Yes, I note the brutality of the kidnappings.
I also note the tone of the CNN article that looks to the federales reforming their task force. Everywhere, I see people thinking the solution is with giving more power to the government so they can effectively insure our security. Maybe Mexico needs tough gun control laws?
Mexico already has tough gun control laws.
The best individual strategy is already in place, culturally, in Mexico. Do things as a group! Don't go places alone; take your friends.
A worrisome thought is the spread of kidnapping to a place like the U.S., which might be easy-pickings. About 10 years ago a friend's son-in-law was kidnapped while wet-backing across the border. The ransom demand came out of L.A. The FBI and local police and LA police all denied jurisdiction. I showed my friend how to record phone calls and to inform them the phone call was being recorded. The LA police and FBI became more helpful, but still of no value.
The family friend volunteered to pay the ransom..... to be delivered by a trusted friend in LA. The trusted friend did not take the money with him The kidnappers tried to kidnap the deliverer, but he escaped.
Friends & family of the kidnapee's spouse formed a Rosary Chanting group and committed to chanting every night for forty nights.
Not long after that, the kidnapee turned up in Los Angeles. He said that the coyotes he had hired to get him across the border had left him in the middle of nowhere and he and others had to make their way across the border on their own.
The Rosaries continued for the balance of the forty days.
The 'kidnapee, didn't participate in the Rosaries because he had never been kidnapped. He had been abandoned.
Lessons:
1) You're on your own.
2) When it is YOUR friends or relatives, you pay the ransom.
3) If lawlessness spreads to our area, we should start packing arms
