Stayed in Playa Del Carmen for 6 weeks a few years ago. Rented a car. Taxi driver sideswiped it while my wife was driving. Tried to say it was her fault. As you know taxi syndicate is strong in mexico. My wife, being from Mexico help her ground. Police were useless. Fortunately the rental agency sent a rep to the scene and it got ironed out. But yeah, had I been driving, different story.
Her family was prominent in Reynosa... Cartel came in one day, took over their furniture store, their house.... as you said, no one would lift a finger to help them. I would not live along the border or any hotspots and certainly wouldn't own property there
Yeah it's like the wild west out there in most places. My GF is from Chihuahua City, which is way up north.
She got thrown in jail for a week because a motorcyclist hit her, it was his fault, but his father was wealthy and a local developer.
A lot of the Police are cartel members. It's a very crazy place.
I still go with my GF to see her family. As long as you know where to go it's not so bad, but it's very easy to end up on the wrong side of something. And being an American it changes quickly. Everywhere i go they call me Guero, they mean it in a nice way, but it's obvious i'm easily noticed. The average Mexican has no problems with gringos, but i've been robbed almost a dozen times.
It's a shame about the cartels, most Mexican people are very nice. But the entire Country is corrupt from the local Policia to the high level Politicians. It's just an easy place to have something really bad happen to you. That's my biggest issue, if something bad happens, you're fucked. Nobody is going to help you.