Attack on prosecutor investigating nightclub shooting further erodes Cancun's reputation for safety
Drug wars, demands for protection being investigated as motives in Blue Parrot nightclub shootings
A violent attack in Cancun, Mexico, yesterday further undermined the area's reputation as a peaceful idyll amid the turbulence of Mexico's drug war.
Quintana Roo state's attorney-general, who is also its chief prosecutor in charge of the investigation into the shooting at the BPM music festival in Playa del Carmen, himself became the target of assassins when a group of gunmen on motorcycles attacked his office.
Miguel Angel Pech later appeared unhurt on television to reassure the public that authorities remained in control of the security situation in the state. But the attack left three attackers and two local police officers dead, as well as wounding two additional police.
It happened as more evidence emerged of drug cartel involvement in the Blue Parrot shootings that killed Canadian security staff member Kirk Wilson and four others.
'Narcomanta' warning
A faction calling itself "Old School Zetas" had already claimed the massacre as its own earlier Tuesday when it hung two painted signs on thoroughfares of Playa del Carmen.
"Narcomantas," which are usually large white bedsheets carrying painted messages, are a common feature of Mexico's drug wars.
They are used, along with YouTube videos, to communicate threats or claims of responsibility.
The drug dealing in this club was absolutely off-the-wall.- Witness John Michael Foye
The Zetas are one of Mexico's most violent and feared cartels. Originally recruited from the ranks of the Mexican and Guatemalan armies as foot soldiers and bodyguards to the Gulf Cartel, they turned on their employers and became a cartel of their own.
The Zetas have considered Quintana Roo, which includes Cancun and all of the Mayan Riviera, their territory for several years. But in recent times, the Zetas have begun to fracture into warring groups.
The message said, "This was for not falling in line, BPM-Phillip."
The chief organizer of the BPM festival is a Toronto man named Phillip Pulitano. CBC News has reached out to him, but he has not responded.
Two hypotheses
Investigators have yet to charge anyone in the Blue Parrot attack, but they are pursuing two possible motives.
The first is that BPM was targeted for failing to meet demands for protection money.
The second is that the killings were the result of a dispute between cartels over "derecho de piso," or the right to deal drugs in a venue.
The BPM festival attracts thousands of electronic music lovers and the sale of drugs, including cocaine, ketamine, LSD and ecstasy, was rampant and overt at all festival venues, according to several club-goers who spoke to CBC.
You can't keep them out, but you can tell them to be discreet.- Club manager
"The drug dealing in this club was absolutely off-the-wall," said Irishman John Michael Foye, who escaped the shooting by jumping a metal fence and wading into the ocean to take cover behind a fishing boat.
"We had a little game that we were counting how many times we were offered. We were offered over 100 times in about three hours. You couldn't even go into the toilet. They were dangling bags in front of your face like a selection of Santa Claus at Christmas.
"I've never seen anything like it in Europe and America and Australia anywhere. It was almost as if they had a licence to do it and they were not afraid to do it."
Rival gangs named
Some club-goers believed the shooting was linked to an incident at the Blue Parrot two nights before the shooting, where one dealer became angry, because he was denied admittance, while other dealers were able to work the crowd.
A DJ who works at a local club and DJd several BPM events, said everyone wants a piece of the pie.
"Everyone wants to make money, so greed happened," he said. "And when there's rivals — a different gang — and there's a bunch of people and they're selling, they're not going to let another crew come in there and sell."
The message on the narcomanta seemed to support the hypothesis of rival gangs fighting over drug turf.
It read: "We are going to cut the heads of Gulfs, Pelones (baldies) and grasshoppers."
The main rival of the Zetas is the Gulf Cartel, while Los Pelones are a local gang in the Playa-Cancun area aligned with the Gulf cartel.
Los Pelones have been an expanding presence in street-level drug sales in Playa's hotel zone, and "chapulines" (grasshoppers) is a Mexican term for small-scale street-level dealers.
Hard to avoid cartels
The Mexican manager of a large club on Quinta Avenida, Playa's main pedestrian avenue, talked to CBC News about the reality of dealing with drug cartels that demand a right to profit from the town's nightlife.
"The 'narco' has to be taken seriously, it's not a game," he says. "You can't just say no. But you can negotiate. You can't keep them out, but you can tell them to be discreet."
Like other locals, the manager said those rules were ignored during the BPM festival.
"The dealing was extremely bold and open," he said, expressing the hope that this incident would not scare people away.
"We know our country has problems, but this kind of thing does not happen in Playa. This is a safe place."
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