The case of Romanians in Mexico: What was the security alert that led to the deportations?

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After a five-day crisis and many endured humiliations, 140 Romanian tourists were accepted to enter Mexico. Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said that negotiations between the two countries were “a complicated period” and that the security alert was linked to the fight against cross-border crime.

“It was a complicated period of intense diplomatic efforts. I am glad that we managed to solve this complicated situation and indeed, last night’s discussion was decisive in obtaining a solution. The most delicate, here, was the existence of a general security alert, based on Romanian citizenship. Such general security alerts are contrary to international practice and this is a call that I made very clear to my Mexican counterpart, “Bogdan Aurescu told Digi24.

“In the end, the Mexican authorities decided that it was a complicated issue that could seriously affect the bilateral relationship. This situation has affected the credibility of Mexico as a travel destination for tourism, in any case for Romanian citizens. After this general alert was canceled, from now on, all the processing of Romanian citizens who arrive in Mexico will be done individually. If there are problems, let’s say people arguing with the law, as we know they have been before, they will be treated individually “, he added.

Aurescu says that the Mexican authorities did not give concrete details regarding the security alert.

“I did not have concrete details. From the information we have, what we do know is that this is a security alert that refers to the efforts of the Mexican authorities to fight cross-border organized crime. From this group of citizens who were still at the airport and waiting to return to the country, they all entered, except for five people for whom there were indeed individual alerts. 

Mexico has blocked dozens of accounts of Romanian citizens. The individuals were part of a criminal group operating in Cancun

Mexican authorities blocked 79 bank accounts of some individuals, most of them Romanian citizens, who were part of a criminal group that dealt with card cloning and operated in Cancun, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) reported on Thursday. according to Agerpres.

In the press release, the FIU mentioned that the criminal group was acting by modifying the ATMs installed in the hotels, to which they installed devices that could read the data on the bank cards inserted in the device, as well as the PIN code of the cards.

The goal was to “subsequently make withdrawals from those accounts, money that was introduced into the financial circuit through phantom companies set up by members of the organization,” Mexican authorities explained.

The FIU detected this type of crime due to information reports about the main leaders of the group, financial operators, relatives, companies and lawyers, as well as various civil servants who managed the corruption networks that favored the illicit activities of this criminal group.

The individuals had as their center of operations the spa resort of Cancun, Quintana Roo State, in the Mexican Caribbean, but the group expanded to other tourist areas, such as the Nayarit Riviera, in the same state; Los Cabos, in the state of Baja California, and in Puerto Vallarta, in the state of Jalisco.

The Mexican government has set as its main objectives the detection and dismemberment of criminal groups that use the Mexican financial system to launder money from illegal activities.

Source: noticiaspedrocanche.com

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