*Updates below*
Cancún, Quintana Roo -
This has been a difficult spring for the mega hotel chain Oasis, which operates multiple establishments along Cancún's magnificent white beaches. Security challenges in what is still alleged by the local government to be a completely safe "green zone" for foreign and domestic tourists continue to mount. The latest horrific crime surely won't help business.
Yesterday morning (Apr. 30) about 10:00 a.m. the body of María del Rosario Ramis Carrasco, 54, the head cashier for Oasis, was found by co-workers in the corporate administrative offices. She had been bound and gagged, and her entire head was wrapped mummy-like in industrial tape, which produced death by suffocation within a few minutes. The clear motive of the crime was robbery. Ramis Carrasco was preparing the cash payroll, authorities said, which was due employees on the last day of the month.
The victim had been dead for perhaps as much as 12-18 hours, but no one had entered the office area where she was working when last seen alive. When Ramis Carrasco did not arrive home after her weekend shift ended family members went looking for her, enlisting the assistance of other hotel workers. Her body was soon discovered in the admin offices.
Police say she had been beaten and the crime scene was bloody, but there were no other obvious wounds to her body. They surmise that the assailants executed her by taping to avoid discharging a firearm. The same method was once voguish in the U.S. underworld.
This is the third major security event in Cancún's prestigious hotel zone in the last five weeks. On March 27 a Los Zetas drug dealer was executed in broad daylight by a Los Pelones hit team, on the street in front of the Hotel Ibis (Execution in Cancún hotel zone: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/03/execution-in-cancun-hotel-zone.html). On April 5 the leader of a Zeta execution squad was arrested after being spotted on the grounds of another Oasis property (Los Zetas executioner arrested near Hotel Oasis Cancún: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/04/los-zetas-execution-squad-arrested-at.html). He has admitted to several murders in the city.
My observations: Just like in an Agatha Christie mystery (Murder on the Orient Express, etc.), they'll be no lack of suspects to interrogate. Perhaps hundreds of Oasis employees who were anxiously awaiting their pesos on Monday, April 30 knew that the cash payroll was being readied. This could have been an inside job, given the curious circumstances. Now let's see, whom to question first?
Footnotes: In follow-up stories which I'm closely monitoring this evening, a Quintana Roo news agency says that the state prosecutor's office at first rather blatantly tried to cover up this case -- allegedly to calm the Spanish holding company which owns and operates the Oasis hotel chain. One report claims that prosecutors are "under the thumb" of jittery owners worried about adverse publicity. But by last evening (Apr. 30) the cat was out of the bag, and police press releases acknowledging the homicide were distributed locally.
The Q.R. press says that prosecutors indeed are considering the possibility that the crime was committed from within, by a person or persons who had knowledge of the extensive security camera system in the hotel (especially in the administrative offices), as well as the payroll procedures and the amount of cash which likely would be on hand.
Another story, from a different source, points out that a series of boxing matches were held in the hotel Saturday evening (Apr. 28). Apparently it's a common venue for such and regularly attracts both national and international fights, which bring in major door receipts. In other words, a bunch of cash was on the premises over the weekend. That, too, leans towards the internal robbery theory.
May 6-8: The mega Oasis Cancún hotel chain filed a formal robbery report with the Quintana Roo state prosecutor's office late last week, alleging the loss of an estimated 648,000 pesos. At an exchange rate of 12.5 pesos to the dollar, that's about $52,000 US. Oasis attorneys swore out complaints that the cash was taken from their head cashier, María del Rosario Ramis Carrasco, who was found murdered Monday morning (Apr. 30). The cashier and accountant, who is believed to have been executed the day before, died from asphyxia after her entire head was tightly wrapped in industrial tape. Investigators believe the robbery may have been staged from within, by a person or persons who had knowledge of the hotel's security camera system and its cash payroll procedures.
Some Oasis employees have told the local press they're convinced the brutal murder was committed by a fellow employee. Attention has shifted to a man who served as Ramis Carrasco's assistant cashier; he has not reported to work since her body was found last week in the hotel administrative offices. Authorities have not yet identified the assistant.
Oasis legal representatives allege that the stolen money had nothing to do with the boxing events, nor with the company payroll, but rather was just part of routine gross receipts from hotel operations. I don't believe the second half of that claim. I believe payroll funds being assembled for distribution to employees were likely the main target. Why? Because several employees told the local press, three days after the events, that they still hadn't received the most recent wages due them (typically paid to many workers in cash).
Updates May 2-6:
Cancún hotel exec offers gloomy prognosis for local industry: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/05/cancun-hotel-exec-offers-gloomy.html#more.
Cancún, no longer an oasis for most: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/05/cancun-no-longer-oasis-for-most.html.
Hotel Oasis Cancún slow in cooperating with police: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/05/oasis-cancun-slow-on-cooperating-with.html.
Cancun
Should Cancún trips be canceled?: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/04/should-cancun-trips-be-canceled.html.
Why are Los Zetas spies hanging out near Cancún hotel zone?: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/02/southern-zetas-operate-in-cancuns-hotel.html.
Los Pelones happily deliver drugs by taxi and death on demand in Cancún: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/03/in-cancun-los-pelones-happily-deliver.html.
Cancún narco violence claims another victim in 2012: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/02/cancun-narco-violence-claims-fifth.html.
American tourist, 15, sexually assaulted in five-star Cancún hotel: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/01/american-tourist-15-sexually-assaulted.html.
Mexico's Caribbean Riviera Maya in the hands of drug cartels and extortionists: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/02/mexicos-caribbean-riviera-maya-in-hands.html.
Will Los Zetas destroy the economy of Mexico's Riviera Maya?
2012 Spring Breakers cancel Cancún travel plans: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/03/spring-break-nears-but-us-students-are.html#more.
Drugs float ashore at Playa del Carmen: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/02/drugs-float-ashore-on-playa-del-carmen.html.
Who's running Quintana Roo, anyway? http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/10/los-zetas-are-taking-over-cancun-playa.html.
300 Q.R. businesses fold in 2011, facing ubiquitous extortion: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/300-businesses-close-in-cancun-riviera.html.
Can promotion of gay wedding industry check rising Los Zetas effect? http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/can-quintana-roo-state-save-itself-from.html.
Two women executed in Isla de Mujeres: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2011/10/two-women-executed-in-plush-isla-de.html.
Travel
Business is booming in Quintana Roo: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/01/despite-drug-violence-quintana-roo.html.
Cancun #1 choice of U.S. travelers: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/01/cancun-easily-1-choice-of-us-travelers.html.
How safe is Yucatán?
Yucatán and half of Mexico belong to Los Zetas: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/01/yucatan-and-half-of-mexico-belong-to.html.
U.S. greatly concerned by Mérida decapitations in 2008: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/us-greatly-disturbed-by-yucatan.html.
