Thread: Drugs cast cloud over Mexican paradise

Drugs cast cloud over Mexican paradise

Posted 1h ago
By Chris Hawley, USA TODAY

MEXICO CITY — It's known for its brilliant white beaches, aquamarine waters and party-hearty night life. But the arrest of Cancún's mayor and the extradition of a former governor, both on drug-trafficking charges, have highlighted the dark side of a resort city that had mostly escaped Mexico's drug wars.

The developments are unlikely to endanger Americans heading to Cancún for the Memorial Day holiday, because drug cartels don't want the extra police attention that an attack on foreigners would bring, said Carlos Barrachina, an expert on crime at the University of Quintana Roo.

But the cases, along with recent murders blamed on the Zetas drug gang, have called into question the city's carefully crafted image as a carefree getaway immune to Mexico's problems.

"It's a zone of drug transit, as well as consumption," Barrachina said. "A lot of politicians, as well as businessmen, have made a lot of money by "not seeing what's going on."

Federal agents arrested Mayor Gregorio Sánchez on Tuesday as he arrived at Cancún Airport. He is charged with conspiracy to commit drug crimes and of handling illegally gotten funds.

Sánchez was a gubernatorial candidate in the July 4 elections in Quintana Roo state. He had taken leave from his mayoral duties to focus on the campaign and denies the charges.

"There is a political persecution, a political lynching, against me," Sánchez said Tuesday.

The arrest followed the handover on May 10 of Mario Ernesto Villanueva, the state's former governor, to U.S. authorities on charges of helping transport more than 200 tons of cocaine to the USA. Villanueva was mayor of Cancún from 1990-92.

Cancún sits on the northeastern shoulder of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, making it a convenient stopover for drug shipments arriving by boat or plane from South America.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, the area was controlled by the Juárez and Gulf cartels, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency says. In recent years the Zetas, a group that broke away from the Gulf Cartel, has taken control of many smuggling routes through the Yucatán, the DEA says.

On Dec. 2, a U.S. federal court in New York sentenced Gilberto Salinas Doria, a leader of the Juárez Cartel, to 27 years in prison for smuggling tons of cocaine through Playa del Carmen, a resort area south of Cancún.

U.S. prosecutors say Salinas Doria paid $500,000 to Villanueva for each shipment that moved through Quintana Roo state during the 1990s.

Cancún has been spared the worst of the violence caused by Mexican President Felipe Calderón's crackdown on the cartels beginning in December 2006.

"Cancún is, has been and always will be a safe place for tourists," said Victor Manuel Loeza Escalante, president of the Cancún Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism.

However, in September the city fired 28 police officers for alleged drug ties. And there have been several gruesome killings of police and Mexican citizens as the Zetas strengthen their grip.

Last year, attackers tortured and killed Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello, a former army general who had been hired to form an anti-drug unit for Cancún's police force.

On Feb. 22, handwritten banners mocking Mexican authorities appeared in Cancún.

"They don't realize that we're in their territory — that wherever there is a (cellphone) signal or a McDonald's, there is a Zeta," one banner said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010 ... ayor_N.htm

The developments are unlikely to endanger Americans heading to Cancún for the Memorial Day holiday, because drug cartels don't want the extra police attention that an attack on foreigners would bring, said Carlos Barrachina, an expert on crime at the University of Quintana Roo.

Yeah, riight, like the cartels are afraid of the mexican police.

BOYCOTT MEXICO! You want tropical? Vacation in the US Virgin Islands.