Friday, 15 June 2012

Mexican Wave

Most of us are now aware that Mexico is in the middle of a major war with the drug cartels, and indeed another journalist, Victor Baez was found murdered yesterday. This is just another sad statistic amongst the murder rate of 16,700 last year.

But what many don't realise in all this reported carnage, is that Mexico is doing OK in South American terms. No really, all the figures show that despite all the problems:

  • The murder rate is nearly 20 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, but this is significantly lower than in Brazil, Colombia, and Puerto Rico.
  • The Central American nations of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras have murder rates nearly twice that of Mexico.
  • It is still the number one destination for US citizens travelling abroad with more than 20 million visits by Americans last year, with an estimated one million US citizens residing permanently in Mexico. 

US Holiday Makers - Mexico Bound

  • It is the seventh largest oil producer and the third biggest oil supplier to the US market.
  • More US export-based jobs depend on Mexico than on any other country except Canada.
  • Mexico has seen an expansion of its middle class with income levels, currently around $13,000 (£8,350) per capita,
  • Mexican investors now own major US brands.
  • Spanish is on course to be the most spoken language in the USA

and of course they hold Zombie Walks. So things can't be so bad ..... I just thought I would document the other side of the story. Maybe Mexicans can wave goodbye to the constant bad news stories.

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