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| Shoot out at Mexico City Airport may lead you to think Mexico City is dangerous. |
The Mexico City Airport houses two terminals, terminal 1
provides domestic service and terminal 2 international. In 2010 federal police
began investigating a drug ring, which involved Aeormexico flight attendants smuggling
cocaine into Spain.
Yesterday, June 25, federal officers arrived at the airport
to arrest two of their own, in conjunction with the 180 people identified as
members of the ring. A gunfight broke out in the airport food court. Reports
vary, leaving questions as to whether the two to be arrested were actually
federal police or not.
Although few believe Mexico City will see a spree of
violence anything like that seen in Juarez, for example. If I'd been in the
food court at the time shooting broke out, it wouldn't have matter whether this
was a rare occurrence or an everyday event. I would have ducked for cover and
hoped stray bullets went elsewhere.
The three officers killed were the good guys. The bad guys
got away and have, as of this writing, yet to be found. If you play the odds,
your chances of being murdered in Mexico City are 8 in 100,000. These are pretty
good odds. Another factor to consider is the company you keep. Keep your nose
clean, and your chances likely drop much further.
All in all in spite of the belief that Mexico is a dangerous
place, it depends. It depends on what part of Mexico you are planning to stay
in and it depends on what you do when in Mexico. High risk activities improve
your chances of running into trouble.
All that being said, innocent people were eating in the food
court yesterday morning at 9 a.m., and they suddenly found they were in the
midst of a gun battle. For those in the food court there was little consolation
that there are more murders, New York and Chicago, with smaller populations,
last year than in Mexico City.
This latest incident brings further proof for those who do
not care to dig deeper, that Mexico is a dangerous place, when in fact it
really isn't all that dangerous ~ unless of course you were in the Mexico City
Airport food court yesterday morning.
Airport Shooting Not an Omen of Mexico City Crime, Insight Crime, Michael Kane
June 26, 2012
Mexico City: Triple Homicide at Capital's Airport Does Not
Indicate a New Incursion of Drug-War Violence, Forbes, Nathaniel Parish
Flannery, June 26, 2012
Why Mexico City Airport Shooting Is so Troubling, Christian Science Monitor, Sara Miller llana, June 26, 2012
Policemen Killed at Mexico City Airport, New Zealand W3 News, Armando Montano, June 26, 2012
2 comments:
Maybe there weren't any "good guys" in this story. For an interesting analysis, take a look at Tim Johnson's latest post over at Mexico Unmasked.
http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/mexico/2012/06/holes-in-the-airport-shooting-story.html
In Canada we don't allow as much gun use as elsewhere and frankly I would like to see much more control. However, in this case it sounds like police were shooting at police, so all the guns were legal. It raises a question about how the police chose to carry out their operation.
Thanks for the article, Oreen.
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