Crime challenges in Mexico's tourist zones

Regardless of being in the midst of dozens of tourists, organized crime hitmen have carried out executions, bombings and shootings in beach areas, nightclubs and main avenues in tourist areas of Quintana Roo, Guerrero, Morelos, Guanajuato, Nayarit and Sinaloa.

The latest case is the fire at the iconic nigthclub "Baby'O" in Acapulco, where businessmen accused an act of extortion by organized crime. However, at least a dozen cases have been registered in other centers.

Also in Acapulco, on April 23, armed subjects set fire to 17 stores in three different markets in the city, one of them the Parazal Handicrafts Market and a beauty parlor, located only 10 blocks from the Zócalo. In the same city, but one month earlier, on March 21, a tourist was murdered on Las Naciones Boulevard, in the middle of the Diamond Zone, and on February 25, another man was murdered on Papagayo beach, and the perpetrators fled in a jet ski.

In Guanajuato, just on September 19, on the main restaurant avenue of Salamanca, in Guanajuato, the owner of the establishment "Barra Libre 1604" and the manager were murdered with a "gift bomb", which exploded when they received it camouflaged with streamers and balloons.

In Quintana Roo, on September 29, a woman was attacked on the Fifth Avenue of Solidaridad (Playa del Carmen), one of the most frequented by Mexican and foreign tourists, but no one was arrested. In the same entity, from March to June, seven people were murdered on the beaches of Tulum and Benito Juarez (Cancun), in the sight of tourists.

In Tulum, four men were murdered on June 25 on Paraíso and Playa La Esperanza beaches, in Tulum National Park; on June 11, two men were murdered in Playa Tortuga and a woman from the United States was wounded by a stray bullet. In the same Playa Tortuga, on March 29, a man and a woman were murdered, which was recorded in a video.

In Morelos, a 5-year-old boy died after being shot by assailants who attacked a family who resisted a robbery at the restaurant "Los Maskarbones" in Temixco. Also in Morelos, on January 20, a man was murdered in broad daylight in a cafeteria in Cuernavaca, located a few steps from Casa Morelos.

On March 20, the tourist area of Rincon de Guayabitos, in Nayarit, just 60 kilometers from Puerto Vallarta, became the scene of a shootout between the Army and CJNG over the capture of the gunman "El M3". And on January 4, a shooting alerted diners at the bar "El Capital" in Culiacán, Sinaloa, presumably due to a confrontation between rival drug trafficking groups.

Furthermore, in July 2020, at least 20 young people were kidnapped by alleged hired killers of the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation (CJNG) when they were enjoying the typical extreme adventure route known as "Vallartazo".

Source: Reforma