As the city is expecting hundreds of thousands of visitors in the next few months, over 800 new federal agents have arrived to protect Cancun tourists during the busy summer. Since the city has bounced back from the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism has been booming, but there has also been a significant increase in crime as well. Federal agents from a number of different forces were called in during the busy spring break and Easter seasons, and now are being called on to protect the newest round of tourists expected in the city in the coming months.
Agents from three different branches are being utilized for tourist protection this time around. About 100 agents from the Ministry of National Defense, 130 from the National Guard, and around 600 from the Ministry of the Navy will be spending the next few months performing security work in and around Cancun. Some of the agents will be temporary, while others will stay on permanently to continue to help protects tourists and locals in the city.
President of the Business Coordinating Council of the Riviera Maya, Lenin Amaro Betancourt, is celebrating the arrival of the agents, with hopes that the increased security will help reduce crime once and for all. Betancourt pointed to the importance of this step, stating that “We have had the arrival of elements permanently, from the Navy, from the National Guard and the National Guard battalion for the tourism sector is maintained, which will be very important,” and that “it is a priority for greater information, communication and coordination from all levels of government to prevent high-impact crimes.”
During the busy months at the beginning of the year, guards could be found all over Cancun and other tourist cities in the Riviera Maya. They could be seen walking through the streets in the Cancun Hotel Zone, and even on the popular beaches packed with people during that time. Their main purpose is to deter crime by strengthening security throughout the city.
While crimes take place all over the city, businesses, and especially restaurants and bars, seem to be a major target for many criminals. Earlier in the year, the problem was getting so out of hand that some restaurants closed their doors until security issues could be sufficiently addressed. Government officials began putting more police officers and other security officials in and around restaurants but a bigger presence is needed throughout Cancun in order to really address the problem.
When security was increased during the time millions of tourists visited Cancun in March and April, it did help to reduce crime. Back then hundreds of federal agents were utilized to protect tourists and residents from becoming victims of criminal acts. Now again hundreds of agents will be put to work to keep Cancun more secure at a time when criminals are ready to pounce on unaware tourists.
Cancun has had no problem bouncing back from the pandemic because the city is more popular among tourists than ever before. During the first few busy months of the year, many of the millions of tourists came from the U.S. and Canada, and now, even more are expected from the United States and a number of European countries. With the millions of tourists, though, comes the need to protect them, and this group of federal agents is being brought in for exactly that reason.
Since June 16 the agents have been slowly arriving in order to be in place and ready by the time tourists start filtering in. Now, as the summer season is upon us they are ready to protect the city and help keep it the much-loved Mexican Caribbean vacation destination it has become.
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