Spring Break: Beer and Bombs

Spring Break is approaching, and many college students, as have students of the past, are booking flights and reservations for Mexico.  However, as every previous post can testify, Mexico is in no way the safest place to be right now.  The University of Arizona in Tuscon is urging about 37000 students to stay out of Mexico, yet without a legal, or otherwise official, obligation, there is nothing really to stop the millions of wild teens from flocking to beaches around Cancun, Acapulco, and elsewhere.  Certain observers, such as Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora, assert that "nine out of 10 people who have been killed in this fight are attributable to organized crime," and that any travelers should be able to avoid trouble by "behaving."  Ultimately, they are screwed.

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Tourism being the biggest example, the economies of America and Mexico are closely intertwined.  The industry created by the Spring Break rush is enormous, and arguably the most profitable week out of the year (ignoring whatever damage or trouble those damn kids get into).  The fact that recent escalations in violence might interfere with the industry, shows the enormous and pervasive effect the violence has not only in the political spectrum, but in the economic as well.  As we have observed in class, nothing does more to stabilize an oppressive regime, or oust a perfectly good one, than the economic conditions of the country in question.

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