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MEXICO-TOURISM-POLICE-GENDER
Police crackdown rocks top Mexican tourist resort
CANCUN, Mexico, Nov 12, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Images of terrified protesters
fleeing police and gunfire have shaken one of Mexico’s top beach resorts and
dealt another blow to a tourism industry already reeling from the coronavirus
pandemic.
The crackdown on Monday in front of Cancun city hall, where hundreds were
demonstrating against the murder of a local woman, sparked national outcry
and protests in Mexico City.
Three people were injured when police fired in the air for several minutes
and chased the mostly female demonstrators through a budget hotel district
after property was vandalized.
“We’re living in the worst horror movie,” said Abelardo Vera, hotel
association president in Cancun, a jewel of the country’s tourism industry
located in Quintana Roo state on the Caribbean coast.
“Not to mention robberies, extortion and people being murdered and
mutilated every day. It’s unacceptable,” he said.
– ‘Completely reprehensible’ –
Vera said the crackdown had further tarnished the reputation of Cancun, a
magnet for foreign tourists that has already been hit by plunging visitor
numbers due to the pandemic.
“Of course this type of situation affects Cancun. It’s already in all the
international media. It’s completely reprehensible,” he said.
Tourism is a key pillar of the Mexican economy and usually accounts for
almost nine percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
But it has been battered by the slump in international travel due to the
coronavirus, which has left more than 96,000 people dead in Mexico — one of
the world’s highest tolls.
Live fire by police against protesters is unprecedented in Cancun and rare
across Mexico, where security forces usually limit themselves to using
shields and sometimes pepper spray.
It was criticized by authorities at the regional and national level, cost
the local police chief his job and led to the suspension of Quintana Roo’s
head of security.
The crackdown shocked tourists lured to the Riviera Maya by its sun-kissed
white sand beaches and turquoise waters.
Colombian university student Dayana Gomez said she heard about the
shooting when she was about to get on a plane and almost abandoned her trip.
“I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “It’s the first time I’ve traveled
outside of Colombia and on my own,” she told AFP.
In the end she went ahead with her holiday but gave up on the idea of
backpacking through a country plagued by violence, much of it linked to drug
cartels. “I knew that Mexico’s not very safe, but I didn’t think that about
Cancun,” she said. – ‘Pressure cooker’ –
There is growing anger in Mexico that the authorities are not doing more
to tackle the problem of gender violence.
Ten women are killed every day in the Latin American country, according to
the United Nations.
One of them was Bianca “Alexis” Lorenzana, a 20-year-old from Cancun whose
dismembered body was found on Sunday in plastic bags, a day after she was
reported missing.
Activists accuse the local authorities of putting the reputation of a
resort that attracts more than 14 million visitors a year before the safety
of the women who live there.
“There’s concern that a lot of information isn’t disclosed because it may
affect the tourism industry,” said Monica Franco, a gender violence
researcher in Cancun.
“They care more about covering it up than preventing it and that’s very
serious because it creates a pressure cooker,” she said.
BSS/AFP/RY/11:55hrs