A recent article in Nearshore Americas ranked the top 5 cities in Latin America for IT sourcing. The judging criteria? Available IT resources and technical training. Oh brother! Guadalajara came in 3rd place behind Monterrey and Bogota, Columbia? Are you kidding me? Monterrey and Bogota?
For the record I like Nearshore Americas because nobody else is really diving into the Nearshore IT reporting world like they are. But to put Monterrey and Bogota above Guadalajara is... well, not right. Monterrey and Bogota are riddled with crime. Not so in GDL. With 7 million people and a very low crime rate, Guadalajara is one of the safest cities in all of Latin America. It ranked behind Chicago as having the strongest economic potential in a 2007 (FDI magazine study).
Heck, it's the home of the Mariachi bands and Chivas soccer team.
If for no other reason than there is no violent drug war blazing through the streets of Guadalajara it should have fared better. By contrast, Monterrey has recently become one of the most dangerous cities in Northern Mexico. In one recent incident, 50 armed men attacked a Holiday Inn at 3am to capture a few hostages. That kind of violence alone should eliminate Monterrey from any list of any kind... period!
Rankings like this should take in most of the relevant factors. I suggest they include things like crime rates, quality of life, cost of living, daily flights to and from the USA, climate, higher education system, and most important... quality of the Tequila (also made very close to Guadalajara).
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