Mexican military swarms popular American tourist spot amid crime surge

Mexican authorities are cracking down on surging crime in the popular tourist destination, Tulum, as authorities seek to create a “safer and calmer environment.”

According to Tulum Mayor Diego Castañón Trejo, an additional 30 members of the Mexican Navy were added to the existing law enforcement presence in the bustling Caribbean coastal destination.

In a published report, Trejo said that the additional 30 military personnel will bring the current personnel up to more than 250.

Of the 250 current active military members providing law enforcement support in Tulum, nearly 100 of them are from the Navy, Trejo said.

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Tulum is the site of a Pre-Columbian Maya walled city serving as a major port for Cobˆ. Daily tour buses bring a constant stream of visitors to the site.  (Fredo de Luna/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

A Mexican Marine patrols a beach in Tulum, Quintana Roo state, Mexico on February 4, 2023. ( DAVID GANNON/AFP via Getty Images)

The news came after a Mexican tourist was shot and killed at a Tulum resort in April.

Authorities said that the tourist allegedly refused to hand over an expensive watch he was wearing, and was shot by the robbers.

People observe El Castillo (The Castle) at the Pre-Columbian Mayan archaeological site of Tulum from a boat, near Mexico’s Caribbean beach resort of Tulum, in the Mayan Riviera, Quintana Roo State, on October 30, 2021.  (DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

In 2023, the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert warning travelers to “exercise increased caution,” especially after dark, at beach resorts in Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, which have been plagued by drug gang violence in the past.

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In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, apparently because of debts between international drug and weapons trafficking gangs.

Members of the National Guard (Guardia Nacional de México) seen near Tulum. On Monday, November 15, 2021, in Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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In 2021, in Tulum, two tourists — one a California travel blogger born in India and the other German — were killed when they apparently were caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival drug dealers.