Jeff Dunsavage's Blog (589)

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/03/media-scrubs-malia-obamamexico-story-117970.html

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/03/media-scrubs-malia-obamamexico-story-117970.html

Puerto Vallarta -- famous for, among other things, being the destination of The Love Boat in the 1970s cruise ship sit-com -- was the scene of crime last week as hooded bandits robbed 22 Carnival Splendor cruise ship passengers at gunpoint, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The passengers were traveling on a bus, several days into a cruise that left from Long Beach, Calif. The tourists, who departed California on Feb. 19 and returned Sunday, were traveling on a bus after going on a…

According to this article, Noel was on his way to Mexico to have some expensive dental work done. It seems a lot of people need to go south of the border for services they can't afford in the U.S. Perhaps the most significant piece of information from the article is:

"Brownsville police detective David Martinez...said there are no cooperative agreements between agencies on both sides of the…

You see it in movies all the time. From It’s a Wonderful Life to Spiderman II, the heroic figure who has labored on behalf of others for years suddenly finds him/herself in a bind and “the people” become aware of their hero’s plight and step up to help the one who has always been there to help them. The only problem with this feel-good ending is that it rarely happens in real life. Whether it’s a veteran living on the streets or “everyone’s Mom” struggling…

The Mexican cartels' war against social media continued this week with murder of another blogger in Nuevo Laredo, just across the border from Texas. The note left next to the body -- identifying the victim as a moderator of Nuevo Laredo en Vivo, a local blog about goings-on in the city which has become a forum for reporting drug-related crimes and warning the public about dangerous areas -- stated: “This happened to me for not…

U.S. State Department data show that the first six months of 2011 represented the most deadly period of the past eight years for U.S. citizens in Mexico, the Christian Science Monitor reports. From January 4 to June 11 of this year, 65 Americans were killed in Mexico, a 300% increase since 2003. Read full article.

The report found that Baja California, Tamaulipas, Chihuahua,…

Authorities in Mexico are investigating the apparent abduction of 17 young men who were riding in a bus en route to the U.S.-Mexico border, the Nuevo Leon state security council said. The bus left the central state of Guanajuato on Sept. 14 bound for the border town of Miguel Aleman. Armed…

Sam Wesley, the Roatan, Honduras man accused of shooting Australian citizen Joe O'Donnell in the back during an argument over where he parked his bicycle, has been committed to stand trial. O'Donnell was shot in the back at point-blank range in front of several witnesses on August 19. Almost two months earlier, he got into a dispute with a local family when he parked…

Since the Mexican government declared war on powerful drug cartels in 2006, social media has emerged as one of the main platforms for reporting about drug-related crime and corruption, filling a void left by professional journalists who were intimidated into silence. But for all its supposed advantages, including online anonymity, social media is hardly secure, as was demonstrated by the murder of two online critics earlier this week.

The mangled bodies of a man and a woman, both in…

The family of slain Canadian architect Roger Walls hope to hear the fate of his accused killer by the end of September.

Walls was gunned down in Roatan, Honduras, in February 2009. Paralyzed from a gunshot to the neck, his family paid to have the 71-year-old airlifted back to Saskatoon. He died from complications to his injuries in April 2009.

The victim's brother, Vic Walls of Red Deer, Alta., says Julie Thompson, a Honduran woman, is charged with murder in the case for…

Joe O'Donnell, the 41-year-old Australian shot in the back on the island of Roatan, Honduras, has spent the past month recovering from his injuries.The man accused of the shooting has been charged with attempted assassination, due to the pre-meditated nature of the attack -- but remains under "house arrest", and his court hearing has been postponed.

O'Donnell, who holds…

The father of missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway is asking a court to declare his daughter dead, six years after she vanished during a graduation trip to Aruba, according to this Associated Press article. Mississippi insurance agent Dave Holloway filed the request in probate court earlier this…

Joe O'Donnell -- a resident of Sydney, Australia, who holds Australian and Irish citizenship -- was shot in the spine last month on Roatan, one of the Bay Islands of Honduras, and has called for support to pay medical bills reaching tens of thousands of dollars, according to this article in the Sydney Morning Herald.…

In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Mexico's Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara argues that all of Mexico should not be tarred with the same brush in the area of safety.

"Mexico has 2,500 counties," Guevara said. "Eighty of those have issues. So does that mean that the entire country has issues? Of course…

At just past noon on Friday, August 19, Sam Wesley -- a West End business owner with roots on Roatán Island dating back to the 1840s -- came out of his house, pulled out a silver revolver, pressed it into Joe O’Donnell’s back, pulled the trigger and then walked back to his house without saying a word. There were at least five witnesses to the incident. As Mr. O'Donnell collapsed in the street, concerned shop owners Shannon and Christian ran to his aid, Mr.…