Mexican authorities in at least one major city have taken steps to improve security ahead of a busy tourist season and spring break as high crime remains a chief concern in most of Mexico.
“We strengthen security with the construction of three filters at points marked by the heat map, such as the accesses to Cancun-Playa del Carmen, Tulum-Playa del Carmen, and Valladolid-Playa del Carmen, as well as in Villas del Sol, to guarantee a safe stay for visitors and locals,” Municipal President Lili Campos said during a press conference earlier this month.
The coastal resort town of Playa del Carmen, which sits roughly 40 miles south of Cancun, has announced plans to increase the number of patrols from 20 a day to 314, which will reflect “better security in the municipality,” according to Campos.
The announcement followed the discovery of four murdered people inside a van in the Ejidal neighborhood of Playa del Carmen, according to Reportur, a news outlet dedicated to Latin American tourism news.
Law enforcement in the area has proposed and rolled out a number of increased security measures as greater attention shifts to the crime problem in Mexico, which remains a top tourist destination for many Americans.
More than 30 million Americans traveled to Mexico over the first 11 months of 2022 alone. Playa del Carmen set a record with more than 820,000 tourists in the summer of 2022, beating its previous record of 625,000 in 2019 for the same period.
The police in January announced plans to invest $1.9 million in new security cameras across the town with a new surveillance and monitoring center almost completed and expected to be fully operational by the end of February.
Source: El Financiero
