The country has begun to reform its economy and has come to rely more and more on tourist dollars. The relatives of those held in Mexico say they're on a crusade to warn fellow tourists to be wary when traveling south of the border. American doctors said later that Donald Kraft might have lived if he had been transported quickly to a San Diego trauma center about 60 miles away. That's because an auto accident in Mexico is a crime, and authorities can detain the drivers and any witnesses until bond is posted. He died a few weeks later from complications caused by his injuries.
Mexican officials say they did nothing wrong.
The incident sparked angry protests in San Diego and calls to boycott Mexico. Even as talk radio buzzed with anti-Mexican rhetoric and protesters organized slowdowns of traffic heading south across the border, Mexican authorities refused to release a second severely injured American involved in another highway crash. Another man slightly injured in the same Nov. 6 crash was held for two days. And friends of the driver, who was killed, say his parents had difficulty getting their son's body out of Mexico. We couldn't understand why they were holding him, seeing as he was just a passenger.