Mexican Navy

[phiggins]

I know you hear a lot of bad things about Mexico, like Swine Flu, the Cartel, corruption, etc. But I have to say the Mexican Navy is absoultely great and give them credit where its due.

Right now I'm in Ilsa Mujeres off Cancun. Four years ago we were anchored in the harbour here when a 35 knot wind came up and we dragged and became hopelessly aground. All the best efforts of the other cruisers couldn't get us off. Then along came a very large inflatable with 3 250 outboards of the Mexican Navy. They quickly hooked us a line and dragged us off. I thought I would have to pay mucho dineros for this service but they came by later and filled out a report and didn't ask for anything.

Yesterday I met a fellow cruiser at the Soggy Peso restaurant who had a similiar experience. While soloing fom the Rio Dulce to Isla he was hit by a violent thunderstorm and lost his main and both engines. He called on his
sideband to friends and they called the Mexican Navy. Before he knew it a very large ship of the Mexican navy pulled along side and deposit three sailors with engine experience onboard. They fixed everything and refused to take any compensation.

My hat is off to the Mexican Navy.

[sneuman]

excelente!

[AnchorageGuy]

Our dealings with them in the past have shown them to be extremely helpful, courteous and professional at all times. This has been limited to the Atlantic side. WG

[senormechanico]

We had a few experiences with the Mexican Navy on the Pacific side.

A couple of boardings (checking for stolen outboards and illegal aliens).
They were very professional and courteous.

We also had friends with a split fuel injector line.
The Navy came aboard, took the line back to the big ship, welded it and returned and installed it on the engine. No charge.

[Canibul]

I hear they do get excited about firearms, though.

[BeenThereAteIt]

Hi phiggins:

I hope the U.S. Coast Guard / Navy is reading these posts
& will learn from the Mexican Navy.

Respectfully,
Paul

[iSaint]

You mean these guys????

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by BeenThereAteIt

Hi phiggins:

I hope the U.S. Coast Guard / Navy is reading these posts
& will learn from the Mexican Navy.

Respectfully,
Paul

What do you want to bet we are "teaching" them at this very moment.

AUGH!!

I am with you.

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by Canibul

I hear they do get excited about firearms, though.

Not surprising. Most of the weapons that are being used in places like Juarez are being smuggled in from the U.S. Southwest.

[cantxsailor]

As I'm here on the front lines I can assure that is simply not true.

While many of the guns illegally owned by the local Jose's DO come from the US the majority being used by the cartels come from military supplies of various south and central American countries and from many places over seas.

The majority of murders are being commited by people using full auto weapons and the hand grenade is a popular tool of this type of trash.

Of course the anti firearms groups have been telling these stories with glee even though, as usual, the truth is a bit further away than it at first appears.........m

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by cantxsailor

As I'm here on the front lines I can assure that is simply not true.

While many of the guns illegally owned by the local Jose's DO come from the US the majority being used by the cartels come from military supplies of various south and central American countries and from many places over seas.

The majority of murders are being commited by people using full auto weapons and the hand grenade is a popular tool of this type of trash.

Of course the anti firearms groups have been telling these stories with glee even though, as usual, the truth is a bit further away than it at first appears.........m

More than 5,000 people were murdered in Mexico last year alone, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and 95 percent of the weapons recovered from those killings were traced back to the U.S.

Source:
Guns From U.S. Play Key Role In Mexican Violence : NPR

[GeoPowers]

BeenThereAteIt/Therapy,

You guys were harassed or had some negative experience by the US Navy? Where?

[Jmolan]

As usual, 99% of the bad stuff you hear about Mexico has no bearing on your everyday life. I feel in many ways more free in Mexico than I do the US.

I will tell one short important story though. We had a boat get in trouble and abandon a few years ago. It involved the Navy and a number of private charter boats in the rescue. The following day the official's were there and wanted to see the liability insurance coverage. This is what they use to get the parties involved paid for their time and expense. Turns out the US individual did not have any Mexican insurance. He skipped town that day, and is not able to return because of this. It left a few local operators holding the bag, and they are more than willing to go help. But they should have gotten paid for it. Liability insurance cost less than $200 a year. Best to have it when in the country.

[cantxsailor]

Not to drag out the gun stuff any further than need be. The correct quote was 95% of the guns that were "traceable" were from the US. There were 32507 firearms confiscated during the many raids. Of the ones that were traceable (509 total) 443 were bought through legal channels in the US and then illegally sold into Mexico.

I'm sure there were more that were stolen in the US but that is hardly the fault of legal US owners or the Mexican government or anybody other than the criminals who were, once again, comitting a crime by transporting firearms into Mexico.

Like I said before the vast majority of firearms used by the cartels are full auto military grade weapons, RPGs, and hand grenades. None of which are readily available in the US to a run of the mill crook no matter what you might see on CSI Miami.

In the 75yrs since machine guns have been restricted in the US there has never been a case of a legally owned full auto weapon being used by its owner in any felony.

You may take my word or you can do a search of the FBI, BATF, DEA and any other LEGITIMATE law enforcement sights for correct information.

The true number of murders in the Mexican drug trade is many times higher than you quoted. Last month (Jan2010) in Juarez alone there were 223 murders related to the drug trade. More than most of our most dangerous cities in the US tally for a year.

Mexico with it's stiff gun laws(for the regular Jose) has regularly had a higher murder rate than the US with most of the carnage within about 100miles of the US border.

Like the old saying goes "you can't always believe everything you read in the papers". Check out a bit deeper than the Times or the Post and I'm sure you will find that most of the number they have been touting have been either taken out of context or just plain fudged.

If you want some really scarey figures check out the number of missing women from the border cities. Depending on the sources between 400 and 1500 bodies found in the last 3years and between 4000 and 5000 just plain missing.

That however doesn't make such good copy ..........m

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by cantxsailor

Not to drag out the gun stuff any further than need be. The correct quote was 95% of the guns that were "traceable" were from the US. There were 32507 firearms confiscated during the many raids. Of the ones that were traceable (509 total) 443 were bought through legal channels in the US and then illegally sold into Mexico.

I'm sure there were more that were stolen in the US but that is hardly the fault of legal US owners or the Mexican government or anybody other than the criminals who were, once again, comitting a crime by transporting firearms into Mexico.

Like I said before the vast majority of firearms used by the cartels are full auto military grade weapons, RPGs, and hand grenades. None of which are readily available in the US to a run of the mill crook no matter what you might see on CSI Miami.

In the 75yrs since machine guns have been restricted in the US there has never been a case of a legally owned full auto weapon being used by its owner in any felony.

You may take my word or you can do a search of the FBI, BATF, DEA and any other LEGITIMATE law enforcement sights for correct information.

The true number of murders in the Mexican drug trade is many times higher than you quoted. Last month (Jan2010) in Juarez alone there were 223 murders related to the drug trade. More than most of our most dangerous cities in the US tally for a year.

Mexico with it's stiff gun laws(for the regular Jose) has regularly had a higher murder rate than the US with most of the carnage within about 100miles of the US border.

Like the old saying goes "you can't always believe everything you read in the papers". Check out a bit deeper than the Times or the Post and I'm sure you will find that most of the number they have been touting have been either taken out of context or just plain fudged.

If you want some really scarey figures check out the number of missing women from the border cities. Depending on the sources between 400 and 1500 bodies found in the last 3years and between 4000 and 5000 just plain missing.

That however doesn't make such good copy ..........m

Here's the other half of that quote: That's largely because it's easier to buy guns in the U.S. and smuggle them across the border than it is to get them in Mexico.

It is in fact clear (from the rest of the article and much else that's been written) that the majority of these guns are traceable to legally available U.S. guns. It may not fit with your anecdotal view of the problem, but it does conform to ATF stats and the view of Mexican authorities:

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/04/counting-mexicos-guns/