F1's Jenson Button escapes machine gun bandits in Brazil

[gary]

Makes driving around a track at 270km/h pulling high g-forces seem comparatively safe.

Story here - http://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsport/jenson-button-safe-after-attack-20101107-17im7.html

[TheDecepticon]

Yes, a dangerous place to be. :eyepop:Too many people, not enough work and all the rest of the social inadequacies and injustices. At least they are all safe.

Then again, on second thoughts, they could have taken Vettel!!:rolleyes::P;)

[GrahamL]

A friend was in mexico city new years day 2009(nothing open), and with a fellow traveller went for a wander a couple of blocks off a main road near there motel looking at the achetecture of the old buildings.

Well they looked at one to many, all this yelling started up and guys just started pouring from one villa , my friend found himself wrestling with a guy with a machine pistol the whole time its going click , click, his friend decked a few but they had nailed him with an iron bar a few times .

The only thing that saved them was the cops drove by the end of the lane, looked at what was going on , and kept right on driving . the
attackers all bolted allowing them to stumble back to the main Road.

The cops found them there , and called it in , 2 f250s arrive with guys
spilling out , flak jackets machine guns , grenades the whole bit
they grilled them about where they were and took off .

Never a dull moment in South America:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[gary]

Hi Graham,

A chilling story and a very, very close call.

There are too many stories like these in Mexico at the moment -
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/mass-grave-reveals-18-bodies-in-mexico-20101104-17f7d.html
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/shooutout-in-acapulco-leaves-seven-dead-20100924-15pox.html
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/mexico-top-cops-head-packed-in-suitcase-20101013-16jpr.html

We went down to Juarez as a side trip from TSP in 2007, but last year it had
the dubious distinction of having the world's highest murder rate. Over 2000
have been murdered in Juarez this year alone with grizzly stories appearing every week -
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/ciudad-juarez-deadliest-city-in-the-world-watchdog-20090827-f03t.html
http://media.smh.com.au/world/world-news/deadly-party-in-mexico-2031418.html
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/woman-beheaded-in-mexico-drug-war-20101021-16uhw.html

Reminiscent of the plot from some wild west movie where the new sheriff comes into town, it makes this 20 year old mother,
who was the only one to volunteer to be police chief in a northern Mexican town, arguably one of the world's bravest people -
http://www.smh.com.au/world/just-20-young-mother--becomes-mexican-top-cop-20101021-16umk.html
http://www.smh.com.au/world/640amonth-police-chief-marisol--v-the-multimillion-dollar-killer-cartel-20101022-16xbx.html

[Octane]

I was unfortunately curious enough to click on a link posted on a photography forum which showed the aftermath of drug/gang violence in Mexico. Talk about grizzly -- eek, never again! Makes me put Mexico on the bottom of the list of places I wish to visit.

H

[gary]

Hi H,

I can't imagine too many queries with travel agents at the moment.

I often like to say that you can never really say that you have been to some place.
You can only really say you have been to some place at a particular point in time.

For an example of what I mean, the Soviet occupied East Berlin I visited in the
mid 80's is a different 'place' to the Berlin you would have seen more recently,
which in turn would be a different place to say, Berlin, mid 1945.

Likewise, I wholeheartedly would recommend a trip to Phnom Penh in 2010
but it clearly would have been unwise to go sightseeing there in 1975.

I've stood in a small laneway in Hiroshima reading a plaque next to a car park
that read "The first atomic bomb used in the history of humankind exploded
approximately 580 meters above this spot. The city below was hit by heat rays
of approximately 3,000 to 4,000 C along with a blast wind and radiation."

During the period of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the early 80's, Peshawar
and the North West Frontier of Pakistan was a place where one needed to be
vigilant, but welcoming cups of chai were generally forthcoming. If your average
westerner were to go back there now, there is a good chance of it becoming a one
way trip.

So things change over time for better or for worse, but hopefully in the not
too distant future, things will take a turn for the better for the good folk of Mexico
and it will once more become a safe place to visit.

[GrahamL]

Thats such a pity gary as by all accounts Mexico is such an amazing place to visit.

I hope that young lady is able to engage her community a little
and make it a little safer for them .

Sadly you'd have to think if she at all moves into threatening any of the cartels actual powerbases in this area than its not a job she will have for very long, from the little i've read the drug cartels have a credible presence in the comunity on many levels as they have a long history of funding social infastructure where the fedral govt just didn't.

My friend just returned from a longer visit a few weeks back and had no dramas this time .