Armed robbery in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico
on the highway 190MX , close to the town of Mitla
We have been informed by our friend (a warm showers host in Miahuatlan, Oaxaca) about a very sad incident which took place last week. A cyclist was robbed at machete point, the below information has been taken from the cyclists blog and translated in to English.
http://www.recondoontheroad.com/la-fine-del-mio-viaggio_diario_967.html
The cyclist was due to be hosted by the same warmshowers host who told us about the robbery, but changed his route we believe, due to the road closures on the 175MX caused by the storms. We will post this information on crazyguyonabike, the cycling south facebook group, PANAM google group, warmshowers forum.
Entry taken from blog:
The end of my trip - Day 966
Tuesday , September 24, 2013
Unfortunately, the worst day of my trip has arrived .
On September 19 , 2013, at 13:00 , I had just finished lunch in a small village called San José de Gracia, in the state of Oaxaca , the goal of the day was to reach the town of Mitla , with its beautiful ruins .
Left the village to go start the climb and I realize that the side of the road is stopped a car with the hood open . Beside the car is fiddling man , while the woman is in the middle of the street , I think to seek help .
At the moment I have no inkling of the danger, the woman approached saying something and within a few seconds I'm wearing them both with 2 50cm long machete bullet in the stomach and ribs .
Threatening death require me to take a side path to the street where , well out of sight of other vehicles that would pass , they begin to open up the bags with machetes and where I kept yelling things of value: " Where is the camera? the money ... where are they? ... This what it is and what it's worth ? ... fast fast ! "
After I took the bag with money (few) , credit cards and documents, aa require me to take off my shoes with socks and even glasses.
Then they tell me to go down the slope to the side of the road, in the midst of shrubs and bushes. The place is full of thorns and garbage and then I cut the left foot at different points , losing blood and in the meantime the two criminals take their car and flee.
Appearance few minutes, you never know it's a trap and they're waiting for me . I climb the slope to the paved road , I have several difficulty in stopping half , because many go straight past , perhaps frightened .
When a vehicle stops can bring me to San José de Gracia, only 1km more below.
In this village there is no police , so the first thing I think about is me cure my foot. The people here are not very collaborative , I ask for help to bring me to the medical center , but it seems to be asking for something too .
After almost one hour can not find a lady who cleans the wounds to the foot ... fortunately I did not need stitches.
As there is no police , I think it is better to achieve Oaxaca, the largest city of the state of , though I have no money .
A local family -hearted gives me 100 pesos for the bus trip (about 6 euro ) .
Arriving in Oaxaca at 20:30 I stop to sleep in the bus station (I could not find a better place to come at night and no money )
The next morning, gathering the equipment was ( I did not say that from the first robbery I had left the bike and part of the equipment ) near the row of chairs .
Due to the stress of having to seek help , not having money and having to pay anything (to go to the bathroom, to connect to the internet at an internet cafe , to guard the bags) , I leave bags unattended bike and while I can give me 30 minutes internet connection .
While I was I connected to Facebook , asking for help , I steal the rest of the equipment, bike , with some bags inside the laptop that I used to work with, the external backup drive with the original files of the photos, travel mementos , etc. . ) .
In desperation I ask people around if they saw something , but no obviously saw nothing, but reproach me almost teasing me that I should provide for my things , not to let them . Obviously, they are right about this , but I wanted to see them in my place, alone, without money, without anyone wants to help me ... everyone making their cocks .
At the end I can find someone to help me , a friend of a friend of Willy Mulonia , a large ex - cicloviaggiatore of Brescia.
Now I am in Oaxaca and I have decided that it is better for me to return to Italy .
These days they tried to convince me to continue the journey ... I received a parcel with pieces of equipment and perhaps a bike , though as I understand it for the trip prefer to stop here , to recover the lost material according to my tastes (eg I do not like to travel without documenting it with photos, videos, and then process it all on my laptop ), and take the trip in the future.
This journey ends then in Mexico , after 966 days of travel, visited 14 countries , 29846km paths .
In the future I think I will be able to travel back in America , perhaps starting with Oaxaca and reaching Alaska.