Los Zetas are taking over Cancún, Playa del Carmen on Mexico's Riviera Maya

That's what a peninsular newspaper, Por Esto, said in it's today's edition. Bars, restaurants, stores and businesses of all types are being taken over by the feared drug cartel Los Zetas. They simply make the legitimate owners "an offer they can't refuse."

Economists call this "income diversification." Cops call it money laundering. The U.S government recently said that about $39 billion USD gets washed every year in Latin America and the United States via drug trafficking. http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/39-billion-usd-all-of-it-dirty-money.html.

Here's what Por Esto has to say about the famed Riviera Maya: http://www.poresto.net/ver_nota.php?zona=qroo&idSeccion=1&idTitulo=123874.

How Los Zetas do it: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/09/extortion-in-mexico-one-way-its-done.html.

Recent high profile crimes on the Caribbean Gold Coast: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/09/presumed-narco-murder-on-mexicos-famed.html.

I'm glad I don't own any Gold Coast "resort property." The day may come when you won't be able to give it away - except to Los Zetas.

Feb. 2012 update - Riviera Maya in the hands of drug cartels and extortionists: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/02/mexicos-caribbean-riviera-maya-in-hands.html.