Their machine guns and their bulletproof vests detonate on the fine sand beach of Playa del Carmen, in the south-east of Mexico. The police and the military, who zigzag between the bath towels, do not seem to disturb the thousands of holidaymakers basking in the sun. A few meters away, a couple of Canadians were murdered on Tuesday, June 21, in one of the residences of this former fishing village which has become a city of more than 330,000 inhabitants. A month earlier, a Mafia attack injured three people in a trendy bar. The latest bloodthirsty episodes in a series of violence that threatens a pillar of the Mexican economy, fueling the greed of drug cartels.
The atmosphere is electrified in the heat of the night, at the edge of the Caribbean Sea. Thousands of young people wander down Quinta Avenida (Ve Avenue), the main pedestrian artery of the city, economic jewel of the state of Quintana Roo alongside the famous seaside resorts of Cancun, in the North, and Tulum, in the South. The 130 kilometer long tourist area welcomed 13 million vacationers in 2021. With its 120,000 hotel rooms, the region concentrates almost half of the income of a sector which represents more than 7% of the Mexican gross domestic product. .
On the terrace of the Cerveceria Chapultepec brewery, dozens of revelers gulp down craft beers. They seem far from suspecting that, on Sunday May 22, armed men opened fire there, injuring three Mexicans, including a 7-year-old girl scratched on the head. The brewery quickly reopened its doors, business obliges. Gratuitous violence ? Settling scores ? “Here, we prefer not to respond too much to journalists”confides the manager of a nearby bar, who recalls that, this time, “There were only minor injuries.” Others weren’t so lucky. Bursts of fire left one dead and six injured on May 6, 55 kilometers away, in a bar in Cancun.
In mid-March, tourists discovered human remains on a beach in this city of nearly 1 million inhabitants, which hosts an international airport. Two days earlier, in Playa del Carmen, a British entrepreneur was shot dead, driving his car, by two assailants on motorcycles. Omerta also reigns among the employees of the beach club Mamita’s Beach Club, planted 400 meters from Quinta Avenida. In January, its Argentinian manager was riddled with bullets in the toilets of the establishment with its refined architecture. Today, its posh customers enjoy colorful cocktails there, as if nothing had happened, under large white parasols.
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