Protecting Quintana Roo

I was going to answer with a strongly worded message but I'll just post the lot in one word.

Duterte.

If the ICC want to take someone to court for killing people they can start with the cartels.

Wow. How sad. All the video vlogs of gringos I watch, they've been saying it was safe in Mexico and made me plan to move there. I did hear "Tangerine Travels" last week say its gotten bad in Tulum. Also I heard a long time ago that the cartels rule over the government by paying them off. Not sure how true it is.  But if their arresting tourists and not doing anything to the cartels then looks like it. The government afraid of the cartels? Probably. Please keep us posted because like I said was planning to move there. Thank you for sharing that info.

Stay safe everyone and stay off drugs! Merry Christmas

Actually it would be very helpful to those of us who are in Mexico if those of you who are not would become extremely frightened and stay away.

Then maybe the exorbitant real estate rates would deflate...

Tourism kills tourism.

Hopefully the tourists buying the drugs are being arrested as well and tossed in Mexican prisons....I'm sure that would help with keeping idiots from vacationing there in search of drugs and ruining the area for other vacationers, plus expats that want to live there. People need to hear something is being done to tourists as well....maybe they will stay home and do their drugs, and cartel won't be as present.

If you look at my posts over the last few months you will see that I addressed this issue numerous times. The only new thing was what happened in Tulum a few weeks ago where 7 tourists were shot.
Its' the same attitude that was  a problem in T.J. a few years ago. Fortunately its not the majority of tourist, but it is enough to make tourist areas dangerous

In T.J. it was a generalized attitude that anything goes in Mexico including behavior that is illegal in the U.S.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

Actually it would be very helpful to those of us who are in Mexico if those of you who are not would become extremely frightened and stay away.

Then maybe the exorbitant real estate rates would deflate...

This Yanqui Go Home attitude will not save Mexico's tourist resorts from the cartels, nor moderate the cost of real property.

cccmedia

Lol

@cccmedia 

So neither of the responses address the real issues so I have to assume that neither of the responders knows what the issues are. With the global chaos, people are looking for escapes and go off to Mexico like they are visiting Disneyland very far south. The behavior that I have personally seen is beyond anything I have ever seen before. That type of behavior is known to attract cartels. 

Previously tourists were off-limits to the cartels and they agreed to target tourists was basically like killing the golden goose. Since that time there has been an increase in tourist drug-seeking behavior. When it was stable I visited every year now all bets are off. If you are a tourist it would be better if you skip that part of Mexico. Being an innocent tourist will not protect you as long as there are drunk people drowning in pools, soliciting drugs in the evening, and making it clear that there is a lot of money to be had. I knew that was coming when I observed a teenage girl having a meltdown because people don't speak English and other teens obviously extremely drunk in the pools.

@cccmedia 

Yes it will.  The americans that come down and get involved in the drugs and thus the cartel cause this problem.  We need less idiot Americans who are doing a drug vacation.  If you never get in the circle with the cartels... you wont have a problem.

Cartel violence suspected for

eight bodies found in Quintana Roo.

The authorities say eight bodies were

found this past weekend about ten miles

outside of Cancun. The bodies have not

been identified.

The Quintana Roo state prosecutor

says five of the bodies were found at an

abandoned construction site near

the internationally famous resort city.

Earlier this month, four bodies were

found near a beachside hotel in

the tourism zone of Cancun.

Rival gangs are known to be battling for

control of drug trafficking in the area

and dumping grounds are often used

by cartel operatives to keep their

victims out of plain sight.

Authorities currently list 112,000 persons

as missing throughout Mexico.

News sources... NBC News and other

news outlets

@travellight totally agree and i keep myself to add more.interesting topic and you added a value to what is happening.i left mexico in march after a year there living and working like a local and i am not interested in coming back.

***

@MexicoAfterlife

I don't see any evidence from you that supports your

accusation that one of our members worked illegally

in Mexico for a year.  For all you know, the member

had obtained a legal work visa.

Then the 'chutzpah' to put the onus on him to

correct your unsupported assertion!

Don't make an accusation absent facts to back it up.

cccmedia

member, Expat.com experts team

@MexicoAfterlife
I don't see any evidence from you that supports your
accusation that one of our members worked illegally
in Mexico for a year. For all you know, the member
had obtained a legal work visa.

Then the 'chutzpah' to put the onus on him to
correct your unsupported assertion!

Don't make an accusation absent facts to back it up.

cccmedia
member, Expat.com experts team
-@cccmedia

If who I was talking about did it legal I'm sorry. But I have seen multiple posters here admit to working illegally in Mexico so I keep a eye out for it.

Hello everyone,

Please note that some posts have been put aside from this topic for the smooth running of this thread.

All the best

Bhavna

I have to push back on the narrative that it is some sort of "new" behavior of tourists seeking drugs in Quintana Roo that is causing the influx of cartels.   It is absolutely and unequivocally not.   

The issue that is starting to develop in QR is the same that has been affecting Acapulco for more than a decade, and has popped up in other spots from time to time, Most notably in Los Cabos in 2017.  It is the power vacuum that occurs when the dominant cartel in the area fractures or is attacked.   

Cancun (and QR by extension) for years was safely within undisputed cartel territory, first the Gulf Cartel, and then Los Zetas.  During this period, violence was at a relative minimum.  And yes, drugs were abundant and obvious - during my stays in Playa del Carmen in 2011-13 I was frequently offered weed and coke, as well as other vices.  And no, I wasn't out looking for it, and wasn't buying any that was offered. 

The problem is Los Zetas started fracturing towards the end of the last decade, and with that power vacuum other cartels are trying to take control, and with that you have violence.   IMO, there is very little that the government can do to control this.   There are two scenarios - like Los Cabos, a powerful cartel gains control again (violence plummeted in 2018 and has remained minimal since) - or like Acapulco, where no cartel successfully controls the plaza and violence remains an issue (and ultimately reshapes tourism for the worse).   

Even if NOTB tourists visiting QR gave up drugs en masse, it would make minimal difference.  These groups have diversified well beyond retail drug sales, and the region is ripe for exploitation in regards to extortion, bootleg alcohol, human trafficking, etc.