Taking Domestic Disputes To Mexico

Endlessly wide sunny beaches with soft, white sand and the blue-green surf of the ocean, the immense, beneficent blue sky above, and warming sun on exposed skin remains the holidaying dream of Canadians. Most particularly in the cruel winter months of snow and ice and a wan sun in a frigid sky. Be it Cuba or Costa Rica, Belize or Florida, sun and sand beckons.

Have we forgotten Mexico? Well, then, Mexico too. Mexico especially. Canadians adore Mexico. Those who have been to the various sumptuous resorts with their outstanding service and carefree days and nights of rest, relaxation and dreams fulfilled, vow to return. And return again. The experience of being so fulsomely welcomed in a country so dependent on tourism is itself self-validating.

That Mexico has many problems, not the least of which is a large demographic of extremely poor people, is simply incidentally of little account. That Mexico has an alarming problem of drug cartels whose power and vicious greed has grown to such an extent that in their bid to grow their empires nothing daunts them, not the laws of the land, the justice system, the police or the military.

And nor do they respect human life. Just as the lives of the gang members, trading on assembling wealth for themselves while distributing contraband over borders and battling territory with competitors in deadly conflicts that so often take the lives of innocent bystanders are carelessly dispensed with, so too are those of Mexican politicians and police who try to intervene.

But all this conflict takes place elsewhere, in geographic areas and provinces far from those which bewitch tourists and entice them to return and return yet again. Canadians also hear, from time to time, of dreadfully sad and final events taking the lives of Canadian tourists. But one and a half million Canadians flock to Mexico yearly, and those lives lost represent a minuscule number.

The reasoning being that crossing the street in Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver could cost your life. The resorts are privately patrolled, and off limits to any Mexicans other than those employed in the service industry. Completely safe. Except for those who come afoul of Lady Fortune. The latest being a young married woman who, with her husband, opted for a winter Mexican holiday.

At the luxury all-inclusive Hotel Riu Emerald Bay resort. Where she was savagely beaten, so that every bone in her lovely young face was broken. And, as so often happens, when Mexican authorities are called upon to investigate, the police immediately suspected "domestic violence". It would be oh so much more convenient if the troubles could be traced back to the tourists themselves.

For the simple fact is, when these things occur, and they seem to occur with amazing regularity, it is concerning to Mexican authorities that tourism may be hampered by this kind of very bad publicity. They needn't, actually, be all that concerned. For the simple reason that Canadians themselves are not. Not yet.

And if all else fails, it would be awfully convenient if another guest at the hotel, another Canadian ideally, could be found to be the culprit.

Sheila Nabb and her husband, Andrew, were staying at the Riu Emerald Bay resort in Mexico when she was attacked.

“The government reiterates that safety and security are top priorities for tourists and citizens alike and that this was an unfortunate and isolated event; Mexican hotels and resorts adhere to the strictest of security standards."

Can't blame Mexico or Mexicans after all; this is simply the way the world is. A matter, actually, of tensions between the advantaged and the disadvantaged in life.