Why are Brits flocking to Los Cabos, the world’s deadliest city, for fun in the sun?
The killing ratio of 113.3 per 100,000 residents in Los Cabos saw it top last month’s list of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world not at war
THE Sun has been on patrol in the most violent city in the world – where machine gun cops mingle with bikini-clad girls and boozed-up tourists.
Thousands of Brits continue to head to Los Cabos, Mexico, for spring break parties de-spite a deadly drug cartel war raging around them.
The murder rate in the municipality, at the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, has tripled in a year — with 560 deaths, up from 192 in 2016.
This killing ratio of 113.3 per 100,000 residents saw it top last month’s list of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world not at war, according to a Mexican anti-violence think tank.
The UK’s murder rate was 0.92 per 100,000 in a 2014 UN study.On our tour we visited a mass grave where authorities discovered 14 bodies in June last year.
In July two severed heads were found in a fridge close to the tourist zone in Cabo San Lucas — one day after two dismembered bodies were found in a fridge nearby.
This might make many think twice about visiting the resort, but not 31-year-old Brit Gafyn Lewis. The energy worker, from Hornsea, East Yorks, emerged from a beachfront bar during his stag do with 14 of his pals.
Gafyn, who will marry fiancée Christy in August, told The Sun: “We’re not worried at all. We feel totally safe here.
“It’s been brilliant, you are surrounded by people who just want to party. I had tequila and rum shots for breakfast.”
Mate Andy Britton, 27, from Chippenham, Wilts, added: “I saw the story about it being named the most dangerous city but I don’t believe it. They don’t target tourists here. You are safe.”
But the violence is spilling on to the beaches and bars where the holidaymakers head to soak up the sun and party hard.
In August last year three local men were shot dead during the day on the popular Palmilla Beach, sending sunseekers scattering for cover.
When The Sun visited last week, tourists said they had now nicknamed it “murder beach” — but still sipped beer on loungers. Nancy Johnson, 53, from Canada told me: “We were here in March last year and heard gunfire in the street while we were in a grocery store. People were throwing themselves on the floor as gang members were chased by police.”
That clash ended with cops and gangsters battling it out in the lobby of the £290-a-night Hyatt Ziva hotel.
Just three months ago four corpses were found hanging from two bridges over main roads.
They included the mutilated bodies of two men who had been strung up on a flyover next to Los Cabos International Airport, in an apparent message to tourists. Days earlier Los Cabos police chief Juan Manuel Mayorga was shot dead.
The explosion of violence can be traced back to the 2014 capture of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the godfather of the drug world.
His Sinaloa Cartel were the biggest suppliers of cocaine and heroin into the US. But with El Chapo extradited to America, three cartels began a bloody bid for supremacy across Mexico, including in previously peaceful Los Cabos.
Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope told The Sun: “You have seen an increase in violence in Los Cabos. Initially it was something of a civil war within El Chapo’s Sinaloa Cartel. Then you had other organisations moving in.
“The cartels are all fighting for the local drug market. They are also fighting over the shipment of drugs heading north into the US.
“Then there is violence bringing about violence, a chain of vendetta.”
This has all seen the £14billion tourist industry taking a hit.
In October, the Los Cabos Hotel Association said the violence had led to the cancellation of 35,000 nights of bookings.
The city’s tourism board is now working hard to turn around its reputation. It points out that the area played host to almost three million visitors last year, including more than 10,000 Brits.
Tourist chiefs are aiming to triple the number of UK visitors in 2019 by securing a direct flight between Britain and Los Cabos.
Community leaders have agreed a £34million package to beef up security, including bringing in more marines and police officers.
At night I witnessed the bigger police presence and saw officers in SUVs watch over the strip as drinkers in skimpy Playboy bunny outfits stroll between clubs.
MOST READ IN TRAVEL NEWS
Authorities have boasted that the crackdown is working, with just two people killed during February, compared to 26 in the same month last year. Many remain unconvinced.
Security experts warn that flooding cities with military forces, as other Mexican hotspots including Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez have done, simply breeds more violence.
One expert told me: “The definition of insanity — continuing to do the same thing over and over without any change in the result.”
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]