so has anyone on here encountered any "unauthorized checkpoints" at night or during the day for that matter?
one question to ask is how would anyone know if they were "unauthorized" or not.
also, if motorists have been shot at and killed at these "unauthorized checkpoints", I am guessing there would have been a lot more PR about this subject, especially from the state dept and not from the "yucatan osac".
finally, my guess is that most of the people on this forum are pro-RP but I would hope that any dangerous or suspicious beheavior would be reported as an FYI to all.
so back to my original question, has anyone experienced any checkpoints that they believe were "unauthorized"?
Thanks.
To your first question: No, neither I nor friends, family and clients have ever reported being stopped at what might be described a 'suspicious' Checkpoint on Highway 8. There have been checkpoints set up in the past, usually close to Penasco, with flashing lights, lots of police, etc. I have been stopped at official looking military checkpoints both permanent and temporary throughout Sonlra over the years. Part of life here.
You comment about 'unauthorized' is a good one and it reflect back to the author of the "Warden's message" as that word was used there. Authorized by whom and yes how could you tell. Very poor choice of words.
In addition ot the media's obsession with negative Mexico news and an apparent drive to report problems as often as possible, it is difficult for me to believe that should these shootings and attacks have occured and gone unreported in the media that some family member would be raising holy H*** about it. I would, wouldn't you? I guess one could argue that these victims of these attacks were all without friends and family and no witnesses were available.
I don't have a problem passing on real, warnings. I do take the time to check them out before I might pass them on to others for a real reason. In this case it arrived as a forwarded e-mail, bereft of any 'official' logos, etc. It was a plain text message, with some publicly available links. A phone number appeared at the top, 502 prefix. I phoned that number and got a voice mail "Hi this is Bill I'm not in", I checked some of the links at the bottom of the message and they did in fact link to offical Govt. sites but nowhere did I see anything except the 'boilerplate' warning messages about travel in Mexico. I guess I missed the link to the Warden's message page.
My first question was "Did this message actually come from a govt. office or was it more crap?' Because of the absence of any 'official Govt." logos on the initial message I got (the presence of which would have made sending the message a criminal matter, not just more internet bullshit) and because I phoned the number and got no official greeting, and because 2 of the internet sites I visited had no specifics on this alleged problem, my first inclination was that it was Bogus because I came to think it did not come from an official site. Now that it is clear that it is an official government message, that does not mean that those events alluded to actually occured. It says 'there have been reports', were the reports investigated and confirmed bere they were passed along. Now I think not. I think the Warden needs a warning from his supervisor and perhaps some training in writing and thinking.
Yes, if there is a problem people need to be informed, and yes it is much too easy to pass on crap via the internet. Everybody's an expert on everything !:mexico::mexico::deadhorse: