At least one person has died and six more have been injured in a shooting that occurred Friday night in Cancun. The shooting began at approximately 9:00 p.m. on Kabah Avenue, in the nightlife heart of the tourist resort. According to local press reports, there were simultaneous attacks on two bars located on the same avenue.
The victim of the shooting was found in the Déjà vu bar, while the wounded were found in another nearby location. The survivors have explained to the authorities that at least 20 detonations were heard and that the perpetrators of the shooting fled the area.
Videos on social networks have recorded the moment in which the shooting occurs and the neighbors run to take cover. The sound of the bullets is repeated until the armed group flees. Local media indicate that in the last week, at least two more bars have been attacked with bullets in Cancun during the night, leaving at least two injured.
Violence in the state of Quintana Roo has intensified in the last year. Attacks on tourists and nightclubs have put a spotlight on security in Mexico’s tourist gem. The situation has even drawn the attention of foreign security agencies, such as the FBI. The state government has recognized that some extortion figures for tourist businesses have increased, but they defend the reduction of violence in the Riviera Maya region, where Cancun is located.
In March, tourists were sent scrambling by loud bangs heard at the international airport in Cancun. Flights were suspended for almost three hours after authorities received reports of gunshots at the airport. Videos posted on social media showed travelers scrambling and rushing out of a terminal.
The National Guard said later there was no evidence of any gunshots having been fired, and said the bangs may have occurred after someone knocked over three free-standing vertical display stands in the terminal.
Also in March, authorities found four bodies dumped in undergrowth in Cancun, and said they were part of a total of 13 murders committed by the Jalisco cartel in the resort since September. Most of the bodies were found in vacant lots or houses.
The Caribbean coast, Mexico’s top tourism money-maker, has been hit by rampant violence.
In January, prosecutors said the killing of two Canadians near Cancun was motivated by debts between international gangs apparently dedicated to drug and weapons trafficking.
In late October, farther south in the laidback destination of Tulum, two tourists — one a California travel blogger born in India and the other German — were caught in the apparent crossfire of rival drug dealers and killed.
At least one person has died and six more have been injured in a shooting that occurred Friday night in Cancun. The shooting began . . .
