The white sandy beaches of Mexico’s Caribbean coast are the crown jewel of Mexico’s tourism industry and a popular holiday destination for Brits, with half a million UK tourists visiting every year.
But the paradise resorts in Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum have become brutal war zones as the cartels are battling for power and territory.
The violent clashes have seen assassins execute rivals in front of terrified tourists and gun down holidaymakers in a hail of bullets.
Quintana Roo, the Mexican state where the popular holiday destinations are located, has seen a shocking 633 murders last year – a 6.4 per cent increase to 2022 and more than in the whole UK in the same period.
In its travel advice for Mexico, the Foreign Office warns that several tourists have been affected by gang-related shooting since 2021.
Just this week, four hitmen shot dead a man outside a luxury five-star resort in Cancun. The victim, identified only as a 30-year-old Mexican national, was shot in the morning of October 3 on the beach outside Hotel Riu.
After firing multiple shots, two of the assassins – who had approached him on foot – fled the scene on rented jet skis while the other two ran away.
Holidaymakers ran for cover as the men carried out the targeted attack, rushing inside to the £230-a-night hotel.
Among those killed by the cartels in Mexico have also been British nationals, like businessman Chris Cleave, 54, who was shot dead in front of his 14-year-old daughter Chloe as he drove out of the gated community in Playa del Carmen where he lived.
The estate agent, originally from Truro in Cornwall, had received death threats before he was assassinated and is thought to have been targeted for standing up to extortion attempts by a cartel.
Two men, an 18-year-old and a 30-year-old who fled the murder scene on a motorbike after Mr Cleave was shot at close-range in traffic in March 2022, were arrested.
Mr Cleave’s business partner Vitaly Feygin, 57, was assassinated in a similar way as he drove home a year prior.
The cartel wars are increasingly threatening the holiday idyll on the Mexican Caribbean coast.
The Sinaloa, the Gulf and Jalisco New Generation cartels as well as the smaller Grupo Regional cartel are the players viciously fighting for control.
Even children have come between the lines of fire between the rival gangs. In July this year, a 12-year-old boy was shot and killed after gunmen riding jet skis opened fire on a rival drug dealers on a beach in Cancun, Mexico.
The child, who was only named as Santiago, was with his family sitting on a chair at Caracol Beach next to the Riu Cancun when he was struck by multiple stray bullets.
He was treated on the scene by paramedics and rushed to an area hospital, where he later died.
The Quintana Roo State Attorney General’s Office said the assailants were targeting rivals over a dispute of drug sales.
The Foreign Office is urging British travellers in popular tourist resorts along the coast to be ‘very cautious after dark in downtown areas of Cancun, Tulum and Playa del Carmen. Stay in well-lit pedestrian streets and tourist zones.’
It adds: ‘Rival criminal gangs have clashed in popular Cancun tourist destinations and surrounding areas. Gangs have not targeted tourists, but violent incidents could affect anyone nearby. Since 2021, several shootings have affected tourists.’
The advice from the Foreign Office continues: ‘Drug-related violence in Mexico has increased over recent years. Do not become involved with drugs of any kind.
‘Some areas of Mexico have a high crime rate due to fighting between rival organised crime gangs. In these areas, there is a risk of being caught in the crossfire or of being mistaken for a gang member.’
Another broad-daylight shootout in April 2023 saw four people killed near a four-star all-inclusive beachfront hotel in Cancun.
Police initially revealed they had discovered three bodies near the Fiesta Americana Condesa Hotel before confirming a fourth corpse had been found in undergrowth close by.
Police confirmed the four victims were neither hotel employees or tourists and are believed to be linked to drug dealing.
The announcement of the deaths came less than a week after an American tourist was wounded when he was shot in the leg in the nearby town of Puerto Morelos on March 28, 2023.
In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, – allegedly because of debts between international drug and weapons trafficking gangs.
In November 2021, several assassins marched across the all-inclusive family resort of Hyatt Ziva Riviera in Puerto Morelos, south of Cancun, and executed two drug dealers before they fled in speedboats.
Previously, an October 2021 shooting claimed the lives of 25-year-old Anjali Ryot, a resident of California, US, and 35-year-old German Jennifer Henzold after gunmen opened fired as they chased a rival drug dealer near a Tulum bar.
In Tulum, the homicide rates have shot up from 16 people killed in 2018 to 47 in 2023 – a nearly 200 per cent increase.
In June 2021, a 30-year-old tourist from Kentucky was shot and wounded and two workers were shot dead at a Cancun beach gift shop. Two suspects fled in two jet skis.
Despite the threat of cartel violence, Cancun remains a popular destination for tourists, with 10.04million foreign visitors travelling to the coastal resort in 2023.