thinking of buying a retirement abode down in state Jalisco Mexico ...

My understanding from previous small flaps about retiring in Mexico is that you must be a Mexican citizen in order to own property. Foreigners can only lease a place; and a few years back many retirees found their leases "forcibly vacated" (no refunds) when local businesses decided they wanted the property "for other purposes."

Mexico has lacked a reliable system for ownership of property of any kind for a very long time, and with almost built-in corruption throughout all their legal systems, among things lacking is the ability of the poor or middle class to "own" something in any provable way. If someone richer wants it, you lose it since the "courts" will uphold the claim that the rich already owned it.

The 6,000 or so drug murders last year came on the heels of a lament that one province had more than 500 murders of women, with many of the cases nearing the expiration of the statute of limitations with none solved. (Yes, Mexico has a statute of limitations on MURDER.)

Newpaper and media workers are under threat of death even for reporting anything "negative" about the drug cartels (or even about some "successful busines persons").

There is evidence that some are attempting to clean things up; but there seems to be no office in Mexico where one is immune to being shot on the street, if someone else is "offended."

And it is spilling across the border into the US.

John