The CSM’s reporter for Latin America, Sara Llanes, visited Merida a few weeks ago to find out if what she suspected was true… that expats who live and work in Merida Yucatan feel a lot safer here than most media is reporting. Sure enough, she found a lot of us who felt that way. And it wasn’t just the two of us who escorted her around to show her the sights. We stopped to talk to some expats who were renovating a home on Calle 53. This was unplanned and unannounced. Sara talked to the two of them, and to a Yucatecan couple who just happened to be walking down the street. Her planned meetings with Dan and Martha went expectedly well too. And, as a result of her weekend here, which she and her husband (who both live in Mexico City) thoroughly enjoyed, we have this article: American Expats Feel Safe South of the Border

If you’re interested in sober, informed commentary on Mexico President Calderón’s war on organized crime, and the debunking of media narrative myths, you’ll want to read Castañeda’s “What’s Spanish for Quagmire?” published in the Jan/Feb edition of Foreign Policy Magazine.

Jorge G. Castañeda, former Mexican foreign minister [during the Fox administration], is senior fellow at the New America Foundation and global distinguished professor of politics and Latin American and Caribbean studies at New York University.

Castañeda and Rubén Aguilar has written “El Narco: La Guerra Fallida” which is currently available only in Spanish. The Foreign Policy commentary provides a condensed version in English.