Inside bloody violence in Mexico resorts – as Spring Breakers warned they may be killed & become ‘collateral damage’
SPRING Breakers have been warned against travelling to Mexico’s popular Caribbean beach resorts over fears they could be killed in the crossfire of a raging drug cartel turf war.
Riviera Maya destinations such as Playa del Carmen, Cancún and Tulum have been hit in recent times by a spate of brutal murders as gangs wrestle to control the booming drug trade.
Playa del Carmen in particular seems to currently be gripped by an ongoing battle which is leaving a bloody trail of bodies in its wake.
This week sanitation workers reportedly discovered the dismembered remains of four adult males at Villas del Sol in Playa del Carmen.
Earlier in the month British businessman Chris Cleave, 54, was gunned down and killed execution-style in front of his 14-year-old daughter, also near Playa del Carmen.
And in January the manager of a trendy beach club was found dead just five days after two Canadian citizens were killed in a shootout at a hotel, again in Playa del Carmen.
Robert Almonte, a retired deputy chief of the El Paso police department and former US Marshall for the Western District of Texas who is an expert on Mexican drug cartels, warned that the tourist resorts are currently a war zone.
Mr. Almonte told The Sun: “It is not safe to go to the resorts.
"Tourists are not going to be specifically targeted but the concern is that they become collateral damage.
“The cartels are not very careful about how they kill.
"They just go in and spray bullets and if an innocent person gets killed, that’s collateral damage and the cartels don’t lose sleep over that.”
The former lawman, who currently runs a security consultancy, added that there is “no doubt” that youngsters heading down to Riviera Maya resorts for Spring Break are at even more risk.
He said: “These Spring Breakers are young college students and, in some cases, even high school students
“They're inexperienced, they're in a different country that they're not familiar with, with different rules and different laws.
“They're not going to be as safe as they would be here in the United States.
“My recommendation to parents is don't let their kids go to the resorts in Mexico for Spring Break.
“All you need is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to get seriously hurt or killed.”
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Although Playa del Carmen seems to be suffering the worst violence so far this year, there were also several attacks which left US citizens dead or seriously wounded in Cancún and Tulum in 2021.
In June last year a female American tourist was hit by a stray bullet during a shootout at Playa Tortugas beach in Cancún.
The following month Texas firefighter Elijah Snow, 35, was found dead in mysterious circumstances in Cancún, with his family left suspecting he was kidnapped and murdered.
Then in October California-based travel blogger Anjali Ryot, 25, was killed alongside a German tourist after they were caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout while dining in Tulum.
And in November four American tourists were left hurt by gunfire at a hotel in Cancún during Day of the Dead celebrations.
Mr Almonte said the violence has stemmed from battles being fought between the two main drug cartels operating in the area, the Gulf Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The notorious Sinaloa Cartel once led by jailed drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is also active at the resorts.
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador responded to the crisis late last year by sending 1,500 uniformed National Guard troops down to the state of Quintana Roo.
Soldiers from the Tourist Battalion can now be seen patrolling beaches but Mr. Almonte fears that their presence is a “bandaid” and “too little too late”.
He said: “All you're seeing is a continuation of what's been going on and that's cartels fighting each other in a turf war.
“The resorts are not off limits and unfortunately people are being killed.
“You have a cartel in that area and other cartels want to come in and operate as well. The original cartel will have none of that so you have a big war going on.
“This involves not only major drug trafficking, but even street level drug trafficking.
“A lot of street level drug trafficking takes place at or around the immediate area of the resorts.
“There's a lot of money there and you have people from all over the world who go there to party and vacation.
“Some of them use drugs and they're going to buy the drugs from the cartels.
“The president created a special unit of 1,500 national guardsmen and had them assigned to the resorts but personally I think it was just too little too late.
“I think he just did that to appease the resort owners and also to give a false sense of security to the tourists that go to Mexico.”
The execution of UK businessman Chris Cleave earlier this month came after he was warned “shut your mouth” in a “narcomanta” - a cloth banner which drug gangs use to terrorize their enemies and those who resist them.
Mr. Almonte said that extortion is a big part of the cartels’ business model, which also includes the importation of precursor chemicals to make drugs such as methamphetamine and fentanyl.
“For the cartels, it's all about controlling their turf and controlling all aspects of criminal activity,” he said.
“We’re talking about drug trafficking but also extortion.
“The business owners and street vendors in the resorts area are extorted by the cartels and have to pay the cartels if they want to stay in business.
“When another cartel comes in and tries to extort them that creates turf issues as well.”
Asked for any advice for tourists who still decide to go down to Mexico for Spring Break, Mr Almonte said “You just need to be aware of your surroundings.
“I would say make sure you're in groups, not walking anywhere alone.
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“If you're sitting at restaurant and there's a table next to you and the people sitting there are maybe of unquestionable character or appearance, I would move and get away from them.
“Anything that doesn’t look right, you can pretty much be assured that it’s not right.”
