Many years ago, Elvis made a movie called Fun in Acapulco.  As they say, the movie didn't have much of a plot, but Ursula Andress is worth whatever it costs to watch it online.

We can safely say no one is making a movie about fun in Playa del Carmen these days.

As you probably know, there is a lot of talk about "el muro" – the border wall – down in Mexico.  The political class should be talking about the chaos in the country and how this is impacting their economy. 

This week, we read that the U.S. closed a consulate office indefinitely.  This is from news reports:

The State Department abruptly closed the U.S. consulate in the popular tourist destination of Playa del Carmen late Wednesday evening and ordered U.S. government employees to stay out of the area. 

They warn other Americans either in the region or thinking of traveling to it about a "real crime threat" from local drug cartels[."]

This is awful news for a country that relies heavily on tourism dollars.  Furthermore, it shows two basic problems with Mexico's political class.

First, they'd rather talk about President Trump than the violence tearing up the country.  "Inseguridad," as the Mexicans call it, is problem "número uno" as Patrick Corcoran wrote.

Two, they don't understand that a wall on the U.S.-Mexico will be a devastating blow to the cartels walking in with cash and guns.  We talk a lot about the human traffic going north, but we don't ever talk about what goes south – i.e., the cash corrupting the system and the high-powered rifles overwhelming police forces.  I have to believe that the wall will disrupt traffic both ways!

Playa del Carmen is a beautiful resort.  Unfortunately, it won't be seeing too many tourists this year.  Also, how many more of these travel advisories can Mexico take?

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