Texas-Based Expert on Drug Cartels Warns Tourists Not to Visit Mexico

A Texas-based security consultant and expert on Mexican cartels warned the people against visiting Mexico due to the turf wars which extended on Mexico's tourist zones.

Mexican Cartel Expert's Recommendation: 'Do not go to Mexico'

According to the New York Post, Texas-based security consultant and Mexican cartels expert Robert Almonte emphasized that Mexico was not doing anything that could fix the problem. Almonte told The Post that his concern was that, as tourists, people visiting Mexico would not be the target, but they might be sitting at a table next to a target, and suddenly that Mexico vacation becomes their last.

Almonte also mentioned a huge increase in street fighting from the plaza bosses, which was normal in Mexico because it was how they respond when rivals come onto their turf. The Mexican cartels expert said that gang members are not hesitant in shooting their targets, even if there were innocent bystanders present in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, in neat block letters, the hand-printed signs appeared in the Tulum marketplace the morning following the death of two tourists who were shot dead at a roadside eatery in the bohemian Mexican resort town. Three other individuals were also wounded at the scene.

The sign was intended for merchants of Tulum, and it warned managers and owners of bars and restaurants on the "Mini Quinta" tourist zone. It was the area where the foreigners visiting the Malquerida Bar last month were caught in a cartel crossfire.

The signs were photographed by a local citizens' advocacy group, which posted them to social media. The message threatened merchants that they would face possible death if they would refuse to fork over bribes to the drug trafficking gangs. The threat was signed by Los Pelones, which means "the bald ones."

Mexican National Guards Deployed in Tourist Spots to Avoid Gang Wars in Resorts

The said gang has been a longtime enforcer of the Gulf Cartel, whose battle against their arch-rivals, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel, recently resulted in shocking gangland-style violence in the Riviera Maya area. The location was a sun-drenched stretch of beaches on the Yucatan Peninsula that served as Mexico's biggest tourist hub.

Moreover, things have become so dangerous that Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced on Wednesday the creation of a "tourist battalion," which was composed of 1,500 National Guard soldiers wielding automatic weapons to keep visitors safe.

Starting next month, the soldiers would be stationed in Cancun and surrounding areas, including Tulum, where Mexican law enforcement said that there were ten groups fighting for drug dominance in the picture-postcard resort town.

However, despite the recent delegation of forces in the area, for Almonte, who organizes seminars for United States law enforcement on Mexican cartels, things were already out of control and the Mexican government was not in the driver seat on the situation.

He added that a lot of individuals asked him about traveling to Mexico, and his recommendation was 'don't go."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

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