Tagged: turf battles between criminal groups

6 bodies found hanging from bridges in Mexico tourism hotspot

(NEWSMAX) — Six bodies were found hanging from bridges Wednesday in Mexico’s Baja California, a region known for its pristine beaches and popular with foreign tourists, authorities said.

Grisly killings were once rare in the country’s tourism hotspots but have risen in recent years as organized crime has grown.

The bodies were discovered along highways leading to international airports in La Paz, San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, nicknamed the Los Cabos area.

It is a massive international Pacific resort area popular with Americans, Canadians and Europeans.

The bodies were spread across three bridges, two on each, the local prosecutor said. The victims have not yet been identified.

A total of 409 people were murdered in the area from January through October — more than double for all of 2016.

Drug gangs are fighting over routes on which they move drugs to the United States, as well as over turf on which they sell drugs to tourists from overseas.

More than 196,000 people have been killed in Mexico since late 2006 when the federal government launched a controversial military-led antidrug offensive.

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U.S. warns citizens about traveling to Cancun

(BLOOMBERG) — The U.S. State Department warned its citizens about traveling to parts of Mexico including Cancun and Playa del Carmen, as homicides rise at resorts popular with American tourists.

The advisory issued on Tuesday upgraded the warnings for two states, Quintana Roo and Baja California Sur, saying turf wars between crime gangs have led to a surge in violence. The only warning for Quintana Roo in a December statement was about lack of cellular and Internet service in some areas.

The expanded travel advisory hits at the heart of a tourism industry that brings in $20 billion a year for Mexico. The state of Quintana Roo, where the resorts of Tulum and Cozumel are also located, gets 10 million tourists a year, a third of the national total. The warnings come as homicides in Mexico are set to rise to their highest since at least the turn of the century. Quintana Roo alone has seen 169 murders this year.

“Shooting incidents, in which innocent bystanders have been injured or killed, have occurred” in both states, the U.S. warned. “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.”

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