Two Canadians died and another was injured in a shooting at a hotel complex in Playa del Carmen, near the popular resort of Cancún, the main destination in the Mexican Caribbean, authorities reported this Friday.
The attack occurred in the hotel complex Xcaret when a man of Canadian origin shot three people of the same nationality. The attacker, presumably a hotel guest, injured three people who were also vacationing on the premises. One died while being taken to a hospital. Authorities later confirmed the death of another person.
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The prosecution reported that according to authorities Canadians, the deceased have a criminal record in their country of origin related to robberies, drugs and weapons. The head of the Public Security Secretariat of Quintana Roo (where Cancun is located), Lucio Hernández, said that the origin of the shots was a “discussion” among the guests.
“Derived from the report of firearm shots inside the Xcaret hotel, three people are reported injured, derived from a discussion between hotel guests,” Hernández said in a first message.
For its part, the Grupo Xcaret hotel chain said it was a “targeted and isolated” event.
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“We are fully cooperating with the authorities for their prompt clarification,” the company said in a statement. Just last November, two suspected drug dealers died after being shot at on an exclusive beach at a neighboring hotel in cancun.
So far, the three Canadian tourists involved in the armed confrontation have only been identified as Jessica, 29, and Thomas and Robert, both 34 years old, the first lost his life while being transferred by ambulance and the second died in the hospital.
In October, another shootout between suspected drug dealers killed two tourists, a German and an Indian in Tulum, a spa near the area. Violence linked to crime, especially the retail sale of drugs, has been hitting the Mexican Caribbean for years.
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These incidents have led European countries and the United States to issue alerts to their citizens about the risks of visiting the Mexican Caribbean, among the main beach destinations worldwide.
Tourism represents 8.5% of Mexico’s GDP and is the main economic activity in the southeastern region of the country.
Mexico closed 2021 with 33,308 intentional homicides in total, a figure slightly lower than the 34,554 murders in 2020. Since December 2006, when the federal government launched a controversial anti-drug military operation, more than 300,000 violent deaths have been recorded in Mexico, according to authorities, who attribute most of the murders to organized crime.
-Efe and AFP
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