*Updated Mar. 17*
Cancún, Quintana Roo -
As this gateway city to Mexico's Riviera Maya prepares for the annual pilgrimage of spring breakers, authorities reported six persons were killed in a machine gun assault against a local bar this evening.
Another half dozen or more were seriously wounded during the attack on an establishment known as La Sirenita.
Witnesses reported that two vehicles carrying heavily armed gunmen arrived just after 6:00 p.m. The men entered and opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles, known in this country as cuernos de chivo - "goat horns" - due to their distinctive magazine shape (The Second Amendment, NRA leave their mark in Mexico). Bar patrons were strafed with deadly .9 mm fire.
Some told police that the assailants were looking for a man affiliated with a local taxi syndicate. Taxi drivers in this city often work for or with drug cartels and organized crime as halcones, or lookouts, reporting on the movements of police, military forces and opposing cartels. Sometimes they carry drugs for sale to visitors, or transport cartel capos or lieutenants who wish to avoid attention on the street.
Municipal and state police forces and army units are on the scene tonight. Cancún has been under special military security, known as Operation Pie Tierra ("Boots on the Ground"), since last week.
Mar. 22 - Cancún under first "Red Alert" in its history
Mar. 19 - Expanding Gulf Cartel likely behind three recent Riviera Maya atrocities
Mar. 16 - Quintana Roo governor admits: many Cancún taxi drivers work for cartels as drug peddlers
Mar. 7 - U.S. security firm Stratfor urges tourist caution in Acapulco, Cancún, Puerto Vallarta
Mar. 4 - Cancún prepares for influx of spring breakers with strong display of military muscle
Mar. 12 - Mexicans divided on drug war effort of new PRI government, but want violence to stop
Mar. 12 - Cancellations in Acapulco, as spring breakers go elsewhere and Spain issues new warning
Jan. 22 - Puerto Vallarta: tensions linger after brazen narco attack
Mar. 15 - The latest news reports indicate that seven persons have died, most of them taxi drivers. According to a reliable Cancún source, the victims are believed to have worked for the Los Zetas drug cartel. That means the assailants could be Los Pelones, the Gulf Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel of El Chapo Guzmán or the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, better known as Los Matazetas (the "Zeta killers") - or any combination of these. Violence in Quintana Roo state is unfolding just as predicted: Two cartels unite to declare war on Los Zetas in Cancún, foreshadowing "bloodbath" in Riviera Maya. The men killed ranged in age from 32 to 48.
Footnote: The huge British news agency Reuters, which has hundreds of reporters around the world and every kind of resource imaginable, filed a story about this mass execution last night, which was then picked up by many newspapers in the United States and abroad. Reuters began its report with: "Cancún, which has been largely free of Mexico's drug war violence, . . ." One can only wonder what their reporters and writers do all day. Did they miss these events over the past 18 months?:
Mar. 17 - Two men have been arrested in Cancún and are accused of being the masterminds behind the attack on La Sirenita. The one on the left was a municipal policeman in the city from 2007-2008. See Mar. 19 and Mar. 22 stories above.
Jun. 22 - Playa del Carmen police officer executed, after hit men arrive by taxi
May 9 - Attack on Cancún sports bar leaves young waitress dead, several others injured
Apr. 15 - AK-47 attack leaves two dead in Cancún; both worked for Zetas, one a taxi driver
Apr. 14 - Another bad week for Mexican taxi drivers
Mar. 4 - In Cancún, Los Pelones happily deliver drugs by taxi and death on demand
Feb. 29 - "Southern Zetas" operating in Cancún's hotel zone
Feb. 21, 2012 - Five taxi drivers executed in Monterrey
More on Yucatán and Quintana Roo regional violence
Dec. 26 - Cancún Int'l. Airport a "lawless" gateway for drug exports
Oct. 27 - Cancún police department infiltrated by narcotics traffickers and organized crime
Sept. 29 - Los Zetas are "dominant force" in Central America and have foothold in Belize, says U.N.
Sept. 27 - Cancún International Airport was used as key narcotics distribution hub by Beltrán-Leyva
July 20 - Machine gun fire in upscale Cancún mall terrifies hotel zone shoppers
June 22 - Playa del Carmen police officer executed, after hit men arrive by taxi
May 17 - Cancún Zetas extort even street vendors, and run sex trade, too - with INM help
May 1 - Brutal execution at Grand Oasis Cancún
April 29 - Los Pelones killer arrested in Cancún also may have been hit man for Los Matazetas
April 18 - 50 Matazeta executioners in Cancún to "recover the plaza" for El Chapo Guzmán
April 17 - Los Matazetas - the "Zeta killers" - may have arrived in Cancún, authorities fear
April 5 - Los Zetas executioner arrested near Hotel Oasis Cancún; hit team members captured
April 3 - Bodies of three narco execution victims dumped near Cancún-Mérida highway
April 2 - Los Pelones strike again in Riviera Maya
March 27 - Execution in Cancún hotel zone
Dec. 31, 2011 - Hit man with Mérida connection arrested in Cancún; admits to 30 executions
Dec. 11, 2011 - Former municipal police officer in Playa del Carmen executed
Nov. 12, 2011 - U.S. intensely focused on Yucatán security in 2008-2009, diplomatic cables reveal
Apr. 1 - Death toll in Guadalajara bar attacks rises to five
© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
It is quite remarkable how Cancun and the Riviera Maya have escaped almost all media scrutiny of the violence that has occurred over the last year and a half in that area. Who is paying who to ignore it? Apart from MGR reporting, it is rare to read any English language reports, and even Spanish language sources don't seem in any rush to report the truth. Very strange.
ReplyDeleteTwo points, Stewart.
DeleteFirst, you are correct that virtually no English language press ever reports what is happening along the Riviera Maya, in Quintana Roo state. I don't allege that anybody is being "paid off," but I certainly understand how some might arrive at just that conclusion.
The day after this latest massacre, I noticed a brief article in a prominent U.S. newspaper which carried the Reuters service byline. That story, written by a reporter with a very Latin name, opened with the phrase, "Cancún, which has been largely free of Mexico's drug war violence . . ." Perhaps that reporter writes from the U.S., not Mexico.
As for the Spanish press itself, I can't completely agree with you. Milenio from time to time covers Q.R. violence, and always accurately so. This particular story made El Universal Thursday evening, within a couple of hours after the attack. But far and away the best local news source for the Riveria Maya, with always acurate and detailed crime reports, is Por Esto.
I don't look much at the American press anymore, and I almost never quote what they say about Mexico, unless two or three Spanish sources back them up. When I read the U.S. press, even the most prestigious, powerhouse newspapers, I often wonder whether I live in the same country they're reporting on.
Indeed you are right, Por Esto has a front page story on their website. http://www.poresto.net/ver_nota.php?zona=qroo&idSeccion=15&idTitulo=230228 I must pay more attention to their reporting in future!
DeleteI guess the real question here is why is the English language press all but ignoring the events? Obviously the Q Roo tourist industry has a huge amount to lose if the truth gets out, since it only takes a bit of media hysteria to turn Cancun into the next Acapulco from a (lack of) foreign tourist's point of view.
I wonder where 'La Sirenita' is located? Por Esto reports it is region 233, which I cannot find on a map, and Cancun addresses remain a mystery to me generally, since I have failed to master their rather strange system. Aristegui Noticias reports it is Avenida 20 de Noviembre, in region 233, which again produces no results. I assume it is nowhere near the tourist areas, but still...
Yes, I am glad the tourists are still coming, the last thing we need is another ghost town with hundreds of thousands of out of work tourism employees. But it seems unsustainable. When something like the 'La Sirenita' incident happens involving tourists, the results will be instant and financially catastrophic.
Interestingly, Governor Borge of Q Roo is currently in Miami, drumming up additional cruise business for Mexico in general and Q Roo in particular. According to Seatrade Insider (http://www.seatrade-insider.com/news/news-headlines/governor-presses-for-cruise-growth-across-mexico-overnight-calls-bags-fcca-2015-event.html):
"In his role as chairman of the tourism committee of the Mexico governors council, Borge is working to convince lines to relaunch Pacific cruise routes following a big exodus due to concerns about passenger safety in some destinations.
‘The perception of security is improving in these destinations and that will help,’ Borge said."
I guess right there you have it. Perception is everything.
"The perception of security is improving in [in Mexico] and that will help" - Q.R. Gov. Borge.
DeleteMy God, is the good man completely OUT TO LUNCH?!!!
What about this?
http://www.mexicogulfreporter.com/2013/03/huge-cancellations-in-acapulco-as.html
And this?
http://www.mexicogulfreporter.com/2013/02/international-press-bombards-acapulco.html
And this?
http://www.mexicogulfreporter.com/2013/02/yucatan-safety-continues-to-be-subject.html
The governor is utterly out of touch with reality, and worldwide perception of Mexico.
The United States is the best entertained and least informed place on Earth. Anybody see that ridiculous Thomas Friedman piece in the NYT recently? Total puff piece to reassure investors while Carlos Slim is busy investing overseas. Your Google/Cancun promotion article is striking... wasn't their original motto "don't be evil"?
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-mexico-got-back-in-the-game.html?_r=0
I agree with just about everything you said. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with MGR readers. And BTW - speaking of Thomas Friedman, has he been massively successful in promoting himself or what? All while being so wrong on so many things so often. But that's the Times for you. NYT - at least insofar as Mexican affairs are concerned - is out there in Constellation Q4rD, several million light years away from the Republica mexicana.
Delete