A 12-year-old boy has joined the list of victims of the violence that is bleeding Mexico dry. Authorities in the state of Quintana Roo, in the southeast of the country, have reported that on Sunday afternoon the minor died from injuries caused by an armed attack perpetrated by members of organized crime in a dispute over drug sales. The boy was spending the afternoon with his family on a beach in Cancun, the region’s tourist bastion, when armed men traveling on a jet ski fired at random. There are no more victims reported from this incident.
The state prosecutor’s office reported in a statement that the incident occurred on Kukulcan Boulevard, the main avenue in the Hotel Zone of Cancun, at 3:00 p.m. local time on Sunday, when the family was enjoying the summer vacation season. The institution, which is keeping the identity of the minor and his family confidential, has opened an investigation file for the “crime of qualified homicide.”
Initial investigations indicate that the attackers opened fire near the beach from the sea, on board a jet ski and shot “at some people presumably in a dispute over drug sales.” Initial investigations indicate that the attack was aimed at a person who was in the area of the beach known as Caracol, who fled the scene, although the authorities have not given further details.
The child was seriously injured in the attack, who, the Prosecutor’s Office has specified, “was not the target” of the attackers. Local media have reported that tourists who were enjoying the sun on the beach sought refuge in nearby hotels upon hearing the shots and some of them called the emergency services. A team of paramedics transferred the child to a local hospital, but the medical team was unable to save his life. The local police cordoned off the area of the incident to carry out forensic investigations, although on Monday the area returned to normal. “The authorities arrived immediately and the child was transferred to the hospital, where he unfortunately died,” the institution reported.
The members of the family affected by Sunday’s shooting are Mexican nationals, residents of Cancun. The Attorney General’s Office, in collaboration with members of the Coordination for the Construction of Peace and Security in Quintana Roo, continues with the work “to bring to justice the person or persons responsible for this crime,” the authorities have reported.
The incident altered what was a normal summer Sunday in one of the largest tourist destinations in Mexico, which receives tens of thousands of tourists during the summer season. The hotel zone of Cancun is known for its tranquility, although there has been an increase in acts of violence that alter the Caribbean rhythm of this thriving economic region. Criminal gangs have unleashed a battle for control of drug sales and the collection of extortion fees in businesses in the area, so the authorities have had to develop operations to guarantee the safety of tourists. It is increasingly common to see police officers deployed among visitors who enjoy the turquoise waters of the Mexican Caribbean beaches.
Tourism businessmen have pressured authorities to avoid an escalation in violence and the jewel in Mexico’s tourism crown suffering the same fate as Acapulco, the former paradise on the Mexican Pacific turned into a hell by the war between organized crime groups, with continuous attacks and clashes and reports of decapitated bodies scattered around the city. The increase in insecurity in Acapulco has caused several businesses to close, amid efforts to reactivate economic activity after the destructive lash of Hurricane Otis.
Mexico has maintained high levels of violence and recorded 30,523 murders in 2023, according to figures from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), which collects statistics from the archives of state prosecutors. The number of victims remains above 30,000 for the sixth consecutive year, according to the SESNSP, consolidating the six-year term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of Morena, as the most violent in the country’s recent history.
Source: elpais
