· 37 suspects including alleged kingpin Robert Contreras, 42, were captured
·
· 77 pounds of drugs were seized, including heroin, cocaine and opiate tablets too
· Authorities said they confiscated $300,000 in drug money
·
Authorities in Boston have seized more than 33 pounds of fentanyl - enough to kill millions of people - in connection with one of Massachusetts' biggest drug busts ever.
Prosecutors said the synthetic opioid was being sold on the street by a drug gang with links to Mexico 's notorious Sinaloa Cartel, the drug organization once led by Joaquín ' El Chapo ' Guzmán.
The seize came at the climax of a six-month wiretap probe called 'Operation High Hopes,'
+4
·
A lengthy wiretap operation by a joint task force including Drug Enforcement Administration agents and Boston police resulted in an early-morning sweep of the drugs and 37 suspects
+4
·
Edward Soto-Perez, 43, of Boston was the first to be arrested late last year and he allowed wiretaps to be set up for others tot be caught in the drug operation
'I want to be clear about the size and scope here,' District Attorney Daniel Conley said. 'Massachusetts' fentanyl trafficking statute covers quantities greater than 10 grams. That threshold represents less than 1/1000 of the quantity we've taken off the street.'
'Individuals who buy and sell at this level aren't users,' Conley said. 'They're not small-time dealers, either. They're certainly not selling to support a habit. They're trafficking in addictive substances that claim more lives in Massachusetts than all homicides, all suicides, and all car crashes, statewide, combined.'
He said that the number of overdoses the seized fentanyl could have caused 'is truly staggering.'
Enough Fentanyl to Kill
Millions Found En Route to
U.S. South of Border
Mexico's National Security Commission
A traffic stop led Mexican authorities to seize enough fentanyl to kill millions of people as well as almost 1,000 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and other drugs that were headed to the California border.
This week, Mexico’s National Security Commission announced the seizure of 45.5 kilograms of fentanyl that were found as part of a synthetic drug shipment in the Mexican beach resort town of Ensenada, Baja California. The seizure also included more than 914 pounds of crystal meth, 87 pounds of cocaine and 18 pounds of heroin.
Unlike the other synthetic drugs, fentanyl is a medically used opioid that is considered to be 100 times more powerful than morphine and prone to lethal overdoses.
The 45.5 kilograms of fentanyl seized is enough to fuel millions of possible lethal doses.
The seizure was made by federal police forces who spotted an SUV without license plates that had been traveling along the highway that connects Ensenada with the town of Lazaro Cardenas. The beach resort of Ensenada is directly south of the border city of Tijuana and its various ports of entry into California.
After pulling over the vehicle, authorities searched the SUV and discovered 10 bundles, three suitcases, 18 bricks and 18 plastic containers with the various drugs inside. As part of the investigation, Mexican authorities were able to confirm that the SUV is registered in California.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook . He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook . He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
ILLEGALS CLIMBING CALIFORNIA’S BORDERS FOR JOBS AND WELFARE: SAN DIEGO … Mexicans (registered democrat anchor baby breeders (1,877).
In just the month of October 2017 CBP Border Patrol San Diego border sector reported apprehension of individuals from Bangladesh (12), Brazil (1), Camaroon (3), Chad (1), China (16), El Salvador (76), Eritrea (7), Gambia (4), Guatemala (178), Honduras (54), India (101), Iran (1), Mexico (1,877), Nepal (31), Nicaragua (1), Pakistan (13), Peru (1), Somalia (1), and “Unknown” (1) — a total of 2,379 individuals. These numbers are similar to volumes seen in this sector for October since 2012. MICHELLE MOONS
GRAPHIC — Mexican Cartel
Cuts Out Living Victim’s
Heart near Acapulco
Breitbart Texas / Cartel Chronicles
A group of cartel gunmen fighting for control of a Mexican coastal state cut out the heart of one of their living victims while another was beheaded. The violence took place not far from the beach resort cities of Acapulco and Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Guerrero.
The execution was recorded by cartel gunmen who then disseminated the footage through social media. Mexican intelligence sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that the murders took place at a ranch near the boundary between Michoacan and Guerrero states. The location of the murders is not far from the famed resort city of Acapulco. Law enforcement sources also revealed that the ranch once belonged to former Los Zetas ally and founder of La Familia Michoacana, Carlos Rosales Mendoza.
During the execution, a leading figure within Los Viagras Cartel threatened and tortured two villagers whose hands were tied behind their backs.
The victims were killed for allegedly relaying information to their rivals. One of the gunmen used a large stick to beat one of the villagers.
Another gunman then comes up from behind and uses a sharp knife to slash the man’s throat and then sever his head.
While the second victim screams for mercy, the gunmen use knives to slice open his chest to the point where they can see the man’s beating heart. One of the gunmen reached inside the victim’s chest cavity and manually removed the vital organ.
Soon after the executions, the gunmen issued a series of threats toward rivals claiming they would meet a similar fate.
The Mexican states of Guerrero and Michoacan are theaters for a fierce territorial war between the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and their rivals with Los Viagras, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and some factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Nuevo León and other areas to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish . This article was written by Jose Luis Lara, a former leading member who helped start the Self-Defense Movement in Michoacán.
Tony Aranda from the Cartel Chronicles Project contributed to this report.
WATCH: Mexican Cartel
Gunmen Engage Marines,
Police near Tourist Hotspot
Breitbart Texas / Cartel Chronicles
At least five suspected cartel gunmen were captured in Baja California Sur on January 29 after firing upon and attempting to flee Mexican Marines and local police.
The violent confrontation occurred at approximately 4:30 pm in the popular tourist spot of La Paz after officers attempted to stop a vehicle full of gunmen. The governor of Baja California Sur, Carlos Mendoza Davis, confirmed the circumstances during a press conference with local media outlets .
The governor reported that five suspects were captured after they retreated into a residence and exchanged gunfire with security personnel for approximately 30 minutes before they surrendered. Numerous high-powered rifles, handguns, and ammo were recovered by investigators of the state attorney general’s office with support from the Marines.
The armed confrontation was broadcast live on local television, which captured the arrival of supporting military elements to provide assistance while fully automatic gunfire could be heard in the background. Civilian footage also surfaced on YouTube.
BLOG: NARCOMEX HAS A REAL TIME IN KEEPING THE HEROIN CARTELS IN PRISON. SEEMS LIKE THEY ALL HAVE KEYS TO THE BACK DOOR AND LIMOS WAITING FOR THEIR "ESCAPE"
La Paz State Attorney General Daniel de la Rosa Anaya confirmed that among the detainees is Henry Froylán Rojas Ramirez, aka, “El Zopilote”, who escaped from San Jose del Cabo state prison in September 2017. Rojas Ramirez was serving a sentence for since 2014 and was considered one of the regional leaders of the Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templars Cartel) prior to prison. According to law enforcement sources, Rojas Ramirez is a former member of the Mexican armed forces and is originally from Michoacán.
“Los Guzmanes” is a cell working for the Sinaloa Cartel that is controlled by the relatives of jailed leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. “Los Tegoripeños” appears to be an allied regional unit. The Tegoripeños surfaced in early November when narco-messages appeared in La Paz and Los Cabos, warning the governor and law enforcement agencies to align with them, Mexico’s SDP reported.
Breitbart Texas reported in December that gunmen hung the bodies of six men from three overpasses and left narco-messages in the tourist hotspots of La Paz and Cabo in Baja California Sur.
Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.)
February 5, 2018
Maybe that border fence would help Mexico, too
Over the last few years, I've had conversations with Mexican friends who agree that the proposed border fence could actually be very helpful to stop guns and cash going south everyday. It could also have an impact on the human traffic and drugs going north every day. We get drugs and they get billions of dollars in cash. They get guns and we get people coming in anyway imaginable.
Nearly 200 people from Mexico and Central America were stuffed inside large trucks and caught trying to enter the United States illegally during three huge January smuggling busts that occurred in just nine days.
Officials in southern California said 77 people, including five children, were found near the Mexico border Monday packed inside a sweltering truck that had been painted to resemble a UPS truck.
It raises a couple of questions:
1) Who checks what comes out of Mexico? Are there any controls in place on the Mexico side of the U.S.-Mexico border? The answer is complicated. They tell me that there are controls in some populated areas but it's wide open in others.
2) Why isn't Mexico doing a better job controlling the human flow from Central America? Complicated again. The cartels are now moving people through the country. They can buy their way from town to town. They travel on protected routes, or so they tell me.
We feel sorry for the poor people found in these trucks. Nevertheless, it's time to publicly call out Mexico and demand more effort on their side of the border. At least, we should point out the benefits of a border fence to stop this terrible stuff going north and south.
The Implacable Logic of a Wall
By Dan Cadman
CIS Immigration Blog, February 2, 2018
. . .
First, a wall exists independent of the waxing and waning of the available cadre of border enforcement agents, something that has always been subject to the vagaries of the legislative and executive branches. Congress may or may not appropriate the money to staff officers and agents up to the required levels; and if they do, a recalcitrant or anti-enforcement president such as Barack Obama may choose to not take advantage of the money and simply let the funds sit idle until year's end when they revert back to the Treasury. Second, and it is a corollary to the above, it is a mistake to think that "smart" technologies somehow supplant the need for a robust officer corps. To the contrary, they absolutely demand it. Every kind of technological advancement, whether it is drones, military-grade sensors, forward-looking infrared radar (FLIR), tower-mounted high powered cameras, or something else, requires a sufficient number of human beings — of trained agents — to respond to intrusion alerts. Law enforcement always has been a human-resource-intensive occupation, and technological wonders won't change that equation, at least, not until we see walking, talking androids capable of apprehending aliens, putting the cuffs on them, advising them of their rights, and transporting and processing them. Third, and this is critical, all of the smart technologies that have been mentioned in the context of border technology are reactive in nature. They alert agents to respond after an alien has crossed into the United States , and thus has been imbued with constitutional rights to hearings, to make claims, seek various forms of relief, and to stall in each and every way possible his or her removal, no matter how immediate in time or place he was arrested relative to his illegal entry. The harsh reality is that due process in the immigration context is breaking down. The immigration courts are thoroughly backlogged into the several hundreds of thousands. This, in turn, forces inappropriate or premature release of aliens from detention as the available space is filled. And that, in turn, leads to the kind of situation we have now, wherein there are more than 900,000 (yes, you read that right, nearly a million) aliens loose in the United States who have either absconded from their hearings or failed to report for removal as required.
HIGHLY GRAPHIC VIDEO!
AMERICA’S OPEN AND UNDEFENDED BORDERS:
LA RAZA HEROIN CARTELS CUT HEART OUT OF LIVING MAN AND BEHEAD HIS PARTNER!
MEXICANS ARE THE MOST VIOLENT CULTURE IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE!
Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeles’s largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens. Granted, those statistics are old, but if you talk to any California law enforcement officer, they will tell you it’s much worse today.
THE ILLEGALS’ CRIME TIDAL WAVE…. Where are Americans (Legals) safe from the foreign predators and their violence? NOT IN AMERICA’S OPEN BORDERS!
One could ask Kate Steinle, if she was still alive, what happens when a multiple-
times deported felon continues to return to the U.S. after each deportation, only to
U.S. Feds Seize $1 Million in
Gulf Cartel Cash En Route to
Border
Courtesy Kingsville Police
U.S. authorities are tracking down the individuals behind a shipment of $1 million dollars headed south to Mexico’s Gulf Cartel.
Agents with Homeland Security Investigations are expanding on a traffic stop in Kingsville, Texas, where authorities found 69 bundles with $1,071,503 in the cabin of a tractor-trailer heading for McAllen, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed.
Santos Hernandez Juarez, used a B1-B2 visa to drive in the U.S. for a company based in Donna, Texas. He was pulled over by local police in Kingsville because his license plate was covered, records say. During the traffic stop, Hernandez appeared unusually nervous, raising the suspicions of the police officer who asked for permission to search the vehicle. The officer noticed the mattress in the truck’s cabin was heavier than normal and found 69 bundles of cash inside.
The truck was taken to the Kingsville Police Station where a K-9 was used to search for drugs, cash, or weapons. The dog alerted to the cabin area where the cash was allegedly found. Initially, Hernandez told authorities that he delivered a load of produce to New York and was on his way back when three men approached him, asking to deliver an unknown item to McAllen in exchange for $9,000 USD.
Agents with HSI asked Hernandez for permission to look at his three phones. After he agreed, authorities found messages that disproved his original version of events. When confronted, Hernandez changed his story, the criminal complaint revealed. Hernandez told the agents that he met a man at a mechanic shop in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, who told him he could make extra money. The man instructed Hernandez to wait for another person to contact and coordinate the delivery of cash and receive 1.5 percent of the funds safely delivered to McAllen, Texas.
Hernandez was formally charged with one count of cash smuggling and remains in federal custody without bond. HSI agents wrote in the criminal complaint that the operation was tied to the Gulf Cartel, which controls Matamoros, and is considered to be a brutal criminal organization that regularly uses tractor-trailers to move drugs north and proceeds south.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook . He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook . He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Tony Aranda contributed to this report.
THE LA RAZA SUPREMACY DEMOCRAT PARTY'S VISION OF AMERICA: DEATH OF THE GOP AND 49 MEXIFORNIAS!
Adios, Sanctuary La Raza Welfare State of California
A fifth-generation Californian laments his state’s ongoing economic collapse.
By Steve Baldwin American Spectator, October 19, 2017 What’s clear is that the producers are leaving the state and the takers are coming in. Many of the takers are illegal aliens, now estimated to number over 2.6 million. The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates that California spends $22 billion on government services for illegal aliens, including welfare, education, Medicaid, and criminal justice system costs.
BLOG: MANY DISPUTE CALIFORNIA’S EXPENDITURES FOR THE LA RAZA WELFARE STATE IN MEXIFORNIA JUST AS THEY DISPUTE THE NUMBER OF ILLEGALS. APPROXIMATELY HALF THE POPULATION OF CA IS NOW MEXICAN AND BREEDING ANCHOR BABIES FOR WELFARE LIKE BUNNIES. THE $22 BILLION IS STATE EXPENDITURE ONLY. COUNTIES PAY OUT MORE WITH LOS ANGELES COUNTY LEADING AT OVER A BILLION DOLLARS PAID OUT YEARLY TO MEXICO’S ANCHOR BABY BREEDERS. NOW MULTIPLY THAT BY THE NUMBER OF COUNTIES IN CA AND YOU START TO GET AN IDEA OF THE STAGGERING WELFARE STATE MEXICO AND THE DEMOCRAT PARTY HAVE ERECTED SANS ANY LEGALS VOTES. ADD TO THIS THE FREE ENTERPRISE HOSPITAL AND CLINIC COST FOR LA RAZA’S “FREE” MEDICAL WHICH IS ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT $1.5 BILLION PER YEAR.
Liberals claim they more than make that up with taxes paid, but that’s simply not true. It’s not even close. FAIR estimates illegal aliens in California contribute only $1.21 billion in tax revenue, which means they cost California $20.6 billion, or at least $1,800 per household. Nonetheless, open border advocates, such as Facebook Chairman Mark Zuckerberg, claim illegal aliens are a net benefit to California with little evidence to support such an assertion. As the Center for Immigration Studies has documented, the vast majority of illegals are poor, uneducated, and with few skills. How does accepting millions of illegal aliens and then granting them access to dozens of welfare programs benefit California’s economy? If illegal aliens were contributing to the economy in any meaningful way, California, with its 2.6 million illegal aliens, would be booming. Furthermore, the complexion of illegal aliens has changed with far more on welfare and committing crimes than those who entered the country in the 1980s. Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeles’s largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens. Granted, those statistics are old, but if you talk to any California law enforcement officer, they will tell you it’s much worse today. The problem is that the Brown administration will not release any statewide data on illegal alien crimes. That would be insensitive. And now that California has declared itself a “sanctuary state,” there is little doubt this sends a message south of the border that will further escalate illegal immigration into the state.
"If the racist "Sensenbrenner Legislation" passes the US Senate, there is no doubt that a massive civil disobedience movement will emerge. Eventually labor union power can merge with the immigrant civil rights and "Immigrant Sanctuary" movements to enable us to either form a new political party or to do heavy duty reforming of the existing Democratic Party. The next and final steps would follow and that is to elect our own governors of all the states within Aztlan." Indeed, California goes out of its way to attract illegal aliens. The state has even created government programs that cater exclusively to illegal aliens. For example, the State Department of Motor Vehicles has offices that only process driver licenses for illegal aliens. With over a million illegal aliens now driving in California, the state felt compelled to help them avoid the long lines the rest of us must endure at the DMV. And just recently, the state-funded University of California system announced it will spend $27 million on financial aid for illegal aliens. They’ve even taken out radio spots on stations all along the border, just to make sure other potential illegal border crossers hear about this program. I can’t afford college education for all my four sons, but my taxes will pay for illegals to get a college education.
Border Patrol Operation Rescues Nearly 500 Migrants Smuggled in Tractor-Trailers
File Photo: Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP
Border Patrol agents in the South Texas Corridor ramped up efforts to stop human smugglers from carrying illegal immigrants in the back of tractor-trailer rigs. During January and February, the Texas Hold-Em Initiative and Operation Big Rig successfully stopped 30 attempts, leading to the rescue and arrest of 448 illegal immigrants.
Cartel-connected human smugglers frequently place the lives of their human cargo at risk of injury or death by packing them into the back of trailers and other large trucks. They run the risk of being injured by shifting cargo or suffering dehydration and/or heat stroke.
January 2018 rescue of migrants locked in tractor-trailer. Photo: U.S. Border Patrol
Border Patrol agents in South Texas are taking proactive steps to reduce the effectiveness of this tactic that is being employed by the human smugglers.
Some of the migrants have been found packed in with cargo shipments of furniture and produce.
Last summer, San Antonio police discovered eight bodies in the back of a trailer in the parking lot of a Walmart store, Breitbart Texas reported . A ninth migrant died after being transported to a local hospital. Twenty others required medical attention after exposure to the 100-plus degree heat of the Texas summer.
In January, Breitbart Texas’ Editor-in-Chief Brandon Darby and journalist Ildefonso Ortiz reported on an arrest made by Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents of a truck driver after the agents discovered 76 illegal immigrants packed in the back of the tractor-trailer.
Earlier that month, agents assigned to the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint discovered 22 more illegal immigrants stashed in the back of a tractor-trailer. A K-9 agent alerted to the possibility of humans or contraband inside the trailer during an initial inspection.
Fifty-Seven more migrants were found in another tractor-trailer at the same checkpoint on January 22. The driver claimed he did not know the migrants were packed in the back of his truck.
“It is highly doubtful the driver did not know they were back there,”Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas after taking the driver into custody. “The load would have been very light as there were just a couple of pallets of produce. The rest of the truck contained the 57 migrants.”
Most recently, agents assigned to the Laredo Sector checkpoint on Highway 83 discovered 32 more illegal immigrants in the back end of another hot truck, Breitbart Texas reported . In this case, agents discovered the driver was a Mexican national. The agents placed him in custody along with his human cargo.
CBP officials explained the two anti-human smuggling operations:
The Texas Hold’em Initiative is a joint multi-agency enforcement effort between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the United States Border Patrol to improve border security by implementing consequences on commercial drivers convicted of human and/or narcotic smuggling. Penalties associated with this type of criminal act include the revocation of Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) and/or a jail sentence.
Operation Big Rig is a call to action by everyone, the media, the community, neighbors, family, friends, and law enforcement to call 911 if they see or are aware of smuggling or suspicious activity of any kind. Do not wait until it is too late.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX , GAB , and Facebook .
"Canadians Are Advised To Exercise A High Degree Of
Caution When Visiting All Parts Of Mexico “Due To High
Levels Of Criminal Activity, As Well As Demonstrations,
Protests And Occasional Illegal Roadblocks."
"A group of cartel gunmen fighting for control of a Mexican coastal state cut out the heart of one of their living victims while another was beheaded. The violence took place not far from the beach resort cities of Acapulco and Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Guerrero."
State Dept Closes Mexican Consulate, Warns Americans In Yucatan Area
ED MORRISSEY Posted at 10:41 am on March 9, 2018
If you’ve planned to spend spring break in the tourist resorts of the Yucatan Peninsula, you may want to reconsider.The State Department abruptly closed the US consulate in the popular tourist destination of Playa del Carmen late Wednesday evening and ordered US government employees to stay out of the area. They warn other Americans either in the region or thinking of traveling to it about a “real crime threat” from local drug cartels:
The government of the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo said that President Enrique Pena Nieto was scheduled to attend an ocean conservation conference in Playa del Carmen on Thursday.
“All tourism and economic activity in Playa del Carmen continues in a normal manner,” the state government wrote in a statement, noting that hotel occupancy at the resort was 80 percent.
“We do not know why the U.S. government decided to emit this alert,” the government said.
Two weeks ago, a tourist ferry boat exploded as it traveled between Playa del Carmen and Cozumel, injuring five Americans and 19 Mexicans. Authorities later found another ferry wired with explosives, which prompted the State Department to bar all personnel from using the ferries. Other violence in the region has been mainly confined to the drug trade, the Associated Press notes, with a shooting in a hospital that killed a suspected drug gang member and his wife, and an attack on a prosecutor’s office in Cancun two months ago.
According to ABC , though, the threat is unrelated to the ferry attacks, which investigators suspect may have been motivated by insurance fraud:
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico said Thursday that a security alert about the Caribbean resort of Playa del Carmen was not related to an explosion on a ferry that injured at least two dozen people.
The embassy did not specify what kind of security threat it had been informed of in the resort, which is near Cancun, Cozumel and Tulum.
But it did say that “we do not have information relating the ferry explosion to the security threat in Playa del Carmen.”
Thursday’s update to the Canadian travel advisory notes the U.S. Embassy is advising Americans that its consulate in Playa del Carmen has been closed until further notice. As well, all U.S. government employees are now prohibited from travelling to Playa del Carmen until further notice. …
Thursday’s notice from Global Affairs Canada advises against cruise excursions using ferry services in Playa del Carmen.
“Avoid tourist ferries travelling in the region until further notice, be vigilant and monitor local media (including social media),” reads the advisory.
Canadians are advised to exercise a high degree of caution when visiting all parts of Mexico “due to high levels of criminal activity, as well as demonstrations, protests and occasional illegal roadblocks.”
The State Department emphasized that this was not a low-level travel advisory but a warning, while stopping short of telling people not to travel to the area:
The State Department official said Wednesday’s security alert for Playa del Carmen is different from a travel advisory and is meant to inform U.S. citizens “of specific safety and security concerns in a country, such as demonstrations, crime trends and weather events.”
The State Department’s travel advisory for Mexico remains at Level 2, which comes with a note to “exercise increased caution.” The state of Quintana Roo also comes with a Level 2 warning.
“According to Government of Mexico statistics, the state experienced an increase in homicide rates compared to the same period in 2016,” the warning for Quintana Roo states. “While most of these homicides appeared to be targeted, criminal organization assassinations, turf battles between criminal groups have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens. Shooting incidents injuring or killing bystanders have occurred.”
Well, that sounds like a fun vacation! Who wouldn’t want to participate in an exciting shore excursion like that? These issues aren’t really new;
an OSAC report two years ago noted the dramatic increases in crime for parts of the Yucatan Peninsula. At that time, the murder rate had increased by 40% over the preceding two years, and violent robberies had gone up 43%. Even non-violent robbery was becoming a bad problem there, with significant cybersecurity and credit-card scam operations in Cancun and Playa del Carmen getting specific mention.
The Mexican government’s mystified response belies an earlier warning it sent out. In January,
the Mexican government told American travelers to stay out of five other states over similar concerns. If State is issuing a heightened level of alert now in the Yucatan, it suggests that the issues may be overwhelming Mexican efforts to protect their tourist trade. It’s a good bet that the Mexican government knows full well why the US decided to “emit” this alert.
Of course, parts of the US might be no better for public safety, but few people would travel to those spots for an expensive vacation, either. It might be better to either stay in the US or look to the Caribbean for a warm-water spring break this year. You can get a good beach drink almost anywhere these days without landing in the middle of a drug war.
Dozens charged with conspiring to launder drug cartel money