Cancun, once heralded as a safe destination for Europeans, Mexicans and Americans alike, has increasingly faced security threats and drug-related killings in recent months.
 |
| Is Cancun Safe? 5 Bodies Found in Vehicle |
By Cristina Silva, Newsweek
Police were investigating after five bodies were found Wednesday
morning stuffed into an abandoned automobile in the Mexican resort town
of Cancun. The fresh violence comes amid growing debate over whether the
popular tourism site might be becoming too dangerous for travelers.
Some
of the bodies were in the truck of the Mazda vehicle, while others were
inside. The vehicle was parked outside a gym near government offices, according to local media reports.
An
anonymous witness alerted authorities to the bodies by making a call to
an emergency phone line. The vehicle was taken to the local coroner's
office with the bodies.
Cancun, once heralded as a safe
destination for Europeans, Mexicans and Americans alike, has
increasingly faced security threats and drug-related killings in recent
months. Earlier this week, three local police officers were arrested in
the disappearance of four Colombians from the region. The week before,
gunmen on water scooters shot at a vendor on a beach near tourist-filled
hotels. Nobody was injured, the Associated Press reported.
The local attorney general’s office said this week it would increase
security at its offices. Visitors to the office will now be searched and
must pass through a metal detector, Latin American Herald Tribune in Venezuela reported.
Questions
about whether Cancun remains a viable destination first made
international headlines earlier this month after 14 people were killed
in the area within 36 hours.
The U.S. State Department issued a
warning in March advising travelers that many areas of Mexico face high
crime threats, including kidnapping and robbery. "The U.S. government
has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in
many areas of Mexico as U.S. government employees are prohibited from
travel to these areas," the warning said.
In Quintana Roo state, which includes Cancun, the State Department warns
visitors to exercise caution because of an increase in homicides in
2017 compared with 2016 as a result of turf battles between organized
crime groups. The warning noted, "Shooting incidents injuring or killing
bystanders have occurred."
Roughly 5.8 million international visitors traveled to Cancun in 2016. About half of them arrived from the U.S.
The
consul general of Mexico in Austin, Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, has said
American travelers should be alert while in Cancun. In all, there were
about 133 murders in Quintana Roo during the first half of 2017, more
than double the recorded killings from 2016.
"Tourism is an
extremely important industry for us. It has increased at approximately
10 percent per year for the last four to five years and that means that
for Mexico and for the Mexican government it's extremely important to
exercise all cautionary measures," Gonzalez Gutierrez told Dallas News earlier this month.
COMMENTS