meter wall at the end of the property.

Husband didn't call the cops but went down to the MP the next day and reported the home invasion. He filled out some of the paperwork and the MP told him they had to go to lunch and to come back Tuesday to finish.  They blew him off.

Í am afraid AMLO is not different.. In Chiapas his friends who were VERDE changed and became MORENA so Verde will continue to run the State and the Zapatistas and Abejas will continue to be autonomous and do what they want and the murderous presidentes who have paramilitary groups will continue to operate.. there will be no change

The thieves will continue to do whatever they want on the roads because Verde will continue doing nothing about it because they are afraid to upset the indigenous communities.. I know it will not get better in Chiapas as I know most of the players..
There is no hope at the local level there and frankly it is the same here.. The political families make sure they have friends in each party so one enters they all have a job. It is all about having a job and milking the country.. period..
AMLO is part of the system he changes his mind every day and I really do not see him capable of governing better  than any of the other.  He says wants his audience want him to say.. sounds familiar..He is a populist  just like the one in the US.. bad news all around.

In Chiapas the MP did just that.. decide that it was an accident until someone called them on it.. People all knew it, they had a march last Sunday.. to demand justice before the MP changed their mind...There is no accountability , no transparency and all people do is deflect and deflect..The bright lights were the 2 guys who put their neck on the line and put their findings on facebook contradicting the Fiscalia, that was nervy and dangerous.

I don't know a lot about Mexican history but has there ever been a time when it wasn't a lawless, corrupt, wild west kind of place?

No. But I believe it is more deadly violent and widespread these days. 

There are more ingredients in the mix now . . . drugs and addiction, assault arms, gigantic sums of money available for mordida, plata o plomo, sophisticated and organized criminals, and complete ownership of government. 

We're not talking about a couple of outlaws robbing trains anymore. I don't remember Mexico being labeled a failed state or being compared to Iraq in terms of stats until recently.

I also believe the easy, instant access to news, social media, forums and rags like Borderland Beat and Mexico News Daily make us gringos more aware of what has been and currently is going on. I watch every documentary about the past narcos in Mexico and it seemed pretty bad back in the 70's, 80's and 90's too.

CanuckBob wrote:I also believe the easy, instant access to news, social media, forums and rags like Borderland Beat and Mexico News Daily make us gringos more aware of what has been and currently is going on. I watch every documentary about the past narcos in Mexico and it seemed pretty bad back in the 70's, 80's and 90's too.

I dont agree, Bob.
To give you an example..... when I arrived here in October 1998, the lonely planet guide warned about night time travelling in Guerrero. All the rest of the country was considered fairly safe, and I visited about half of the Mexican states in the following years. Travelling through lots of those states, like Michoacan, Veracruz and Zacatecas can be a different ball game now.
Most Mexicans will agree with this, and they are still the best source of what is really going on.
Yes .... it was bad in previous decades, but it is a lot worse now. I have countless examples of friends running into trouble in the last couple if years. And over 100 000 deaths and disappearances (also innocent people..... which actually doesnt matter, as every life counts and behind every killing there is a family) in the last years are no fairy tale either. Not to mention the appolling journalist death rate.
This is my home though, for better and for a lot worse.

Rony

I believe it is going worst. I have never had so many friends who have been shot at on highways in attempted robberies.. I have decided not not go back and forth to Chiapas anymore by car after July. I will fly from now on..Once there I go by colectivo .

Oh I didn't say it isn't worse now I was just pointing out that it hasn't been a wondeland for at least 40 years. A few years back while it was relatively quite in central Mexico it was a war zone up around the border.

Over the years I spent tripping around this country, I had my wallet stolen on a beach in Baja and at a bullfight in Mexico City. I was never scared of anything or any place. 

When I moved here in '04, my friends and I spent all our free time exploring the back roads, dirt paths, and dusty little pueblos and ranchos in Michoacan and Jalisco. My most favorite thing to do in life, explore. I don't do that anymore at all, don't feel safe.

A couple of years ago I had a scary experience by myself on a third class bus in the jungle of the Huesteca Potosina and now I don't feel safe doing that anymore either.

My quality of life has been altered.

Trailrunner wrote:

A couple of years ago I had a scary experience by myself on a third class bus in the jungle of the Huesteca Potosina and now I don't feel safe doing that anymore either.

TR......are you saying that La Huasteca is not safe anymore?   That surprises me, as a I always considered that a relatively safe area, as compared to parts of Guerrero, Michoacán, and Tamaulipas.  You sure don't read or hear, in the Mexican news, of out of the ordinary crime in the La Huasteca region, as you do in some of the other places.
It is for the most part though, a very remote area.

Slainte maybe they don't let the news out. What happens there stays there?

Right. And I told Brigitte it rivaled the state of Chiapas in beauty, culture, and outdoor activities and it was much safer.

However, I did have a chilling bus trip and since returning I've read of bus highjackings and robberies on the road from Tampico to Ciudad Valles. Tamaulipas is just to the north and Tampico is a port . . .

I was advised not to stay in CV.

I have been coming to Mexico for 30 years and have always exercised extreme caution when off the beaten path. I have never thought of Mexico as "safe enough" to just go anywhere. Even now when we are off in the bush with mining business we always take local ejido guides and carry things to protect ourselves.

Points well taken. Eyes and ears open at all times. Sounds like an adventure to me! :)

SunshineyDay wrote:Slainte maybe they don't let the news out. What happens there stays there?

I have friends in Ebano and Xilitla, SLP and Panuco, Ver.  Haven't talked to them for a while but will check it out.  Too bad if that beautiful area has turned to the worse.  The indigenous and meztizos were pretty laid back in the Huasteca region and not at each others throats all the time, like it is down south, and areas of Mich.

Trailrunner wrote:

I was advised not to stay in CV.

Surprising........again, did they say why?......Drug cartels? or other problems? 
Really depressing if the narcos have taken over or gained influence in that area.

Yeah. It's everywhere now Slainte. Why wouldn't it be? The Huasteca is full of Chilango backpackers on weekends and holidays.

If I remember correctly, the info was on Lonely Planet forum and PMs from members that live there. I'm interested in what your friends think too. What do they do there?

Ebano....rancheros.
A big connected family of parientes, spread over various towns.....not sure what they all do, especially the younger ones.....various occupations and businesses.
Years ago I was partnered in a cattle raising project with some family members through my compadre who was from that clan.
Lots of bodas, bautismos, comuniones primeras, quinceaneras, funerales, you name it, along with "everyday, normal celebrations" , but that's going back 30, 40 years.  Haven't  been there lately, that's why I was wondering.
Will let you know or post when I catch up with some of them.  Had been thinking about making a trip over there, later this year.

Interesting. And fun.

Best time to go is, they tell me now, end of Nov until around Easter. The rest of the time it's a sauna.