4 dead in apparent drug-related shooting on Mexican beach

Members of the Mexican Navy and National Guard patrol the tourist beach area of Cancun, Quintana Roo state, Mexico on March 18, 2023. US students on spring break, known as “spring-breakers”, are flocking to the Mexican Caribbean despite warnings from Washington to travel to the southern neighbour due to a wave of attacks on US citizens. (Photo by ELIZABETH RUIZ / AFP)

Mexico City, Mexico — A shooting involving suspected drug dealers left four people dead Monday on a beach in Mexico’s popular Caribbean resort of Cancun, authorities said.

The latest outbreak of violence in the city’s hotel zone came as tourists flocked to Mexico’s Riviera Maya during the Easter holiday period.

Authorities detained two suspects, who “apparently are related to drug dealing activities,” said Jose de la Pena, a security official in Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located.

Mexico is plagued by cartel-related bloodshed that has seen more than 300,000 people murdered since the government deployed the military in the war on drugs in 2006.

While Quintana Roo is generally considered safer than much of the rest of the country, there has been an increase in violence linked to gang turf wars in recent years, prompting security forces to step up patrols.

In October 2021, two tourists from Germany and India were killed in a shootout between suspected gang members at a restaurant in the resort of Tulum.

The following month, two suspected drug dealers were killed in a shooting that sent tourists in swimsuits fleeing in panic from a beach near Cancun.

RELATED STORIES:

At least 40 die in fire during protest at migrant center in Mexico, officials say

Hundreds of migrants try to force their way into US at Mexico border

Mexico finds over 50 unaccompanied kids from Guatemala in migrant truck