The authorities of Quintana Roo have detained this Tuesday 10 employees of a bar in which they allegedly kidnapped and murdered four officials from Playa del Carmen, a star city of tourism in the southeast region for its eternal beaches and its hotels prepared for foreign visitors. The victims were employees of the area of the Directorate of Collection and Inspection of the Treasury of the municipality’s City Council. His job was to visit entertainment venues in the most touristy area of the city and verify that they had complied with their tax obligations. Although these parts of the country try to shield themselves from the violence of Mexico, with all-inclusive hotels and private beaches, fatal incidents always find a way to terrify tourists, as happened with two women who died in Tulum after being trapped in a shootout between hitmen
Raul Tassinari Gonzalez, head of the Solidaridad municipality’s Secretary of Public Security, assured a local newspaper that the multiple homicide is “a consequence of the fight against crime” that they have underway, and whose objective is “to put the municipality in order.” the mayor said. “Criminal interests are being affected and this is a reaction to the work being done to inhibit the actions of organized crime and their activities in our municipality,” added the headline. Lili Campos Miranda, municipal president, has lamented the death of the officials and has reported that she has already contacted the families to “give them all the support they require in these hard and difficult times.”
The four Administration employees were kidnapped early Saturday morning inside La Cueva, a party bar on Avenida Sur street, 10 minutes from the coast. Now the place is closed, it has a closure seal that covers the entire main door and is guarded by elements of the National Guard, which is why it can be seen in the images of these last days. When the police arrived at the scene, they found blood outside the building and several people inside who were profusely cleaning the floor. The Prosecutor’s Office assures that the officials were kidnapped in La Cueva and injured with white weapons to death. “Later, they took them out of the place and took the bodies in the truck in which the victims were traveling,” say the authorities. Later, the truck was abandoned in the streets of the same neighborhood where everything happened.
However, this and other events have occasionally shaken the tranquility of Quintana Roo, one of the safest states in Mexico. On January 19 of this year, Playa del Carmen had to face the murder of four people inside a house that was assaulted by an armed group. The Prosecutor’s Office reported the death of the father, mother and daughter of a family, in addition to another person who was accompanying them at that time. The incident occurred in the La Guadalupana subdivision, north of the city, very close to the Mayakoba tourist development and other major hotels, at the worst possible time. Campos was at that time at the International Tourism Fair (Fitur) that was held in Spain on those dates. Despite the good data at the state level, Playa del Carmen, according to the State Public Security Secretariat, recorded 20% of the homicides in Quintana Roo from January to August of last year, being the municipality with the second highest crime rate in the region.
