Mexico: Authorities Searching for Missing People Found 8 Bodies in Cancun Resort

Authorities in Mexico are still trying to identify the eight bodies found dumped in a Cancun resort over the weekend.

Head prosecutor of the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo, Oscar Montes de Oca, vowed to conduct more searches and identifications, WFAA reported.

Law enforcement officials discovered the bodies after looking in wooded lots and even in cenotes or sinkhole ponds as part of a search operation to find more missing people.

Montes de Oca said five bodies were found in an abandoned building site. He noted that the bodies were left there between one week and two months ago. Three of the bodies have been identified as people previously reported missing.

Authorities also discovered three sets of skeletal remains at another site in a wooded area on the outskirts of Cancun. The bodies have yet to be identified by authorities.

The bodies were found in a poor neighborhood area located some 15 kilometers from Cancun's beach and hotel zone but closer to the resort's airport.

There have been a series of violent incidents in the city of Cancun in recent years, with feuding Mexican drug cartels reportedly causing violence in the popular tourist destination.

Violence in Cancun Resort in Mexico

Earlier this month, four men were killed in Cancun after what authorities suspect to be a dispute related to drug gang activity. The men were found in the area's hotel zone and near a beach.

According to Al Jazeera, the reported violence coincided with the tourists flocking to Riviera Maya in Mexico during the Easter holiday break.

Jose de la Pena, a security official in Quintana Roo, where Cancun is located, noted that authorities detained two suspects "related to drug dealing activities."

The state of Quintana Roo has been considered generally safer compared to the other area of the country. However, recent violent activities linked to gang turf wars prompted security forces to ramp up patrols.

Last month, an American tourist was shot in the leg in Puerto Morelos town near Cancun. Two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, also in Quintana Roo, last year.

Authorities believed the two were involved in international drug and weapons trafficking gangs. In 2021, two suspected drug dealers were also killed in a shooting on a beach near Cancun.

It was also the same year that two tourists from Germany and India were killed during a shootout between two suspected gang members in a restaurant in Tulum.

The U.S. State Department recently issued a travel alert, warning travelers to exercise "increased caution," at resorts like Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum.

Violence in Mexico

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador slammed suggestions to have the U.S. sends its military troops to intervene in the country's drug violence.

Lopez Obrador noted that such a move would violate the country's sovereignty. He added that his government would not permit any foreign government to "intervene in our territory."

He went on to say that it was also an "offense to the people of Mexico," adding that their country does "not take orders from anyone," Al Jazeera reported.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News it was time to "put Mexico on notice" while also advocating introducing legislation that would classify some Mexican drug cartels as "foreign terrorist groups."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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