Source: Canada.com
Authorities in Cancun, Mexico, said they found four bodies yesterday Monday near the beach in the city's hotel zone. The incident marks the latest violent incident in the famous resort town ahead of the Easter holidays before tourists flocked to the holiday.
The Canadian government also updated its Mexico travel advisory today, warning of a "high degree of caution" in traveling to Mexico.
The attorney general of the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, where Cancun is located, said police initially found three bodies in a lot near a resort along Cuculcan Avenue on Monday. Another body was later found in the bushes of the same land, bringing the total number of victims to four.
Koukulcan Avenue is the main road in the Cancun Hotel Zone or "Zona Hotelera", a 23-kilometer-long man-made island that circles the Cancun coast. Many of Cancun's most luxurious and exclusive resorts are located in the area, mostly for international visitors.
(Network)
In a report on Tuesday, all of the dead were identified as Mexicans, but it was not clear whether they were locals or tourists.
The Attorney General's Office confirmed that two suspects have been detained and are believed to be linked to the four bodies. Prosecutors said the investigation was ongoing and the cause of death had not been released.
According to the Minister of Public Security of the municipality of Benito Juárez, where Cancún is located, José Pablo Massi Cruz, the suspect is suspected of involvement in the sale and sale of drugs. According to CNN, footage from nearby security cameras and cooperation with local authorities arrested the suspect.
A tourist in the area at the time told CNN that he heard gunshots around 10:00 local time. Local workers hid everyone in their offices until the end of the incident. Now the beach area is guarded by police and military, and the atmosphere is very tense.
Cancun, home to Cancun, a popular tourist destination for Canadians, is generally considered fairly safe, but an increase in gang violence in the area prompted security forces to step up patrols in 2021.
Last week, an American man who was approached by several suspects while on vacation in Puerto Morelos, also in Quintana Roo, was shot in the leg and taken to a hospital in Cancun for treatment in non-life-threatening condition.
Because of the crime and kidnapping, the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert earlier this month, warning travelers to be "more cautious," especially after dark, at Mexican Caribbean beach resorts such as Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
The Government of Canada also updated its travel advice for Mexico today to be "highly cautious" (based on regional recommendations).
Canadian authorities did not issue an alert in the Quintana Roo region, but warned all travelers to Mexico to "exercise a high degree of caution."
"There is a high rate of violent crime such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking and assault, including popular tourist destinations such as the Maya Riviera (Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Morelos and Tulum) and Acapulco," the Government of Canada said in a travel advisory. ”
"There are criminal groups and drug cartels in tourist areas. Restaurants, hotels and nightclubs frequented by tourists have seen fights between gangs and cartels. ”
Another popular travel destination in the crown of Mexican tourism, there has been a series of blatant acts of violence along the Caribbean coast.
In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, apparently in debt between international drug and arms trafficking gangs.
In 2021, in Tulum, a laid-back destination further south, two tourists — one a Californian-born travel blogger born in India and the other a German — were killed in the crossfire of a gunfight between hostile drug traffickers.