The White City's iconic stone cathedral is the oldest in the Americas
Mérida, Yucatán -
The Yucatán peninsula is a huge fist of land jutting up into the Gulf of Mexico. It's hot, flat and dry. Three Mexican states comprise the peninsula: Campeche on the far west; Yucatán, more or less in the middle; and Quintana Roo, along the country's Caribbean shore. The latter area is often referred to as Mexico's Riviera Maya. Geographers will remind us that the peninsula also includes Belize and a small part of Guatemala.
Its safety is a perennial subject of disagreement, especially at a time when so much of Mexico isn't. Statistically speaking, there are plenty of reasons to argue that Yucatán is indeed secure, although that confidence was shaken several years ago when 12 decapitated bodies turned up just blocks from Mérida's premier avenue, Paseo de Montejo. Those victims had been involved with narcomenudeo - street drug sales (U.S. intensely focused on Yucatán security in 2008-09, diplomatic cables reveal).
Last spring, Quintana Roo governor Roberto Borge Angulo went ballistic after the U.S. State Dept. issued a Feb. 8 travel warning for much of Mexico. Texas quickly followed with its own state advisory, specifically directed at spring breakers headed to Cancún or Playa. Borge broke off a European junket and flew to Austin, where he met with tourism officials. They didn't withdraw the warning.
At the time Borge said, "We reject this alert, not only because the entire Yucatán peninsula and the state of Quintana Roo are among the safest areas of the country, but because no North American has ever been harmed in a Q.R. tourist destination." As MGRR pointed out, that claim was untrue.
Now Borge is at it again. In Madrid this week, trying to drum up European business (both tourism and capital investment), he repeated all the usual refrains, arguing that the Yucatán peninsula is the most secure region in Mexico. Not everyone in his state would agree with the proposition, however.
A business leader in Cancún reported yesterday that extortion in the city has increased 200% since 2008. In the year just ended, he said, at least 260 businesses closed their doors as a direct result of extortion or so called "express kidnappings" (Mexico's Caribbean Riviera Maya in the hands of drug cartels and extortionists). The statistics were even worse the year before (300 businesses close in Cancún, Riviera Maya due to 2011 narco extortion, threats).
Extortion is ubiquitous in Mexico's drug war, and is inextricably liked to the executions of victims who refuse, or who simply are unable, to pay. A national hotel association trade group has just reported that extortion of lodging owners in Cancún and the Riviera Maya increased by 70% in 2012. MGRR reported on one particularly brutal case last June, which occurred in Playa del Carmen: Riviera Maya hotel owner refuses to pay the "rent," so extortionists execute him.
To be sure, the Yucatán is a very big place, covering thousands of square miles of terrain. Mérida is definitely not Cancún or Playa del Carmen. But there can be no doubt that organized crime maintains a presence throughout the sprawling peninsula. Recent events have provided unequivocal evidence of that, which Gov. Borge neglected to mention to his interested audiences in Madrid this week:
Mar. 22 - Gov. Borge continued to insist that the Yucatán peninsula is the safest in Mexico, even as its primary tourist destination was placed under special security alert.
Apr. 7 - In an article entitled Yucatán: A Prisoner of Fraud and Extortion, El Universal today reports that commercial extortion and business fraud of all types are rapidly growing in the state, and are its "Achilles' heel." Threats communicated by telephone - many demanding money - have also surged.
Apr. 11 - Cancún proprietors, especially those in the hotel zone, are trapped in a web of business extortion from which there is no escape, other than to close their doors. Monthly payments fixed by drug cartels and organized crime must be "paid religiously," and are subject to increase during boom times or when it appears that the establishment is flourishing. Some who can have opted to leave the country. Nadie se salva de pagar derecho de piso.
Apr. 9 - Yucatán tourism remained flat in first quarter of 2013
Apr. 17 - Highwaymen assault ADO bus on Yucatán peninsula
May 11 - There goes the neighborhood . . .
July 12 - Los Zetas are in Progreso, Yucatán, says local press
July 15 - Cancún and Quintana Roo not under U.S. advisory, but maybe they should be
Routine traffic stop in Mérida yields Sinaloa Cartel "Boss of the Plaza" in Cozumel, Playa del Carmen
Mérida millionairess convicted on all counts in Nicaragua
Yucatán - and half of Mexico - belong to Los Zetas, says deputy attorney general
Mar. 1, 2014 - Did El Chapo Guzmán live in Mérida? Maybe, says the city's main newspaper, which today claimed the Sinaloa Cartel has the "greatest presence" in Yucatán of all the major cartels.
Mar. 21, 2014 - Death in the Yucatán
Related MGRR reports
Spanish tourists raped, robbed on Acapulco beach front
Puerto Vallarta: tensions linger after brazen narco attack
"Violence on Yucatán soil" - against foreigners
Murder in Maxcanú: Yucatán State Police officer kills four
Cancún Zetas extort even street vendors, and run sex trade, too - with INM help
Yucatán a haven for Mexican fugitives
© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
