The murder of a young man from Saguenay during a stay in Mexico is another example of the downside of this country plagued by crime that, according to one specialist, is “everywhere”.
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“[Il] Above all, bad encounters must be avoided. For me, this may be my fifth time conducting an interview about the killings of Quebecers in Mexico, and it’s almost always the same pattern,” says Claude Morin, a retired history professor at the University of Montreal.
“There are people who are collateral victims when there are conflicts between criminal gangs, but it is mainly people who tend to have spontaneous contact with Mexicans or who want to buy drugs and whose deals go wrong,” emphasizes the Latin America specialist, who Visit was Mexico about twenty times.
This situation can be explained by the violence associated with drug cartels, but also by “the petty crime that can lead to assassination, that is, theft, extortion,” because of “the injustice that exists in Mexico” and poverty, he says.
Overall
“Serious crime is regional. Petty crime is everywhere,” he says.
The sector of Puerto Escondido, a seaside resort frequented mainly by Mexicans, where the murder of Victor Masson took place, is no exception, he says.
“Criminal groups are present there because there is a clientele that buys drugs.”
According to Global Affairs Canada, even popular tourist destinations like Riviera Maya (Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Morelos and Tulum) and Acapulco are hit by high rates of violent crime including murders, kidnappings, auto thefts and aggression.
The Federal Ministry asks that stays in several regions classified as dangerous be avoided and that “extreme caution” be exercised elsewhere.
lost interest
For Mr. Morin, that’s no reason to miss a trip to Mexico, whose beauty and heritage he praises. However, he invites you to plan your trip well and avoid vulnerable areas on your itinerary, especially the northern border and several locations on the Pacific coast.
With over 1.8 million Canadian visitors in 2022, Mexico continues to be a popular travel destination. However, the headline-grabbing tragedies could tarnish the country’s image.
“We have felt a drop in interest in this destination [depuis la pandémie]. Is it a recovery that hasn’t fully returned from the COVID crisis, or is it really Quebec travelers’ fears about the destination? It might be a combination of both,” says Sébastien Laforest, President of Voyages Traditours.
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