Mexico’s cartel violence spills near five-star resorts where tourists are their drug customers

Jennie Taer, DCNF

Tourists staying at luxury hotels in Cancun and Tulum are noticing a massive uptick in cartel violence as the vacation hotspots have quickly become a key revenue source for drug sales, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Cartels see the area of Quintana Roo, where the two resort towns are located, as a cash cow for drug sales, where their customers are easily accessible, making it easier and cheaper to traffic drugs, the WSJ reported. The homicide rate in the state has almost quadrupled since 2016 in an increase that is attributed to drugs.

“Our basic problem is drug demand by tourists,” Quintana Roo Attorney General Oscar Montes de Oca said, according to the WSJ.

In March, tourists in Cancun’s hotel zone found human remains that police said could be casualties of cartel crime. That same month, a British citizen, who lived in the area and was warned of being a target, was shot and killed by two men on a motorcycle while driving with his teenage daughter in the passenger seat, The Daily Beast reported.

“We have to be careful what kind of tourism we ask for,” head of the Tulum Hotel Association David Ortiz Mena said, according to the WSJ. “The kind of tourism we fostered creates drug demand, and where there is demand there will be supply. But the drug dealers don’t leave when the party’s over and the tourists go home.”

The manager of a bar on the beach in Quintana Roo was shot and killed in January, The Washington Post reported. Days before the incident, two Canadians were killed at a resort a few miles away as a result of an argument between guests.

Suspected rival cartel members engaged in a shootout near Cancun in November, sending beachgoers running to nearby resorts for safety, the Associated Press reported. Two drug dealers were killed in the incident, according to the WSJ.

The State Department, nor the U.S. Embassy in Cancun responded to requests for comment.

For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles