strange dictatorship masquerading as a Democracy for your eyes...

Suspicious of the newly elected president?  No.  It's all part of what's been going on here...  In Veracruz a "law" was put into place that marches on the capital will be considered an act of terrorism...  The road from Xalapa to Huatusco we took you and Bruce to visit Margarita's ranch was wripped up and never replaced... isolating that region from the capital of Veracruz; a "military" tactic, although not by the military...  There is no law here; at least no law protecting the "people"...  We went to Leon (which is not on the Department of State's Travel Warning for Mexico) to visit the international Balloon Festival and were followed by municipal police after they pulled us over for suspicion because we were taking photographs of the event from a scenic overlook at night; they followed us to the gas station where we stopped for information about hotels and bought water etc...  They followed us into the following hotel that was way too expensive; what would have happened had we stayed there?  Fortunately the hotel was right on the state line and they didn't follow us across that line...  We decided against pressing our luck, "burned" the five tickets we bought for entering the event that following sunrise when the balloons would take off, and returned to Guadalajara; a loss of $200 USD... and 9 hours straight of driving...  It was an international event that made it onto the NY Times with wonderful photographs last year.  The other day a family was traveling on that road we took you and Bruce to Puerto Vallarta not far from where we ate lunch.  They were shot off the road; the driver and his wife killed by the bullets.  The assailants pulled out of the SUV a woman who was alive and took her with them.  It just happens that the woman kidnapped (now disappeared) is an environmental activist in the region...  There has been a series of murders of Environmental Activists here in Mexico over the past few months... The last one was leader of a group in Sonora complaining that a Canadian mining company was illegally working and contaminating land that affects the lives of many farmers/ranchers of the region... The murder of him and his son was blamed on "El Chapo" (leader of The Sinaloa Drug Cartel)...  Now, tell me, why would drug traffickers kill activists who aren't heading movements against drug traffickers?  But you wouldn't understand this because these are just random examples; not what we "see" and read every day; one more absurd piece of information offered by the local governments or the federal government... And this has nothing to do with who is, was or will be in the President's chair... Reuters published a very interesting artical about Ciudad Juarez yesterday... Maybe you should read that... it seems that the tactics there are being perpetrated throughout the country.  But, because Ciudad Juarez was the international leader of Homicides before this year, it distracts attention away from what may be happening elsewhere in Mexico...  

Yes, it's very concerning that Enrique Peña Nieto was "elected" as president of Mexico with his lack of personality and lack of the slightest bit of intelligence along with his history...  Don't take the following comment/comparison lightly:  Enrique Peña Nieto is Mexico's equivalent of George Bush Jr.  Marrionette...  But the President isn't who runs a country...  He is just a figure head...  Felipe Calderon Hinojosa will be living in Texas when his term is over tomorrow.  His chief of the Federal Police will be living in Miami...  What are they afraid of?  Mexico is beautiful especially if you are wealthy and protected...

This is so very concerning. I had read that the government will be focusing on violence and not the drug trafficing that is occurring. I get a notification from Google everyday regarding Guadalahara and the news doesn't reflect what you have writen about. In fact much that is transmitted must be for potential tourist since it is such possitive news clips.

Well, yes.  That's the concern... A lot of investment for pulling American tourist dollars... But, nothing for protecting the people here...  

Don't worry about this.  Just wanted to be sure that the messages are from you and not someone who has access to your accounts or to mine...  My brother-in-laws left this morning for Veracruz.  We opted against my going because I could be a target for extorsion/ransom there...  It's very sad, because it's not Paz's fault and she won't understand our decision no matter how much Nicolas or José Francisco explains to her and the rest...  The situation here is very isolating.  But, it's better to be alive at risk than being...

... It sounds like you are feeling very distrustful right now. It must be an extremely uncomfortable feeling. I doubt that somebody would have access to my e-mail account and I am sorry that you are worrying about it.

What makes you feel that you would be a target for extorsion or ransome? Has something occurred to make your worry? How does Margarita feel about not visiting her family?

Speaking of Vera Cruz there was a marching band from Vera Cruz in the Thanksgiving Parade this year. They wore traditional garb and were doing Mexican dances whenever the parade halted.

Take good care of yourself Ross. Isolation is not healthy.

The Zetas and Cocaine have appeared in the ranch/zone of where Margarita's family lives...  The Zetas have what are called "Halcones" (Hawks) hired as investigators/observers.  In the cities they are generally adolescent gang members.  But, where there aren't gangs, they are poor people who will exchange their services for very little.  If they are drug addicts, they work for drugs.  My brother-in-laws mentioned that they know of one guy who passes along the only road day long on his motorcycle...  An artical just came out about high level politicians/heads of the state police in the region of the ranch who protect the Zetas in that region, release them from jail, offer warehouse space for the trailers hijacked enroute from Mexico City to the Port of Veracruz and warehouse space for the holding and the torture of kidnapped people...  There is only one route in and out of the region of the ranch and that route passes through the two worst sections for assaults in Central Veracruz, now that they destroyed the route directly to Xalapa...  Kidnapping/extortion has more to do with fantasies about the amount of money one can squeeze out of a person.  Margarita's family's ranch is not a tourist section.  I was the first foreignor the ranch ever knew; lots of fantasies about the money I have...  The second "American" who moved to the zone is from Georgia and moved with his wife he must have met there (Georgia), who is from near where Margarita is from.  He supposedly brought cocaine into the region and throws parties regularly...  Extorsion and kidnapping is the popular way of obtaining a little bit of money now here in Mexico.  However, the people aren't returned to their families complete or alive.  Plus, if the Zetas are concerned about who is meddling around in their region and if it is true that most of the trouble they have had with the Marines and the Army is from information supplied by American investigators, then I guess it wouldn't be good for me to appear there with my American heritage and my accent... 

And that's the story.  

Just after Hurrican Sandy we went to a first communion mass for our landlords' youngest daughter.  I walked out of the church (A place I generally don't find myself) after listening to 2 minutes of the priest's speech to Jessica and the community about where money doesn't take you... He mentioned that with all the money that the "Gringos" (his words) have, you can see them in food lines asking for hand-outs... Imagine if someone videotaped his sermon and posted it throughout the NY/NJ region during the aftermath of Sandy?  The jist is that this priest in a middle-class section of Guadalajara (the second largest city in Mexico) speaking to an 8-year-old girl is speaking badly against "Americans" as people infront of a supposedly religious and spiritual community; those gringos may also be Mexican Roman Catholics who wouldn't appreciate if their priest in New Jersey started using Mexicans as negative examples...  Catholicism supposedly isn't political nor national and should not utilize nationalism or racism in their masses...  My point being that, if a priest in Central Guadalajara believes anti-Gringoism is a justifiable subject matter for his congregation and this one mouth enters the minds of 200 minds and of how many children, then imagine what fantasies exist in the minds of people more isolated, more desperate and with less access to information.  And when these people meet me?  And when Jessica sees me passing through her house every day...  She knows where I'm from...  But, this is not an isolated incident.  It is daily and wherever I am.  And I experience it in so many forms over the 9+ years I'm here.  Who will protect me if I set foot in a high risk zone?  If you hear that I was killed in Veracruz and you speak with the U.S. Department of State, they will ask you, "what was he doing THERE?", a region that was incredibly tranquil just a few years ago.  The U.S. government cannot protect American adventurers who go off the tourist track...  and they will say "nor can or will the Mexican government...."  Miss Sinaloa was killed in cross-fire between the Mexican Army and Narcos 3 days ago.  She supposedly was with her boyfriend who supposedly open-fired on the army caravan.  Now why would he go and do that?  And she was Mexico's representative in events all over the world...  But, now she is dead for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  No problem if I fly from tourist city to tourist city; but I'm not one of THOSE rich "gringos"; and if I were, I wouldn't be living here, would I?.  But, the moment I find myself crossing dangerous sections of Mexico...  Guadalajara is surrounded by those regions...  Almost all rural regions of Mexico are insecure...  Now, about the Department of State's Travel Warning a few days ago; their information is always out-dated.  To know what risk exists in Veracruz today, you must wait for the following report in 1.5 years (granted, the new report came out 8 months earlier).  However, Veracruz is not an important "American" tourist destination without a U.S. Consolate, meaning that the U.S. could give a damn about what's happening there, with the exception of Petroleum pumped out of the Gulf of Mexico and coffee beans exported to New Orleans from the Port of Veracruz... I'm as responsible a person as I can be here.  I'll be darned if someone accuses me of setting foot where I don't belong, which means I won't be visiting my in-laws... It's sufficient that one can accuse me of setting foot in Mexico.  Well, it's just a bit too late for changing that...  Isn't it?

Here's the Reuters artical on Ciudad Juarez:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/28/mexico-drugs-idUSL1E8MS0OK20121128