Also in Mexico the border towns are the most dangerous because that is how the cartels get the drugs back and forth into the US, so they ignorant asses always waring for control of the border. The further south you go in Mexico the less violent cartel crime there is.
I worked with other engineers in Tamaulipas who were kidnapped and forced to go to the ATM and take out money and give to the cartels. So kidnapping folks is common if they think you got money. One Mexican kat that I am still cool with mom got kidnapped and the cartel asked him to pay up 5K US to get her back. They followed him to work at the company we worked at in Reynosa and they realized he was an engineer.
So they followed him home one day and saw his home where he stayed with his mom (in Mexico its common for folks who are even professionals to stay with their parents or have their parents live with them). They waited for him to go to work the next day and went to his home and kidnapped his mom.