Cancun with the highest number of kidnappings in Mexico

The spotlight has been on Cancun as a result of the shooting that took place on November 4 at the Hyatt Ziva hotel in the state of Quintana Roo, and the authorities asked guests to take refuge inside their rooms, lock them and barricade the door.

Before this event, shooting inside a restaurant in Tulum, Quintana Roo, left two tourists dead, the Indian influencer Anjali Ryot was killed in the attack at "La Malquerida", according to information from the State Attorney General's Office. Guests ran for their lives and used social networks to confirm the attack registered during that afternoon.

In this context, the organization Stop Kidnapping, detailed that the municipality of Benito Juarez, in Quintana Roo (where Cancun is located) tops the list with the highest number of cases of that crime in the country. In the demarcation, 64 kidnappings have been registered from December 2018 to October 2021, also on the list is Reynosa in Tamaulipas with 55, Ecatepec, in the State of Mexico (EDOMEX) with 53, Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua with 49, Iztapalapa in Mexico City (CDMX) with 48 and Uruapan in Michoacan with 48.

In the same period, a total of 4,69 cases of kidnapping were registered, which means an average of 117 kidnappings per month, 28 per week, and four per day. The president of Alto al Secuestro, Isabel Miranda de Wallace, assured that the warnings to international tourism not to visit Cancun are a blow to the economy and jobs in the country.

"In Germany, in the United States, in Canada, at least seven countries sent alerts not to come to Cancun and that hurts us enormously, I do not know if the governments are not thinking about the damage that is being caused to jobs and Mexicans by the fact that they are not able to coordinate".

According to the same organization, in the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), there have been 39.9 percent fewer kidnappings than in the period headed by Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN), but in comparison with the period of Felipe Calderón, there was an increase of 185.6 percent.

How the kidnapping of a former transit agent shook Cancún

The city of Cancun -in the municipality of Benito Juarez, Quintana Roo- known for hosting several of Mexico's paradisiacal beaches and for its tourist sites, is also in the news for criminal activities such as kidnapping, which have given this jewel the dishonorable fourth place in "levantones" ("kidnappings"), according to the association Alto al Secuestro (Stop Kidnapping).

A few weeks ago, the moment in which a former transit police officer was kidnapped by an armed commando in region 202, in the Real Las Quintas subdivision, went viral on social networks. According to the images, the armed men took advantage of the victim's distraction, who was closing the gate of his house. Although he put up resistance, he was finally subdued and taken away.

The kidnappers arrived in a gray van, which was escorted by another unit. A Durango van, presumed to be the property of the former agent, was found hours later on the public road in Region 212, three kilometers from the scene of the kidnapping. The State Attorney General's Office initiated an investigation into the matter.

Another cause of a young tourist escaping from captors

A young man, who claimed to be a tourist, managed to escape a couple of kidnappers and was found in a convenience store. According to an informative card provided by the authorities, the subject related that he managed to escape from his captors, identifying them as Colombians. This happened when he was being transferred, allegedly from one safe house to another.

As he said he was on board a luxury van when he was released at the height of region 215 of Cancun. According to the grievant's account, he arrived in Cancún from Mexico City. However, he said that when he was moving to an amusement park he was intercepted by a duo of Colombians, who immediately faked him and forced him into a black Suburban van.

After they managed to subdue him, they transferred him to a safe house, where they kept him for more than a week. In the early hours, the alleged kidnappers put their victim back in a van and began to transfer him, apparently, to another safe house. In his testimony, the tourist recounted that he took advantage of oversight to jump out of the motor unit and immediately ran to a convenience store located in region 215, where he requested support from the police forces.

The report indicated that the officers arrived in a matter of minutes and, after learning of the incident, took the victim to the Attorney General's Office for a statement. Meanwhile, the elements of the police force set up a search operation in the area without any detainees being reported so far.