My friend’s brother and new bride were in Cancun during the hurricane. Here’s some excerpts from an email I was just got:
“Thanks and tell your contact that my brother and sister in law thank the Mexican people, Mexican consulate, the Mexican government and the Mexican military. They were fantastic, they cared for them and made sure that they were safe and got out ok. The US government on the other hand, well, the email talks for itself. Nothing like having your government tell you ‘you’re on your own, we won’t help you, you were warned, its not our policy to evacuate our citizens’ The British Government was there within a day with representatives and as soon as they could get a plane down, they bussed all 900 UK citizens out in one convoy, loaded them on airplanes, sent them to the Dominican Republic and then flew them to the UK. Makes me sad to be a US citizen.”
And another email from a different person who was also down there, in the same shelter as my friend’s brother:
1 Comment so far“I agree with you about the US Government not doing enough to help us. As far as heading the warnings, the hotel completely blocked CNN from our TV’s and we had no way of knowing of the intensity of the storm. It became so powerful so fast and by the time Thursday came, there was no way to get out. Another really strange thing is that planes were still bringing people to Cancun up until Thursday afternoon!”
“While the tourists at least have a home to go to, the residents of Cancun do not. The locals who worked at the shelter were some of the nicest people I have ever met and throughout the entire time at our shelter, while they did not know if their families were OK, they had a smile on their face and did everything they could for us. They were really great people and their livelyhood completely depends on the tourism industry. I would like to go back there one day again and I hope that others will too. ”
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Why should the US government be responsible for getting US citizens out of Mexico? I just don’t see the correlation.
Are the US citizens down there in danger? I hear that it is “rough” by normal Cancun standards, but not unlivable/war zone. Either way, where does an individual’s reponsibility end and the governments begin? Especially when outside the US countries borders.
Comment by Sean 10.27.05 @ 2:36 pm