The narco footprint: Mexican authorities find eight bodies in Cancun

Drug cartels declare war on tourism with murders now taking place in the country's resorts.

Miembros de la Policía vigilan la playa de Cancún donde ocurrieron los asesinatos — Captura de video

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26 de abril, 2023

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Mexican authorities found eight bodies in Cancun this weekend. The bodies were discovered during a police search of several areas along the Caribbean coast and are currently in the process of being identified. This phase is progressing slowly, but the families of all missing persons will be kept updated and informed at the earliest possible times. This was the statement by the Attorney General of the State of Quintana Roo, Oscar Montes de Oca:

As part of the actions of the State Attorney General's Office, the working groups with representatives of various search organizations will be resumed to report on the progress and strategies implemented in the investigations. We will continue to work in coordination with the various security agencies to bring justice to the victims of disappearances.

According to police authorities, five of the eight bodies found this weekend were in an apparently abandoned construction site and had been hidden there for between one week and two months. Three of the bodies found were identified. These belong to three of the more than 112,000 people who have disappeared in the country in recent years. The other three bodies were discovered 10 miles from the Cancun beach and hotel zone, near the Cancun airport.

Tourism sector targeted by drug traffickers

Mexican police believe the disappearances could be due to the actions of drug cartels. These criminal organizations routinely use clandestine graves to dispose of their victims and, more recently, they have been vying for the crown jewel of the country's tourism industry and its retail drug market, which is becoming increasingly attractive for these organizations.

This is not the only event in recent weeks. In mid-April, a shooting occurred at a beach resort in La Palma, in the town of Cortázar, in the state of Guanajuato. According to authorities, a group of at least 20 men armed with assault rifles fired indiscriminately at the resort's patrons. The shooting killed seven people: three women, three men and a child of only seven years of age.

Earlier this month, recalls Europa Press, four other people, aged between 25 and 30, were killed during a shooting at the Fiesta Americana Condesa Hotel, also located in Cancun.