THE BADLANDS

At our last stop the driver told me were only a few hours from the border. Matamoros is in the state of Tamaulipas where the violence is so rampant and widespread that the state department has issued a warning for Americans to avoid this region if possible because it is as dangerous as Syria. It a battered and bloodied terrain.

Heads roll around plazas, bodies hang from bridges and politicians are gunned down in their homes. This bloodshed takes place throughout the country, but there are particular states, Tamaulipas being one of the foremost where the carnage resembles a war zone.

But the Mexican officials say that the highways are safe and if you're not involved in politics or drugs, your odds are good. Besides being a teacher most my life, I have been a reporter for more than 50 years. I'm supposed to reconnoiter areas where the faint of heart dare not venture.

Should bad luck befall me, I ask but one favor of the mafiosos: Please don't torture me. Put a bullet through my head is my sole request. If you want to decapitate me afterwards or hang me from a bridge or throw me into a vat of acid, I'm fine with whatever turns you on once I am dead.

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