Madness: Mexico, Morocco to Manitoba and Peru.📌📌

Posted On 28 Dec 2018

Piracy, Politics in Peru.

(11/4/22)—A scenic boat ride in northern Highland Peru turned high-seas buccaneery Thursday, when a local indigenous community commandeered the tourist river craft in protest of a recent nearby oil spill.

Some 70 passengers—nationals, Spanish, French, Swiss and American—were essentially overtaken and held hostage at the mouth of the Cuninico River by the eponymous tribe, which warned 11/1 that no vessels would be allowed to pass. The travelers were reportedly physically unharmed, but stranded onboard with food supply and conditions deteriorating overall.

This Cuninico members’ political action was ostensibly taken to demand the Peruvian government take ‘ultimate’ responsibly for a September 16 leak that posed an environmental threat to their town. However the country’s Prime Minister, Anabel Torres maintains that the community cut the pipeline themselves.

In any case, Cuninicos warn that, without satisfactory resolution, the tourist boat could be held for eight days or more. Rescue craft have since arrived to feed and safely remove the passengers, but the tourists don’t want to debark without all their belongings. Apparently they are opting to remain political pawns rather than downing G rationed prawns, at least for the present. Vamigré says stop taking parochial squabbles out on innocent, uninvolved travelers, period. (MTC…)

Shootout at the Hook-Up Hotel.

11/4/21—Beach roamios, sun goddesses, volleyballers and poolside sharks all resorted to basement cover and hidden hotel rooms this week as rival drug gangs suddenly gun battled on the shoreline sands before them. Two banger/dealers were killed amid the gunfire, according to Quintana Roo state authorities, and apparently four beached bystanders sustained injuries.

This latest incidence of drug-induced Mexican violence flared up in Bahia Petempich, Puerto Morelos, just another tourist hot spot on the Yucatan Peninsula, 15 miles south of Cancún. That hotel shelter was provided by the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancún, from where there soon emerged chaotic lobby scenes of crying, clinging and stunned vacationers (mostly sun-burned Americans) milling about, seeking direction in baggies, bikinis or thongs. Others shielded basement refuge entrances with metal sticks and furniture, fearful of kidnapping thugs, while hotel staffers worked with local police to secure the area.

The Hyatt company quickly released a statement saying, “…Safety and wellbeing of guests and colleagues is always a top priority…and (that) the hotel team immediately engaged local authorities who are on the scene investigating the situation.”

As were the US Embassy in Mexico and its Merida consulate, mindful that other Riviera Maya resorts such as Cancún and Tulum had also been plagued with increased violence and drug-related crimes—much less that over 300k people in Mexico have succumbed to cartel linked killings in recent years. So Bienvenido, gringos! Pero tomar mucho cuidado…

Dangers on a Train.

11/7/21—Three people were seriously injured yesterday in a sudden knife attack on a southern German high-speed express. The train was traveling between the Bavarian cities of Regensburg and Nuremberg when a 27-year-old Syrian man began randomly striking fellow passengers. Several hundred riders were evacuated once the train stopped in Seubersdorf, some 40 miles south of Nuremberg. Which was where the attacker—who arrived in Germany in 2014 as an asylum seeker and apparently suffers from “psychological problems”—was arrested by local authorities. Alas, how terrorism comes and goes on and on…

Dual Depravity.

12/2018—Heads up: Candlelit vigils and varied apologies just don’t cut it any longer. Nor do closed caskets bearing horrifically mutilated young women: the most sorrowful departure from Casablanca since Ilsa Lund and Victor Laszlo left Rick Blaine on the tarmac.

Maren Ueland, 28 and Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, of Norway and Denmark respectively had arrived in Morocco December 9, 2018 on a month-long trip. Students in outside activities at the University of Southeastern Norway, they were preparing, gaining experience to become tour guides.

Adventure to Atrocity.

That interest and sense of adventure brought them to an isolated region of the High Atlas Mountains, starting point for a trek to Mount Toubkal, North Africa’s tallest peak. It is an area, six miles from Imlil village, very popular with hikers and represented as safe by the Moroccan government itself and in various travel/tourist guidebooks and sites.

Instead, their dream climb suddenly turned into a gruesome nightmare, as the Nordic travelers fell victim to a heap of Islamist excrement, namely a band of local extremists who brutally attacked the defenseless women, stabbing them repeatedly (in the neck), savagely beheading a screaming Ueland, then posting video of their vile slaughter on social media for all sicko radicals and trolls to see and propagate along.

Moroccan authorities immediately ascribed the shocking murders to terrorists aligned with Islamic State. The Central Office of Judicial Research soon announced the arrest of 3-4 suspects in and around Marrakesh—suggesting that the crimes were politically motivated (as if that made them okay)—pointing to another video posted by these terrorists on Twitter one week earlier.

In it, they pledged allegiance to ISIS against a black flag backdrop, said Morocco’s general prosecutor. The four vowed fealty to Daesh leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, calling their attack revenge for losing Hajin, Syria, claiming that they “cannot remain seated, witnessing the destruction caused by Crusader planes.”

How the two innocent women factored into that equation, whether they were members of either Denmark’s or Norway’s military—let alone whether those air forces are involved with the Iraq/Syrian operation—remains unclear. But mox nix to wild-eyed fanatics such as these.

Shock and Awww…

So Moroccan officials said the case was “shocking”, that Morocco is a worldly popular destination, where attacks on foreigners are rare indeed, and that tourism is essential to the country’s economy.

Alongside the country’s blend of Arabian, Berber and European cultural influences is, the colorful scenery, exotic food, spices and aromas, comes all manner of intense, unwanted attention. From frenetic Fez and Tangier, to Marrakesh’s maze-like medieval quarter, Medina souks selling ceramics, jewelry, metal lanterns and the like are infested cradles of chicanery and intrigue. Hustlers pounce and badger, faux guides take travelers nowhere, street urchins scam and pick pockets to put Naples to petty shame.

That’s what makes Morocco so cute, so charming, right? The touts, haggling and deceits, the shortchanging and misdirections—coughing up to photograph henna ladies, snake charmers and hookah dens: dig, just part of the North African package. That is, unless it is a woman or two traveling alone, who can get crudely accosted, swarmed with catcalls, come-ons and grabass harassed in bistros and cafés. So the heads-ups include: Dress conservatively, don’t flash valuables, say no to no-money local guides and negotiate taxi fares up front. Above all, avoid back alleys and don’t walk alone at night.

And those tips go for Moroccan cities, much less while exploring remote outback country and markets, the overlooking of which apparently betided the young Scandinavian backpackers in extremis.

Protect or Placate?

One expert on Islamic movements said that if in fact terrorism linked, it would be the first extremist attack in Morocco since a 2011 bomb attack in Marrakesh, and the first outside the country’s urban areas. Yet he allowed that the country has battled Islamist radicals for years, and that thousands of Moroccans have joined the ISIS group. He added that it was difficult to protect more remote areas, which makes them prime staging/hunting grounds for militant organizations.

Amid a flurry of Moroccan vigils and shrines, prosecutors have since announced a new tally of 13 suspected terrorist arrests. Revealed as well was the existence of surveillance footage from the grisly crime scene area that showed the original four suspects pitching their tent near the victims’, then pulling up stakes immediately following the attack.

Point being, local authorities not only knew of the extremist killers’ beliefs and activities—while having access to video of their premeditated, predatory behavior nearing the woman, but did nothing—letting their animalistic nature take its course…

“Senseless Madness”.

In the meantime, Norway’s PM Erna Solberg called the killings a “senseless attack” by dark forces, stressing the importance of combating violent extremism, as Nordic mourners gathered in Scandinavian cities and Morocco itself. Grieving families are left to field an array of responses—from heartfelt condolences to psycho/trolls sending them the decapitation video, writing “your daughter deserved to die”.

It was all Morocco and social media could do to whack-a-mole takedown that grotesque video, “so as not to glorify or encourage terrorism or mass murder”.

But no amount of sorry apologies or condolence candles, tears and flowers can make up for such hand-wringing negligence. Not enough, not nearly enough, as Vamigré will strive to take such tour-whore destinations to measure and task. Which raises the question: why even go there? At least until tourism-sucking countries—Morocco to Malaysia to Mexico—endeavor to protect visitors rather than placate the barbaric terrorists in their lands (as have Australia and, finally, Egypt, post-Giza).

For if they can’t bring themselves to safeguard visiting travelers, why should we keep bringing ourselves to them? In other words, why shouldn’t we be heading elsewhere?

U/Date (2020):

The Scandinavian hikers’ 2018 murder case has since resulted in death sentences under anti-terrorism law in a Moroccan court for three men, and life behind bars for a fourth. Authorities there had identified the accused as remorseless Islamic State militants during the seven-month trial. Some twenty other suspects in the grisly attack, all pleading innocence, many proclaiming allegiance to ISIS, were sentenced to from five to 30 years in prison.

Media from near and far covered the emotional trial. The victims’ family members also bore witness in the packed courtroom—still mourning their tragic, senseless loss—and were sadly receptive to the verdicts.

Canada Killing Spree: Domestic Terrorism?

No sooner had the Morocco case been resolved than Canada bleeds into the gruesome picture…

From Morocco to Manitoba, the bienvenidos and bonhomie do not seem to travel very well.

For Canada’s national RCMP are currently hunting for two wayward teenagers, armed and dangerous, who were last spotted in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The boys, Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky from Vancouver Island, stand charged with the roadside murders of 23-year-old Australian, Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese, a 24-year-old American, his female traveling companion. The two had been road tripping together across Canada when their blue minivan broke down. Shot dead, their bodies were found beside the ’86 Chevy near Liard Hot Springs, a popular British Columbia Provincial Park.

Shortly after, 64-year-old Leonard Dyck was fatally shot some 300 miles away, not all that far from Dease Lake.

The teens soon torched their camper van barely a mile from the lake. Apparently, they had initially been headed to find work in Alberta, but instead have been ‘on the run’ across provinces ever since. The hardened gamers were last seen driving a 2011 Toyota RAV4 toward heavy woodlands, hoofing it on a dual suicide run, never to be heard from again.