Drug dealing is one of the crimes with the highest criminal incidence in five of the 11 municipalities of the State, which has generated security problems.
In the dazzling paradise of the Mexican Caribbean, beyond the white sand and turquoise blue sea that characterizes the tourist destinations of Quintana Roo, a secret is hidden in plain sight: the drug consumption among tourists—a phenomenon that poses challenges for the region—and that has even led authorities and the hotel sector to take action on all fronts, one of them being to directly warn tourists about the risks of buying substances on beaches or nightclubs.
Quintana Roo received 21 million tourists during 2023 and is connected by air to 134 cities around the world through four international airports in Cancun, Cozumel, Chetumal, and Tulum, making it an attractive point for criminal groups dedicated to drug sales.
Drug dealing is one of the crimes with the highest criminal incidence in five of the 11 municipalities of the State, which has generated security problems, including the loss of life of foreigners, among settlements of accounts between criminal groups in tourist destinations.
Since January of this year: Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Morelos, Chetumal, and Tulum are the tourist destinations with the highest incidence of drug dealing, as confirmed by the data from the Quintana Roo Crime Traffic Light.
To some extent, tourists arrive in Mexico unaware of security measures, many of them unaware of the laws and the clear prohibition of drugs, the most popular of which is marijuana, according to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) in May 2022, it was accepted that legally one can carry 5 grams.
For example, in the United States, recreational use of marijuana is legalized in 16 states, some of which are: Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, among others. In the European Union, it is also allowed to carry up to 7 grams of cannabis in public and grow four plants at home.
Marijuana is the most seized substance, however, cocaine is another of the most consumed by tourists, in fact, La Silla Rota has documented the problem of drug transportation in the report: “The cocaine route: The air bridge for drug trafficking from Quintana Roo.” In third place, although to a lesser extent, the consumption of methamphetamine has also been found.
Some tourists ignore Mexican laws, while others arrive with impressions that are not reality, influenced by narco-series, narco-culture, and other audiovisual materials that alter the reality of Mexico.
Hoteliers propose a “solution”
The serious problem posed by the drug trade in tourist areas and destinations in the State has prompted the participation of the hotel sector, which implemented the use of a document aimed at warning and informing tourists from all over the world about the risks of buying drugs from street dealers on beaches and in nightclubs. This document is signed by guests from the check-in stage at lodging facilities.
Tulum and Cancún were the first to implement this measure, through their Hotel Associations, joining the prevention initiative and applying it upon the arrival of international and national tourists.
This initiative is not based on improvisation or the whim of Quintana Roo’s hoteliers, and it has a profound reason to collaborate in the fight against street-level drug dealing, explained Toni Chaves, president of the Mexican Caribbean Hotel Council.
For the leader of the Hotel Council that encompasses all the hotel associations of the State, this decision was made in several meetings that were held with state government authorities, security and tourism officials, to collaborate with information about the legal consequences of drug use in Mexico for international and national travelers.
He pointed out that they have detected a significant sector of young tourists from around the world, but mainly from the United States, who are unaware of the current conditions of narcotic consumption in the country and who commit these offenses in the territory of Quintana Roo.
“This is a suggestion so that at the hotel check-in we can ask customers to sign this as informed, because believe it or not, many nationalities or young people think that in Mexico the issue of some drug use is free,” said Toni Chaves.
The president of the Mexican Caribbean Hotel Council added that this measure is backed by a series of activities in which security institutions and the private sector participate to confront the sale of drugs in tourist destinations.
On one hand, there is the surveillance by police, federal forces of the National Guard (GN), and elements of the Secretary of the Navy (Semar), patrolling the beaches, where street dealers are found offering drugs to tourists, as well as the collection of cocaine bricks in the sands of Cozumel, Cancún, and Playa del Carmen, in the north of Quintana Roo, during January and February of this year, which were secured to prevent them from reaching the public.
There are also surveillance checkpoints in points of the State to detect the transfer of narcotics, while from the hoteliers’ side, they will participate in prevention, by explaining to guests through a document, the legal risks of buying drugs in Quintana Roo.
“We are looking for everything that can be done in order to avoid and reduce this problem that exists, not only here, in the entire country and all countries of the world,” Also, the president of the Cancún, Puerto Morelos, and Isla Mujeres Hotels Association (AHCPM&IM), Jesús Almaguer Salazar, considered that this letter of recommendation issued by the Secretary of Tourism (Sedetur), although not mandatory for tourists arriving in the State to sign, is useful to warn of the risks and is part of the responsibilities as a sector.
“A letter of recommendation was issued by Sedetur on the issue of drug consumption at the destination, which we are willing to share with tourists, with our guests, informatively, because I believe it is our responsibility to inform them, to warn them of what can happen,” said Jesús Almaguer.
Victims: American woman dies in crossfire Niko Honarbakhsh was a 44-year-old woman from the United States living in Cancún. She lost her life on February 9, in the tourist area of Boca Paila in Tulum, when she was caught in the middle of a shootout between drug traffickers.
Reports from the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that on the day of the attack, two men entered the beach area, in a sunbed area where the woman was located, and shot directly at her with a 9mm caliber weapon, during the shooting a man identified as “Belize” was also injured.
The foreign woman was with the man nicknamed “Belize”, who was identified as a member of a criminal group dedicated to drug sales in the tourist destination, and was also pointed out by the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) as a generator of violence in Tulum.
The investigating authorities concluded that the foreign woman was a collateral victim of the attack, as the aggressors were targeting the man identified as “Belize”, and during the shootout, the woman was seriously injured, and it was confirmed that the foreigner had no relationship with the man.
Source: La Silla Rota
