www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Sin,
Check out photo 15591, if I was CvCap, reltih_floda and Hangman, I would have a bad attitude also,
don't know how he runs around with her.
Regards, 911 Driver

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The happy hour is a device either for getting rid of social obligations hurriedly en masse or for making overtures toward more serious social relationships, as in the etiquette of whoring.- Brooks Atkinson

Sin, I agree. I lived in Memphis for 8 years, almost got shot by some young punk in the WalMart parking lot. Girlfriend got robbed in Germantown. Bad, bad city. Give me San Jose anytime.

Another couple of Canadians killed in Mexico over the holidays...

Canadian student found dead on Mexican beach

this only days after a home invasion on Tuesday...

B.C. senior found dead in Mexican vacation home

You know, I was planning on an epic motorcycle trip from Canada down to South America which would have involved crossing through Mexico. I'm sure glad a fellow rider friend of mine who had done it before talked me out of that stupid idea. When I do eventually make that journey, I'll be putting my bike on a boat in the States and shipping it past Mexico to continue on further south.

People are still doing it. http://advrider.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2

Ya, I know. And the chances are you might have no incidents. But I've also talked with riders who were shaken down every couple of hundred miles by the cops. Let alone the risk from the bandits. I ride to relax, not be stressed worrying about where I am going to stop for the night, who's following me or where I can lock my bike up.

Frankly, my stance is why support countries that refuse to address their serious crime issues with my tourist dollars? I'm not naive and I know corruption happens everywhere, but in Mexico, it's out of control. Until that country does some house cleaning, I want nothing to do with the place.

The anecdotal information being exchanged here is mildly interesting but not relevant to the point which Nick Miroff – the author of the article - was trying to make. Although the tourism sector of the economy flourishes “largely because of [Costa Rica’s] reputation as a safe place that isn't like the rest of Central America,” in fact, Costa Rica does not live up to its reputation of safety. The point is not whether there are other dangerous places in the world. Of course there are.

Further importance of the article is the revealing disclosure from La Presidenta Laura Chinchilla. She exposed the vulnerability of the tiny nation. "I do not remember in our whole history a menace [like] this menace with organized crime," she stated. It is the unprecedented nature of menace which is the point! And it should cause everyone in Costa Rica deep concern.

It appears that most of those who visit these pages don’t venture too far outside the gulch and if they do it is on a carefully orchestrated gringo oriented tour. But for those who reside outside both the gulch and outside gringo flats (Escazu-Santa Ana) there are serious issues with this subtle, quiet invasion of sophisticated d r u g based criminal alliances / enterprises.

If you can read a map you understand the flow of supply from source to markets. This is not new even to CR. But heretofore CR has largely been a pass through. But recently, pressure has been placed on the choke points in other nations. One of the strategies which has developed from that has been to warehouse drugs here in Costa Rica.

Another strategy has been to pay local contractors in product rather than cash. That has flooded some areas with the addictive product. To monetize the product, contractors are now distributing it for cash and consumer goods. That drives burglaries and robberies.

The proliferation of product is based on capitalism and competition at its most crude form. CR is an excellent place to be an illicit capitalist because the government has been virtually unaware that the illegal business has been going on right under their noses. Now that they are beginning to understand the problem they also understand they are incapable of addressing the menace. That is the point. Everyone else knew it but not the government.

I have always wondered why the USA doesn't go in to Mexico and clean the place up. They went after Fidel Castro, Manuel Noriega, Daniel Ortega, and the FARC in Colombia but do nothing in Mexico.

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The most dangerous adversaries are the ones that come with a smile instead of a sword

Devo,
Size of country, it almost equals Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Level of corruption.
USA invading Mexico, really, they are the biggest supplier of drugs for us.
Military wise it could take 12 years or more.
Drugs, the USA needs them.
Drugs, the USA needs them.
Just IMHO, Phuck it legalize pot, and tax it like cigs. That would crimp the cartels somewhat, but the USA still needs crack, coke and heroin. The war on drugs initiated during the Nixon era maybe, just maybe might not be working. We are still the largest consumer of drugs in the world, and that is "illegal drugs" only, God forbid if you look into pharmas.
Regards, 911 Driver

_________________
The happy hour is a device either for getting rid of social obligations hurriedly en masse or for making overtures toward more serious social relationships, as in the etiquette of whoring.- Brooks Atkinson

Have you ever seen Clear and Present Danger or read the book?

If John Maynard Keynes was right about his economic theory of priming the pump and spending your way to prosperity;

And "war" is a significant way of spending your way to prosperity;

Then what better way to continually prime the pump than to have a war which can never be won* and therefore will never go away;

Ergo a continual priming of the pump.

With that in mind watch the movie. It is big business for those involved on both sides of the "war."

* You can never win the war on drugs because people want them. Drugs include alcohol, ethical or legal drugs and illegal drugs. The populace in all cultures want them in one form or another.

DiegoC "... You can never win the war on drugs because people want them.." with that only

Respectably disagree, the war can and has been won by several countries. How you ask

They line up and shoot every one ( no class/race/age/reason/wealth distinctions ) any one who uses/sells/processes/carries- with no excuses allowed.

Now if we were really serious about a war on drugs we might consider this route, as what we are doing now has not worked, and legalization or even decriminalization can not be allowed to even get a civil debate on the political table.

So what General Curtis " nuke em" LaMay said ".. you start killing them until they put there hands up and say we quit " may apply here if we really want to solve the problem or at least reduce it greatly.

I do not support this, but I also do not support what we are doing now- which is a sign of mental illness of repeating a action what has not worked no matter how much we do it over and over . But that is a option which if not discussed means we are not really serious about the war, and once that is discussed, the other option then can also be discussed at the same time.

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My best friend was the clock on the wall, and he turned out not to be much of a friend in the end

XMAN, you are so right. We could theoretically win the so-called war on d r u g s if it were a capital offense. But that will not realistically happen in the Americas at least at this time and in the foreseeable future.

You also perceptively state that if we are serious about a war on d r u g s . . . Well, that is my point. Our government and the people of the US (the largest market for the products) are not serious about ending d r u g manufacture, transportation, sales and use. So it won’t end.

There are too many vested interests which have too much to lose if the w a r ends. A perpetual, non-winnable war is an ideal vehicle for all sorts of endeavors both for and against.

DiegoC said " There are too many vested interests which have too much to lose if the w a r ends."

BINGO and we have a winner

you win a hour at HLH at your own expense

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My best friend was the clock on the wall, and he turned out not to be much of a friend in the end

Keynes was a moron....
CH