Who's buying the drugs in Quintana Roo's Riviera Maya?

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Who's buying the drugs in Quintana Roo's Riviera Maya?

It's not Mexicans, that I can assure you. The petty 12,000 person permanent population on the island is not enough to support the lucrative regional drug industry run by Los Zetas and a few wannabes. Nor can locals afford to snort coke or smoke weed. Who then?

The Gold Coast economy of Quintana Roo, Isla de Mujeres and Cancún is almost 100% tourism based. Sand, sunshine, white beaches and hundreds of thousands of tourists annually, principally from the United States, Canada, Europe and to an increasing extent, from Japan and Asia. Those people are buying the drugs, plain and simple. Mexicans, all 110 million of them, are paying the price directly or indirectly.

Por Esto stories on Quintana Roo narcotics trafficking:
Aug. 27 - 80 kilos of marijuana seized at Cozumel drug warehouse
July 27 - "Tourist packets" sold to drug-hungry visitors in Cancún hotel zone
July 12 - Turistas piden droga y se las dan (tourists drive Cozumel drug trade)
Mexico's Continuing Agony
The Daily Obscenities of Mexico

2 comments:

Denyse Atherley Islanders2October 22, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Well said, Edward!
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Marc OlsonOctober 22, 2011 at 6:19 PM
Absolutely. The narco-gangs issue is largely about exports...mostly to north of the border, and to tourists from those same places. If it wasn't for the high demand, the business would not exist.
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