To clarify a little bit, the newspaper is from a northern state. And yes, things in the northern states are rather violent and dangerous. But to be honest the really bad state is the one close to the capital, Estado de México which has many violent crime, crime against women, etc. We even joke that is like Mad Max fury road. Yes that bad.
Yet people go to work, to school and carry on.
As everything there are many sides and conflicting interests. Yet violence and crime are just one more bad thing to worry, being traffic and low income being other stuff you have to take into consideration.
As tourists you could always go to many other places instead of Ciudad Juárez or Tijuana since those two have become cities for degenerate people from other countries to abuse and commit atrocities and get away with it for the only reason that they have the dollars.
"But to be honest the really bad state is the one close to the capital".
Not even close.
A couple of years ago on a SINGLE year there were some 5 or 6 narco-blockades in Guadalajara for example (that's one every few months and we are talking 25 to 35 buses lit on fire in the middle of the day, across major streets that prevent people from entering or leaving the city for several hours, on each blockade event, all around the city at the same time, which btw shows how coordinated these criminal groups are). Have you personally been there? It's really not a nice sight and it's frightening as shit. Especially when they happen so frequently that at some point you just have to ignore it to be able to carry on with your life?
Have you been to Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz? where armed people dressed as Federal Forces kidnap people with impunity? Have you had to move around in the city in daylight and watch how military convoys armed to the teeth go around patrolling the streets instead of the Police (mind you this is a town that has a population of less than 1M, i.e. it's more of a town than a big city so people are not used to military presence)?
Have you been to Veracruz city where the Navy had to literally disarm the local police and take control of police duties for a few months? how about getting stopped by a military checkpoint in the middle of the city? especially after watching in the news how many times military personnel at those same checkpoints fired upon (and killed) entire families because they felt threatened?
Have you ever talked to someone that got arrested AND tortured by the police because they thought (incorrectly) that the guy was a member of the cartel? and then seeing this person suffer permanent hearing loss on one side because of how many times his captors slammed his ear against the wall repeatedly for hours at a time?
I've personally lived all these things and let me tell you, "the really bad state is the one close to the capital" is not true at all. Not sure if it's the news not reporting these things, or maybe there's so much shit going on in EdoMex (which I know it's not really a peaceful place) that there's simply no more room for bad news from other parts of the country, but you can definitely find much worse in other states.
Let's not even talk about Guerrero, where I have friends that witnessed headless bodies being dumped on the road... and then having some shady car follow them to their home because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I'm sorry for being so crude... Mexico is a wonderful country full of great things and I love it. But crazy, crazy shit does happen outside of the capital and EdoMex, and while it's definitely not something that happens everyday, it's always a constant fear in the back of your head... "what if they kidnap MY family because their business was successful enough to stand up?", "what if my girlfriend goes out tonight to some bar that happens to have fucking military-grade grenades thrown at because some random cartel dude wanted to celebrate that same night at that same place?"
To clarify a little bit, the newspaper is from a northern state. And yes, things in the northern states are rather violent and dangerous. But to be honest the really bad state is the one close to the capital, Estado de México which has many violent crime, crime against women, etc. We even joke that is like Mad Max fury road. Yes that bad.
Yet people go to work, to school and carry on.
As everything there are many sides and conflicting interests. Yet violence and crime are just one more bad thing to worry, being traffic and low income being other stuff you have to take into consideration.
As tourists you could always go to many other places instead of Ciudad Juárez or Tijuana since those two have become cities for degenerate people from other countries to abuse and commit atrocities and get away with it for the only reason that they have the dollars.