Tiffany Hartley's testimony offers compelling details about a couple who mistakenly wandered into Mexico's drug war, while the seeming failure of Mexican investigators to solve the case provides a critique of Mexico's inefficient police and judiciary. Who are these so-called Mexican "pirates" that roam the waters of Falcon Lake?
For Americans, who do not usually come into contact with the border, with its desert outposts and giant border fence – especially not when on vacation – there is an extra level of intrigue for the fluidity of the border that Falcon Lake represents. Falcon Lake “feels different, it feels less protected,” says Dan Lund, a political analyst in Mexico City and the president of The MUND Group. “It suggests vulnerability that the normal border does not.”
