U.S. citizens kidnapped in Mexico

#130
#130
Vol423 said:
I'm not advocating for this, but if the U.S. took out one or more cartels, the profit margins of the drug trade would absolutely change. Confiscation of the drugs by the U.S. would result in increased costs (inventory purchased but not sold), thereby lowering profit margins.
Click to expand...
Uhhh... since when has the US been actively going after Mexican drug cartels? This would be a one-off event.
 
#131
#131
Vol423 said:
...and yet, gross margins would still be impacted. Look, I never said that I advocate for this, and I never said that the drug trade would go away. The margins would most definitely be impacted though. Politicians don't have the desire, willpower or tenacity to end the drug trade.
Click to expand...
All they would do is raise the price to compensate. Margins would remain the same as long as inelastic demand is present here.
 
#133
#133
whodeycin85 said:
Idk but countries feel they can just snatch our citizens with out consequences....so what do you suggest we do?
Click to expand...

Cuba suffered a lot without US tourists and businesses. Shut the border down and don't allow travel to Mexico and see how fast Mexico changes its tune about getting the place under control. We've tried cooperation; now try hitting Mexico where it hurts.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Orangeburst and TNVOLNAVY
#135
#135
85SugarVol said:
We already routinely confiscate millions of dollars worth at the border. Check out the CBP seizure numbers - big numbers.

Hasn’t slowed the flow one bit.
Click to expand...

The real answer is to find a way of shutting down the money flowing back to Mexican cartels. Cut that off and the drugs stop.
 
#138
#138
Mexican-American War: Part Deux

Should be pretty exciting. And that the spark will be some idiots going to Mexico for cheap plastic surgery adds a nice comedic touch to it.
 
#139
#139
Pepe_Silvia said:
Mexican-American War: Part Deux

Should be pretty exciting. And that the spark will be some idiots going to Mexico for cheap plastic surgery adds a nice comedic touch to it.
Click to expand...

The US would lose today. We have too many people weaved into our culture unlike 200 years ago where they would've been forced back into Mexico. Not that I'm interested in that but you can't win battles when you can be taken out by foreign nationals loyal to Mexico. The same wouldn't be the case in Mexico. They'd just shoot foreign Americans.
 
#140
#140
ETV said:
Win by attrition. Implementation of the same tactics the cartels have used on others. This will get their attention and if they’re the least bit intelligent, take their small piece of the trade that’s left and accept it.

Unfortunately this is a pipe dream though, as this requires cooperation between both US and Mexican governments, in addition to sustained incursions without consent from the Mexican authorities.
Click to expand...

Mexico is all about corruption. Several years ago I made a trip to Vera Cruz in preparation to install a monitoring system we had sold to the Laguna Verde Nuclear Plant. The company had been doing business there, and one of the regulars was my "guide". First flaw in the ointment was while over Mexico reading that business travelers to Mexico needed a visa - a fact nobody mentioned. The "guide" and I rode back and forth to the plant with a contractor, and on the way back one day he was stopped by the Highway Patrol for illegally passing a bus leaving a toll booth and not stopping when the oncoming cop turned his lights on. So we spent a long time pulled over while the cops went through everything and took our passports.

The other two guys were yapping about the cops while I was shaking my head to be quiet; some time later the guy in charge told me in fluent English to come with him. He questioned me behind the police car - why we were there, etc. I told him we had been to the plant to see if we might do business at some future point. Luckily a bus load of contract employees drove by, and the driver turned around and came back and read the cops the riot act - the guy we were riding with was the son of the guy who owned the contract business. I'd guess the TX plate on the contractor's truck probably didn't help matters. The resolution, of course, was a hefty bribe - probably what most police stops in Mexico are all about. One thing the cop told me (and I agree) was that I should "pick my friends more carefully" - not that they were my choice in the first place.

I got my passport back, and called my wife immediately from the hotel and filled her in. Let her know if I didn't show up on time that she needed to start calling people. Can't tell you what a relief it was when the Delta agent checked my passport and gave me my boarding pass and I was in the air. In all my travels Mexico has been the place I felt the least safe.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Vol since 77, DuckInAPen and DC_Vol
#141
#141
AM64 said:
Mexico is all about corruption. Several years ago I made a trip to Vera Cruz in preparation to install a monitoring system we had sold to the Laguna Verde Nuclear Plant. The company had been doing business there, and one of the regulars was my "guide". First flaw in the ointment was while over Mexico reading that business travelers to Mexico needed a visa - a fact nobody mentioned. The "guide" and I rode back and forth to the plant with a contractor, and on the way back one day he was stopped by the Highway Patrol for illegally passing a bus leaving a toll booth and not stopping when the oncoming cop turned his lights on. So we spent a long time pulled over while the cops went through everything and took our passports.

The other two guys were yapping about the cops while I was shaking my head to be quiet; some time later the guy in charge told me in fluent English to come with him. He questioned me behind the police car - why we were there, etc. I told him we had been to the plant to see if we might do business at some future point. Luckily a bus load of contract employees drove by, and the driver turned around and came back and read the cops the riot act - the guy we were riding with was the son of the guy who owned the contract business. I'd guess the TX plate on the contractor's truck probably didn't help matters. The resolution, of course, was a hefty bribe - probably what most police stops in Mexico are all about. One thing the cop told me (and I agree) was that I should "pick my friends more carefully" - not that they were my choice in the first place.

I got my passport back, and called my wife immediately from the hotel and filled her in. Let her know if I didn't show up on time that she needed to start calling people. Can't tell you what a relief it was when the Delta agent checked my passport and gave me my boarding pass and I was in the air. In all my travels Mexico has been the place I felt the least safe.
Click to expand...

I usually have my team from Mexico fly to Texas or Arizona and I meet them there. Unless there is a specific reason to be physically inside one of the facilities in Mexico, I avoid traveling there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AM64 and InVOLuntary
#142
#142
AM64 said:
The real answer is to find a way of shutting down the money flowing back to Mexican cartels. Cut that off and the drugs stop.
Click to expand...
It’s a closed loop supply chain. I’m sure they lose loads of cash going back down, same as they lose loads of product going up. It’s just smuggling out, and I would guess easier too.
 
#144
#144
AM64 said:
The real answer is to find a way of shutting down the money flowing back to Mexican cartels. Cut that off and the drugs stop.
Click to expand...

If you wanted to get real serious about stopping the problem, start executing the convicted dealers immediately after trial and in public.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AM64
#148
#148
85SugarVol said:
It’s a closed loop supply chain. I’m sure they lose loads of cash going back down, same as they lose loads of product going up. It’s just smuggling out, and I would guess easier too.
Click to expand...

Wonder whether drugs or cash is bulkier, and if the crackdown on money transfers has changed anything? I'm cynical in a lot of ways, but it seems to me that cartels probably love the chaos at the border ... enough to help "encourage" people to leave their homes for a "better life" in the US. The comment used to be that churches and bootleggers wanted to keep counties dry; I'd bet the new variant is churches (and other non-profits/charities) and cartels want to keep the flow of illegals into the US moving. One group finding the path easier through the distraction of border chaos and the other profiting from government funds courtesy of the border chaos.
 
#150
#150
utvolpj said:
The irony is we created and enabled both

Why should the US fight cartels in Mexico?
Click to expand...

So no justice for those Americans who have died and the two still missing? So screw them?

Hey we are wasting billions upon billions in a country run by a dictator. Why not take those billions and wage war on these cartels that are right at our doorstep?
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top