Quintana Roo.- The wave of violence in Quintana Roo continues unstoppable after the recent murder of two Canadians allegedly involved in drug trafficking, as well as an Argentine manager in a popular beach club, cases that forced him to coordinate work with foreign security forces.
The crime wave faced by tourist destinations in Quintana Roo It extends to the entire state, since just in the first days of February the discovery of a body was already reported on a dirt road that goes to Laguna Manatí, on the outskirts of Cancún.
In addition, a house in the region received at least 15 shots with an AK-47 weapon and in the municipality of Isla Mujeres a reporter was about to be killed to bullets
black january
In mid-January, a shooting occurred inside a hotel located in Carmen beachfrom the prestigious Xcaret chain, left two Canadians killed and one woundedallegedly involved in drug trafficking.
And a week later there was the shooting death of Argentine Federico Mazzoniwho was the manager of a popular Playa del Carmen establishment, Mamita’s Beach Club.
Months earlier, in October, a tiroteo in a restaurant in the resort of Tulum -one of the most fashionable places in the Caribbean- left two foreign tourists dead and three others injured.
This same Thursday, Ricardo Mejía, Undersecretary of Public Security of the Mexican Government, said in a press conference that he had already several arrested in these crimes that circled the continent.
“It is very clear that whoever does it pays. (…) There is a whole inter-institutional, federal and state effort to be able to generate arrests” and avoid “impunity,” said the federal official.
Concern in Quintana Roo
However, civil and business organizations are concerned and ask for more intelligence work, the use of advanced technology and greater coordination between the security corporations of the three levels of government before the growing insecurity affects the arrival of tourists.
Lenin Amaro Betancourt, president of the Business Coordinating Council of the Riviera Maya and owner of a hotel in Playa del Carmen, told Efe on Thursday that so far the efforts to promote tourism combined with the low temperatures prevailing in the United States and Canada have kept the the arrival of visitors in this winter season.
“But it does affect our image. Without a doubt, it is a blow to our image and puts us on a knife edge. Today our main market is the United States and thorough measures have to be taken,” said the businessman.
This position is shared by Andrea Lotito, vice president of the Riviera Maya Hotel Association, who assures that the latest events have not diminished the enthusiasm of tourists to enjoy the beaches of the Mexican Caribbean and there are no records of cancellations in what It’s from this year.
“But it causes concern among businessmen and residents,” he acknowledged.
Amaro Betancourt’s property is located a few meters from the remains of the Blue Parrot bar, the scene of one of the bloodiest attacks recorded in recent years.
In January 2017, the bar was one of the venues for the BPM electronic music festival until a shooting killed 6 tourists and left 15 injured.
Amaro maintains that it is urgent to take measures, especially in terms of prevention, to curb high-impact crimes.
“It is important, among the neuralgic points, prevention itself and intelligence work,” said Amaro, who also asked to install more video surveillance cameras.
For his part, the head of the Secretariat of Public Security and Traffic in the municipality of Solidaridad, Lieutenant Raúl Tassinari, pointed out that they have held constant meetings with members of the region’s citizen security table – chaired by businessman James Tobin. and with the representatives in Playa del Carmen.
“We have been working and decisions and actions have been taken that are going to be carried out this week in order to promote greater security and a greater presence at the federal, state and municipal levels,” Tassinari told Efe.
Following the murder of the manager of the Mamita’s beach club, where the attackers fled aboard a jet ski, various sectors also expressed the need for greater surveillance in coastal areas and in the sea.
“In the near future we will be seeing the results of those coordinations that have been carried out for the reinforcement with the border area that we have in Solidarity,” said the official.
international reinforcements
In recent days, it was announced that elements of the DEA and FBI of the United Statesas well as from the Canadian Mounted PoliceThey would travel in about two weeks to the southeastern state of Quintana Roo to support analysis and security tasks, according to the state governor, Carlos Joaquín González, last week.
However, it was later clarified that the agents would not come physically and that the exchange of information will be maintained under the terms established by the treaties between countries on this matter.
Amaro positively valued the participation of other security forces as long as “it is within the framework of coordination work between countries” and is done “through the relevant channels”, in line with what is required by the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador , some days ago.
“Everything that helps to combat high-impact crimes is welcome, as long as it is within the framework of this collaborative work between countries,” the businessman concluded.
Security in the region is not a trivial matter in economic terms. In 2019, before the pandemic, Mexico consolidated itself as one of the 10 most visited countries in the world with more than 45 million international tourists, who left 24,563 million dollars.
In this way, the sector represented 8.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and flooded the country with foreign currency.
Of these, a large majority chose the Mexican Caribbean as their destination – the Cancun airport is the second most used in the country – due to its diversity of offers for all pockets.
Read more: Trailer runs out of brakes and kills 3 motorcyclists in Morelia; driver runs away
#Wave #violence #continues #unstoppable #Quintana #Roo #murder #Canadians