By Staff Writer Luis Larios
What are the worries a normal everyday citizen faces by simply living in a state that is labeled by the United States as “Do Not Travel” and the ways which citizens resource to stay below the radar.
While making a visit to a state in Mexico,there was a subtle hint of uncertainty in the air, it felt as if there was tension after a family dinner ended in an argument. That awkward and uncomfortable feeling is the sense of false security as stated by one of the many Uber and taxi drivers that we encountered during our visit.
Anastacio Lopez, a 45 year old taxi driver on the weekdays and uber driver on the weekends, tells the story of what it is to be living in one of those states labeled as unsafe to travel. “It is hard having to be living in constant fear of getting robbed at gunpoint or simply having a passenger that is from the people you do not want to encounter and end up not paying for the drive.” While most people have a normal day to day life within the community they live in, there is a sense of tension on a daily basis, while for them it is normal for someone who is not familiar to the environment can be intimidating to simply go out at nighttime.
On one of the rides provided by Mr. Lopez which happened at around 8:00 pm and driving through a well transited area of the town, we witnessed the unfortunate event of someone taking someone’s life. While in other circumstances the common courtesy is to call the authorities, however, with Mr. Lopez being around the streets of this town on a daily basis he knew that was not an accident but a drug deal gone wrong. When asked why he does not do anything else for a living he answered by something that could relate to anyone in the world, “this is the only thing I know how to do, i have been doing this for the past 25 years, this is like trying to break an old habit.”
While visiting Mexico for the good views and amazing food and great culture, there is still the uncertainty of the living situation and the violence the residents of any city live in a day to day life. The one advice Mr. Lopez provided that in order to not run across any problems is to speak as little of any language other than Spanish, and to not look for trouble because 9 times out of 10 you will find yourself on the wrong side of a bad situation.