Got My Toes In The Water But Don't Want My Head In The Sand

Gorgeous Woman: I love that song, "Got my toes in the water, my ass in the sand..." So sexy. Come on Don, let's run off down to Mexico for some sun, water and tequila?

Don Juan: I would have jumped at the chance a few years ago, but now, that place is bad news.

Gorgeous Woman: How could a suit and tie guy like you turn someone like me down. What could you possibly know about "bad news?" It's safe if you aren't dealing with the cartels:

Don Juan: Even though this may be by only chance at a girl like you, I have bad nightmares about what is going on down there. Better go with your husband instead...

The conversation hinted of morality but was based in reality as the head lines read of 13 students being massacred at a party in Mexico. Don Juan's foreshadowing of the nightmare could not possibly have done justice to the gruesome reality. Armed men raided a party in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican border city, and murdered 13 high school and college students. The reason for the attack? False information.

A total of 24 people were killed across Mexico since Saturday because of an ongoing turf battles between powerful drug cartels. Besides the deaths, two dozen teens and young adults were hospitalized following the assault in Ciudad Juarez. Will the violence spread to nearby El Paso, Texas?

Grieving survivors told The Associated Press on Sunday that the victims, mostly residents of the housing complex, had no ties to drug traffickers. Most theorize that the massacre was a mistake. The young adults had gathered to watch a boxing match. Two trucks pulled up loaded with armed men who opened fire.Ten died at the scene. Three others died at a local hospital. Chihuahua State Attorney Patricia Gonzales said that a witness just outside where the gunfire broke out may have more details.

Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million people, is struggling with drug cartel related violence. Troops and federal police seem helpless as the violence continues. More than 2,250 people were killed there last year alone. On Sunday three bodies were found in the border town of Nogales, just south of Arizona. The bodies were burned inside an abandoned vehicle. Also on Sunday, three women and two men, all Mexican citizens, were murdered while driving in their van with California license plates near the western Mexican city of Navolato.The bodies contained gun shot wounds according to Martin Gastelum, attorney general for the state of Sinaloa.

Violence also occurred in ocean side Lazaro Cardenas. About 20 heavily armed gunmen riding in trucks with tinted windows attacked a police station with grenades and assault rifles. A police officer and two civilians were killed.

More than 15,000 people have been killed in Mexico in the past three years in what is believed to be cartel-related violence. Perhaps Don Juan was right...

Update 5-12-10: Mexico remains a place to avoid. Four men were kidnapped from a wedding in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Their bodies have now been found in the bed of a pickup truck in the city. The kidnapped men included the groom, Rafael Morales; his brother, Jaime Morales; and their uncle, Guadalupe Morales. Municipal police did not release the name of the fourth victim. All of the bodies showed signs of torture. The FBI indicates that Rafael Morales was a U.S. citizen from La Mesa, New Mexico. The others may be citizens as well. The men were all kidnapped at gun point in the church during the wedding ceremony. A fifth man was apparently also shot to death during the incident. Some have theorized that the groom was connected to La Mesa. To date, police do not know the actual motive for the murders; however, no one thinks it was motivated by MARRIAGE STRIKE.