Mexico: Shooting in nightclub leaves 5 dead

Local residents placing candles outside the club where many people were killed in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Local residents placing candles outside the club where many people were killed in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press

23 January 2017
At least 5 people died and more than 15 have been wounded during a shooting in the Blue Parrot club, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

The shooting occurred at around 3:00 am on Tuesday 17th January  during the BPM festival in a club located in the most tourist area of Playa del Carmen. The police chief of Quintana Roo state, Miguel Angel Pech Cen, identified 4 non-Mexican victims (1 Italian, 1 Colombian and 2 Canadians) among whom three were staff members of the electronic music festival.

It remains under investigation whether the BPM was targeted for failing to meet extortion demands.  Besides, the killings was likely to result from a clash between cartels over the right to deal drugs in the venue In fact, a banner or narcomanta appeared along a roadside, signed by the gang “Old School Zetas”, part of the Zetas cartel, claiming the massacre as part of a battle against rival gangs. The narcomantas, bedsheets carrying painted messages, along with YouTube videos, which are meant to claim responsibility or to communicate threats, are characteristic  of Mexico’s drug war. which are used.

The Zetas are one of Mexico’s most violent cartels and have considered Quintana Roo their territory for several years. Local residents of Playa del Carmen said the shooting came amid a growing drug scene in the resort town, portending further bloodshed into Mexico’s main tourist area, which  had previously been spared much of the violence plaguing other parts of the country.

 

For more information, please read:

http://globalnews.ca/news/3188073/4-killed-in-another-violent-attack-in-mexicos-caribbean-resort-region/?sf51513142=1
http://www.milenio.com/policia/playa_del_carmen-balacera-blue_parrot-bpm-festival_musica-cancun-milenio_noticias_0_885511466.html
http://www.vanguardia.com.mx/articulo/grupo-de-los-zetas-se-adjudica-balacera-en-el-bpm-de-playa-del-carmen
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/mexico-attacks-cancun-drug-dyer-1.3940962

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